Are We There Yet?!

My kids are older now, so I don't hear that as much as I used to. In fact we usually let them drive their own car on vacation so we don't hear it at all, but when they were younger we heard it all the time. We used to do all kinds of things just to keep them entertained. We didn't have a drop down DVD player or even ipods but we did have a cassette player. One thing we used to do was play a tape series called Adventures in Odyssey. It was a very engaging radio series produced by Focus on the Family. It featured a guy named "Wit" who had a ice cream shop in the mythical town of Odyssey. Besides teaching some great family values it entertained the kids almost endlessly. The two youngest are now in college and they still listen to them. (Don't tell them I told you so!)

Anyway each episode was about 30 minutes so what we would do is when they asked the question, "are we there yet?" we would tell them how long it was in terms of how many more stories we had to listen to. So if it was an hour we would say, "just two more stories" or if it was an hour and a half we would say, "just three more stories" etc. . . Here's my point. In life there are two kinds of people. Those who enjoy the journey and those who just want to get there. I tend to fall on the side of enjoying the journey. Maybe it's because I can't speed without feeling guilty but no matter what I try to find joy in the journey. (I do get impatient when gas station stops take more than time than it would have taken ust to stop somewhere and eat because everyone has to go to the bathroom and get a hand full of snacks!)

What I have learned or am learning again is that most of life is spent on the road and not at our destination. I mean we spent five or six days working so we can enjoy one or two days off. We spend fifty weeks at work so we can enjoy two weeks of vacation. Or worse, we spent 35 or 40 years working so we can enjoy 5 to 15 years in retirement! Something is not right. If we wait to find joy until the weekend, vacation or retirement, we are not going to have much fun at all. The majority of our life will be spend enduring and not enjoying.

I think the same thing is true in our spiritual lives. Jesus said, I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10b NIV) Joy for the Christ follower is not meant for us to experience only in heaven, but while we are still here on earth. Satan, our enemy wants to rob us of our joy, don't let him do it. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy." (John 10:10a NIV)