What town are we in cause we sure ain’t there yet

Most of you can remember traveling on vacations and asking the question after long hours on the road, “Are we there yet?” I can honestly say that most of my childhood was never “vacation riddled.” Outside of weekends on the bank of the lake and an occasional Sunday afternoon gathering, we only trekked out on the open road one time, and that was to see family in Florida.

Tena and I have made it a priority to take grandchildren to the beach each year. We would set out on a long 8-and-10-hour road journey, and one of my granddaughters would always ask, “What town are we in?” She would spare us the usual “are we there yets,” and she would determine our global positioning according to the town we were in at the time. I would have to determine how many towns were located between our home and our beach destination. She never knew where those towns were or anything about them, but it always satisfied her curiosity. She would sleep for several hours and wake up and immediately ask, “What town are we in?”

God has placed each of us on an individual journey called life. Every heart is different, personality and agenda - individual and even the way we look is different. God has created billions of people, and no two have ever been exactly the same. Each of us are on a similar, yet distinct, journey, and most of us just want to know, “Are we there yet?” God reminds us through the prophet Jeremiah that he knows the plans that he has for us. That plan, by the way, is located in chapter 29 and verse 11 and says nothing about the plans that we have for us, only God’s plan.

Our lives are like beach trips. The destination is why we set out to begin with, but the journey is filled with towns we pass through along the way. The reality is that if we spend too much time in the towns, we’ll never reach our sandy beaches. God has a plan for each of us to be in heaven when we finish this journey called life. There are a lot of towns on that road. None of them will get you to the end result and some are great places and some are not so great, so ask yourself, “What town are we in?” If that place is taking you to God’s plan for your life, then the plan is working out. If it isn’t promoting God’s plan, then it’s not only the wrong town it’s a downright dangerous place to be.

During our annual vacations to the beach, we have become familiar with certain towns, gas stations, and restaurants. We know where the best peach and pecan stands are, hotels and even the halfway points, but we have never bought a house and made a permanent residency at any of those because it was never our destination.

Jesus said in John 14 that he is at work on our home as we speak. He describes it as a mansion which is more elaborate, grand, and paradise- like than what we have now. People, this is not our destination; it’s our filling station to get us to our permanent home. So stop making permanent plans for temporary dwellings. I’ll go to heaven without you, but I would rather go with you. So, get back in the car because we ain’t there yet.

We’re real people, living real lives, serving a real God. We’ll see you at Christpoint Church, on Liberty Square, in Sparta, at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., this Sunday.