On The Road

At the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

During the summer break our family was blessed to take a road trip. On this trip we took in such sites as Peyto Lake, Columbia Ice Fields, Qu’Appelle Valley, Mount Rushmore, Grand Tetons, and the many sights of Yellowstone Park. Despite the fact that it was a blessing, at times it did strain the relationship between me and my daughter and wife. You see the ladies in my life like to travel differently than I do. I’m all about the destination. If Mount Rushmore is the destination, then I would prefer to drive straight there and not get distracted by the Reptile Gardens my daughter Taylor wants to see (you should never let snakes distract you), or the cozy restaurant Yvonne wants to stop at (nor your stomach). Sometimes it seemed that we had very little time left for the destination because we had spent so much time just getting there.

Now without casting judgement on either way to approach travel, as I’m sure it is just a matter of having more time (I’m going to love eternity), our different approaches made me think about spiritual matters. If you are a Christian then your destination is to live for the LORD and ultimately to live with Him in eternity. But how often don’t we get sidetracked by the cares of this world and thus get distracted by matters far less important? Sometimes it seems that we are so busy with the temporal concerns of life, that we have no time for the eternal matters of prayer, the reading of scripture, or corporate worship. We get distracted by unimportant activities like television, but have little time to pay a visit to someone who could really use some encouragement. Or we lead such a busy life that by the time Sunday comes around we don’t have the mental energy to totally engage in the worship services. 

I'm pretty sure that this is a universal problem that all people experience. Actually, I’m wrong. Once there was a man who lived with an undivided focus on the destination. He knew what he had to do, and with single mindedness he avoided all temptations to get distracted, either from the devil (snake) in the wilderness, his friend Peter on the way to Caesarea Philippi, or even from himself in the Garden of Gethsemane. Because he did not let himself get himself off track, none who put their trust in Him have to worry about missing the destination, even if we get distracted regularly.

So if you get distracted from the destination don’t despair. It has already been secured for you. Pick yourself up, turn once again to Him, and remember it doesn’t depend on your performance but on the performance of your Saviour Jesus Christ who has already obtained the destination for you. We all have a lot to be thankful for. And that’s what will help us make baby steps in the right direction. But that’s okay because we are already there and we have our LORD holding us up and steadying us along the way.