Thought for Today
Numbers 32:17 but we ourselves will march as troops in the vanguard before the Israelites, until we have led them to their destination. (NAB)
2 Samuel 16:14 The king and all the people with him arrived at their destination (NIV)
Luke 9:53 but they would not welcome him because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem. (NAB)
Yesterday I was thinking about moving, journeying. Journeying, however, is only a part of the process. Unless one is interested in aimlessly wandering, a destination is an integral part of the process. Yesterday, I mentioned several moves our own family endured. In each case, a specific destination was essential.
What is the destination of your own journey through life? Do you even have a specific, well-defined destination in mind? When I was very young, my only destination was to get to the next present-receiving holiday. Of course, that is an exaggeration. I was also focused on getting to the next grade in school. During the school week, I was focused on getting to the weekend. In elementary school, I was focused on getting to junior high school. When I arrived there, I then focused on high school. Those were all definite destinations; although, as I reflect on them, they were rather vague and unfocused. I did not truly know much about junior high school when I was in elementary school. What I did know was that my older brother was in junior high school, so I knew that was where I wanted to be.
At some point in my youth, I began to look a little further ahead. Maybe it was when I met Greta. I began to think about what lay in the future. We met in high school. It was a time of life when there was a definite, short-term destination, graduation. For some of our peers, that was a seminal point in their lives. For them, that was the launch point of their adult lives. For Greta and for me, while an important destination, it was merely a short-term destination. We were both raised with an expectation that we would attend college.
Did I have a specific destination in my mind when I thought about where all this would lead? Of course not! I did not even know what I wanted to study in college. Although the college I did attend required that I take an aptitude test and meet with a councilor, I was still mentally fuzzy about what my ultimate destination would be.
Ironically, the (first) career upon which I embarked after college involved planning and executing capital improvement projects for clients. Thankfully, the ‘destination’ for those projects are well defined and have inherent, quantifying goals along the way. It did take some portion of my adult life to apply those (first) career skills and tools to my personal life.
At some point, however, I began to think in terms of my specific, ultimate destination in life. I knew it was not some particular (first) career goal, not some title or even salary. It took some time, some accumulation of life experiences and interpersonal relationships to begin to even think about my life’s ultimate destination. What is the destination of your own journey through life?
I have been very blessed in my life. I met Greta at an early age. Somehow, through diligent effort, I have managed not to mess things up. She is still tolerating me. We were blessed with 2 wonderful, easy-to-raise children who have given us 3 exemplary grandchildren. I was never a captain of industry, never a robber baron magnate. We did, however, have a very full life.
You may have noticed my repeated use of ‘(first) career.’ At one point, God finally got my attention and called me to my current career. That calling initiated a new life’s journey. At the onset, my destination was to finish seminary. I had no clear destination in mind about what I would do with that seminary degree. During the whole experience, however, God did guide me to another destination, and I began to think in terms of becoming a pastor. That has now come to pass.
Interestingly, the word ‘destination’ does not appear in many translations of the Bible. None of those verses above are from the NRSV which I commonly reference. In the NRSV, Luke 9:53 reads, “but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.” Where is your face set toward? Instead of destinations, maybe we should all set our faces toward God. I suspect that would firmly establish the ultimate destinations of our lives.
Stay safe, set your face toward God, trust God,
Pastor Ray