Arriving or Journeying On?

In our congregation's grand adventure of reading the Bible in one year a theme that comes up again and again is God calling people to set off on a journey. Whether it's Abram being sent to the Promised Land or Moses leading the people into the wilderness or the flights of the fancy that David endures before he finally becomes King of Israel or Jesus wanderings all over the Holy Land or Saint Paul's adventures on land and sea journeying on in faith is a constant theme in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

The question implied in the title, though, is whether our faith is more about arriving or journeying on. There are some who seem to think that being saved, accepting Christ into your heart is a matter of ultimate arrival. But if we consider the brought scope of scripture, it seems to me that accepting God's grace and love in Jesus Christ is just the beginning of the grand journey of faith.

Of course, that can be a little scary, can't it? I mean, if there is not arrival are we just wandering aimlessly through life? To which I maintain that we aren't so much as wandering, if we have and can rely on Jesus as our constant traveling companion then, no, we are not just wandering but rather its more like we are engaged in a wonderfully fantastic road trip. With Jesus as our co-pilot and sometimes allowing him to take the wheel for us, we can enjoy the scenery, we can know that the stops and detours and forks taken are, if not always guided by him, then at least we won't find ourselves too far off course in the journey.

So where are you in your journey of faith? Have you arrived and you are just going to sit back and watch life pass you by? Or have you loaded up with the resources and companions for the journey ahead? Or are you at a rest stop waiting for just the right moment to get back into the flow of things? Or are you in some faith-based airport terminal waiting for just the right flight to get on board?

Wherever you are on your journey, I hope and pray that you will rely on the love of God that we can know most clearly through God's Son, Jesus Christ, as our ever ready road trip companion.