Route 24!

While you wait oil changes, next day air early AM delivery UPS, Freaky Fast Jimmy John sandwiches, and faster internet, who can deny that the United States is in a hurry for instant gratification! It is amazing how we “need” things right now! Even when we are little we can't wait till we are 15 so we can drive, then we can't wait to graduate college and get married. After that we rush into marriage, then children, and retirement! It is a hurry, run, can't wait life! No stopping to smell the roses, let alone plant some. Once we reach the next thing it disappears into a new goal! Then when were older we seek anti-aging cream and hair die in a desperate grasp for what we blew bye to reach were we are. Maybe your tired of hearing negative things about our easy luxurious life in the USA, I am not condemning it, just admitting its true! It is so sad how we look for “then” and miss “now” because “then” is beautiful. It is true “then” is a beautiful time, but so is “now” because all of life is a gift from God full of amazing jewels!

In The Book of Virtues, William J. Bennett tells a story called “The Magic Thread”. The Story is of a strong able young boy named Peter, who unfortunately is flawed with impatience. One day while scampering through the woods as young boys do he happened upon a old woman. The woman gives him the chance to skip the “boring” and “mundane” things in life so he can get on to the “exiting” and “fulfilling” things he was anxious to get on to. The change came through a ball with a silver thread pealing off. If he was to pull the thread in would literally skip him forward in time. So the next day while in a rather unexciting class he tugged the thread and instantly he skipped forward to the end of class! As life went on he skipped school altogether and went on to marriage and kept on going to “whats next”. But sadly, when he comes to the end of his life Peter realizes the emptiness of such existence. In his impatience he has skipped all of lives meaningful memories. All he had to look forward to is the grave.

I know what none of will ever get the chance to skip life as Peter did, but it makes a good point. Don't waste were God has you right now. No matter what you have on your goal sights. Maybe graduation from high school, college, marriage, retirement, or something smaller wait on God's time by serving right now! Focusing on that thing rather that God ruins life itself. Like the songs says, “I'm in a hurry to get things done. Rushing, rushing till life's no fun. All I really got to do is live and die. But I'm in a hurry and don't know why”! Troy Meeder in his book “Average Joe” says it so well. “After spending years searching for grandeur, I can tell you with certainty that real joy, fulfillment, and life lie in the quite of an early morning sunrise, the laughter of children, the soft whisper of a wife – even in something as simple as a hot cup of coffee in front of a wood stove on a cold winter's morning. Those are the moments that make life full and rich”. Zac Brown Band also lays it out plainly in their song “Chicken Fried”. They sing; “It's funny how it is the little things in life that mean the most. Now where you live, what you drive, or the price tags on your clothes. There's no dollar sign on a peace of mind, this I've come to know.”

This summer God gave me an awesome opportunity to work on youth ranch in Taylor, Missouri (hisranch.org for those interested). While there, a group of friends and I took several trips to central Illinois to visit friends and family. There were two routes we could choose from, a slightly quicker route taking the interstate and bypassing all the small towns, and then Highway 24, a two lainer road taking us through woods, farming communities and one gas station towns. Without fail we chose to stop and smell the roses with route 24. We made some great memories that will last a lifetime. We didn't just spend time together, we spurred each other on to good works. I would trade those trips for the world. So here is my challenge for you, take a “route 24” view on life. God has made a beautiful thing called life, lets now blow it by to see whats around the corner. God has got that under control, now worries! Seek God and He promises that “all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). It is not the getting to point B that matters, it is the A to B! Seek God, wait actively on Him! Take a route 24!