As we get settled out here on the west coast and do our best to acclimate to a whole new world (if you didn’t sing that, please go watch Aladdin), I am constantly reminded of how foreign this is and how unfamiliar everything feels.
The streets are certainly not laid out to be very user-friendly and there is no logical format of the city-grid. I am at the constant mercy of Google maps. And on top of my geographical ignorance and despite my poor Homeward Bound navigational skills (if you haven’t seen that movie, please go watch it), the fastest route is ALWAYS changing due to a never-ending onslaught of traffic congestion so memorizing directions has been painfully slow so far.
I have missed turns even with BOTH my map ladies telling me what to do. I think I prefer the Google gal over my wife but both are trying. I think it’s going to be a long process. But this has brought me to a perfectly fitting series as we start a new year. I want to spend a few weeks looking at life’s road map and the journey to God’s eternal vacation.
To begin, let’s check in with the disciples who were madly following Jesus and ready to go to the ends of the earth with him. Jesus, however, shared that he would be leaving soon and told them they would soon be joining him. They were concerned because they didn’t know the way and that was largely in part to not knowing the destination.
I have a hard time knowing how to get where I want to go around here and that’s with a satellite assisted device so I fully understand the struggle of these guys and their concern when they don’t know the destination, let alone know way!
Jesus had told them that they could trust that he would come back for them so they could be where he was going by using familial language. In biblical times, it was common for families to have multiple generations living under one roof. They would add on rooms on top of rooms and rooms next to rooms as the family tree grew.
So, in John 14, when Jesus tells the disciples that he would “go and prepare a place for them” and that his “father’s house has many rooms” they would understand the context. The groom wouldn’t leave his fiancé to undergo a large construction project if he didn’t plan to return to get her. This was coming again insurance.
But furthermore, the disciples thought they’d need Google-Apple maps to get where Jesus was going. Jesus clarifies things by saying HE IS the WAY! He was telling them they DID KNOW the WAY and it was in front of them.
As we begin a new year, a new chapter, a new leg of the journey, it’s important to think about the road ahead. It’s critical to have the destination in mind. It’s been said that it is better to “begin with the end in mind.” This orients us and aligns our trajectory. It creates a focus and an overarching YES that helps us stay the course and say NO to things that are irrelevant or less important.
The message is the same for us as it was for the disciples: No one gets to the Father unless they go through Jesus. And I don’t know too many people that are hoping for a funeral service with the tagline: Well, he lived like hell and is playing cards with the devil tonight. People want to imagine heaven is the place of their loved ones.
But that isn’t just a postmortem policy, it’s for today. Jesus uses language with the disciples that indicates a present tense promise. Eternity is NOW and we have access to the FULL LIFE we were created for THROUGH Jesus, today.
I invite you into the greatest adventure imaginable. I encourage you to stay the course if you’ve already begun.
This is a trip that will test your limits and expand your horizons. You won’t be disappointed, only somewhat disoriented, at least from a worldly point of view. It may take to you to the ocean or across the ocean or just around the block, but it will not leave you looking for anything else for fulfillment, in this life or the next.
So full speed ahead this year and let’s go somewhere together!
Miss you. Love you. Don’t be a bugaboo.
#WhereAreYouGoing
#KnowTheWay
#DirectionConnection
#RestoringWholenessOfLife
Brett
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