I was asked about a week ago by a friend of mine if I thought I had "arrived yet", because there are a lot of things in my life that are beginning to fall into place. As I reflect on his words, I really wonder about life and how we as humans always make it about a destination. If you are one of my five readers or even if you were just scrolling blogs, seriously, think about it for a minute...we humans are always looking forward to something in some stage of our lives. "Oh I can't wait until I'm in Junior High" we might say, or "Oh I can't wait until I graduate high school and can be on my own", "I can't wait until I get married!", "I can't wait until I start that new job!", "I can't wait until my baby is born!", "I can't wait until I get a promotion!", "I can't wait until I retire!", and we could go on and on for eternity if we wanted.
When we reach that seemingly impossible goal---that is usually when our human nature tells us that yes, we have arrived. We have arrived if we graduate high school. We have arrived if we get married. We have arrived if we get a promotion. We have arrived if we, after a long hard-working career, are able to retire. But....what if our arrival is only a dead end? Then what? What if our marriage, despite all of our best efforts, ends in divorce? What if that promotion places us in a position that brings too much added stress? What if our retirement is marred by a cancer diagnosis? What do we do?
While there are no simple answers, I do understand what it's like when someone's "arrival" is only a "dead end". When we arrive and find out its just a dead end, God is there! God is not just some ethereal tyrant up in the sky, some disengaged clock-maker, or just an imaginary being made up for comfort. When you have reached a dead end in your life, God is there! And for all those who call on the name of Jesus and are Christians, the final destination where one will actually truly "arrive" is Heaven, which Jesus said in his word: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." (John 14:2)
