All Aboard

“This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ” Philippians 1:9-10

I’m not much for the significance of dreams and I can’t say that I have had any divinely inspired visions. But rolling over in the middle of the night recently, I began thinking about where life had taken me. I guess, as you get older you spend more and more time looking in the rearview mirror. And as I was thinking about all the places God had taken me, I began to envision my life like a ride on a train.

First stop: High School station, where I got off the train and spent four great years involved in sports and basically having fun with my friends. When I got back on the train, I looked back to see all my buddies waving goodbye from the platform only to pull into College station. Four years there and I’m back on the train with Martie, my college sweetheart, as we are waving goodbye to friends while the train pulls away. Next stop: Seminary, and after a few years we are back on the train with our first child—you guessed it, waving goodbye to all our professors and friends, most of whom we’d never see again. And as the train proceeded, there were more stops ahead as we served at a church in Ohio, then Indiana, then Michigan—bringing two more children on board with us and at each stop waving goodbye to all those nice people who were throwing kisses to us from the platforms. Well, to be honest, not everyone was throwing kisses! Then it was a long stop at Moody Bible Institute, and now the train has stopped at Harvest Bible Chapel where I serve as a teaching pastor and am in a ministry partnership with the good folk here at RBC.

What I desperately want to tell you is not about my “stops” on the trip. That would be like boring you with an evening of my home movies! What struck me about my middle of the night “vision” is this: The only people who have gone all the way with me are my wife, my kids, and my God. All other involvements, relationships, and pursuits that captured my attention and drove the agenda of my life at times are, in retrospect, only transitory—nice things, nice people, and worthy causes that at the end of the day quickly become a part of history never to be reclaimed. Life is seasonal and only a few precious things are ultimately really important.

Living as though a season of life lasts forever is dangerous. If that’s your perspective, then you will easily ignore what is significant in the long term for what seems important in the moment. I guess that’s why someone once said that on the deathbed of life no one will wish he had spent more time at the office. It’s the treachery of the thrill of an affair, the gain of a life on the road for a company that will turn you out at 65. Living now for everything that seems so important—our friends, our careers, our desires and dreams—if we are not careful, may just mess up what’s really important in the long haul.

When I was young it seemed like life was the slow boat to China and every stop seemed like forever. But now, at my stage of life, I know that life is really like a ride on the Cannonball Express headed full steam ahead for heaven with a few more stops on the way! I live to enjoy the ride with as few regrets as possible. And thankfully, Martie and the kids are still on board with a bunch of grandkids added in to spice up the trip. The best part is that my God’s on board, the trip planner and conductor who guarantees to get us safely home.

So don’t forget: Only God and a few really important people are going all the way with you. Make sure they get the best part of you!

YOUR JOURNEY…

• Think about the train ride of your life. What “stops” have you made? Take some time to reflect on how the Lord has used those stops to bring you where you are today.
• What insights has the Lord revealed to you regarding the current “train stop” of your life? Do you need to make some changes? If so, yield to His direction. He will keep you on track!
• Who are the important people in your life, the ones who are with you for the length of your journey? Do you feel that you are making them your priority? What do you need to change to build into the people and relationships that are with you for the long haul?
• Meditate on Philippians 1:9-10 as the prayer of your heart today. Ask the Lord to give you “depth of insight” to “discern what is best” for your journey.