What Are You Taking Home?

We went to a Labor Day parade in Naperville, IL today.  It was our toddler’s first real parade experience if you discount the psychedelic, seizure-inducing Alice-in-Wonderland parade at Disneyworld.  There was the usual fare of marching bands, police cars, firefighters, politicians waiving signs, acrobat groups, martial art schools, and fuzzy characters for the kids. 

Most of all there was a lot of free swag being handed out.  We went home with gobs of candy, coupons, beach balls, and even a full-size yardstick (a parade-handouts first for me too).

And as we walked away carrying about three times more than we came in with, I wondered what we were going to do with all this stuff since we’re traveling across the country.  It’s not like we have a lot of room in the car to carry it all.  At some point, I’ll have to clean out the car and toss every thing we don't really want to take home in the garbage.

And then I was reminded of the sermon from yesterday about Matthew 6:19-34.  Jesus’ teachings in this section can be summed in three points: don’t worry about your daily needs, God takes care of you; don’t store up treasures on Earth, store up treasures in heaven; and seek first the kingdom of God in all things.

I think we tend to forget that we’re all on a journey in this life, and we’re essentially living out of our cars.  When the journey is over, our Father is going to clean out our cars, and only the things that are eternally essential are going home with us.  Your big screen T.V. is going in the trash, the 100 pairs of barely worn shoes in your closet-trash, the lovely dinette set in your dining room-trash, your new car, trash, your house-trash, your 401K-trash.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus compared a rich man entering the kingdom of heaven to a camel going through the eye of a needle? (Matthew 19:24)  Just try to picture someone carrying all their junk on their back trying to fit through the gate of heaven.  It’s an impossible feat.

That’s why Jesus says to give up everything for His sake.  You can’t take it home with you.

The Journey

You see a lot of motivational quotes around these days that go along the lines of “It is good to have an end to journey toward, but in the end it is the journey that matters most.” (Ursula K. LeGuin) or “Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” (Greg Anderson). 

I don’t think any of these people have traveled across the Midwest with a toddler strapped in the backseat.

My wife, my son, and I are touring the country for the next couple of weeks visiting family.  Over the past few days, we’ve traveled north from the southern tip of Texas through Oklahoma and Kansas.  We stopped in Nebraska to see some of my family, and then headed up through Iowa and to Minnesota to see my wife’s family.  From there we’re heading to Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and then back home to Texas.

We have loved the stops we’ve made along the road.  The people we’ve met have been great, and spending time with family is a joy we cherish, living so far away from them, but the journey itself is long and . . . well let’s face it America’s heartland is boring. 

Those amber waves of grain we sing about are great in lyrics and pictures, but after four hours of seeing nothing but them for miles in any direction, they loose some of they’re idyllic luster.  The destinations are definitely the lure and purpose of the journey.

Isn’t that a lot like how the Christian walk feels sometimes.  We have moments of God working incredibly in our lives.  And then we have long stretches where He seems very distant, and things get a little boring.  And we find ourselves singing along with the psalmist: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" (Psalm 42:1-3)

That’s why the Bible says things like:  “Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!” (Psalms 27:14), “those who wait on the LORD, They shall inherit the earth” (Psalms 37:9), “Wait on the LORD, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land” (Psalms 37:34), and “But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew [their] strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31).

For the Christian the joy of the journey is the destination. Why? Because our God is faithful.  If He is your destination, the journey, though it be long and arduous, will be worth whatever duration or direction it may take.