Are We There Yet?

Happy New Year! Yes, we are there! 2019 came in like a breath of fresh air – especially if you walked outside at the midnight hour to light some firecrackers or simply to take in 2019 from the outside in. Now, an entire year of awesomeness awaits us. The squares on our 2019 calendars are blank, but very soon those squares will be filled with a host of activities, events, ceremonies, birthdays, anniversaries and exciting opportunities for a new year of great conquests, victories, and adventures.

Back to my post title: “Are we there yet?” Those are familiar words to moms and dads who venture out to take road trips with their young ones. After the first hour of an eight-hour journey, they'll ask: “How long until we’re there?” Then, it’s “Are we there yet?” And that’s the language we often use with God. We pray for a quick fix or an on-the-spot answer to our prayers, but more often than not, God’s timing is NOT our timing. I’ll admit it. Sometimes God’s Word doesn’t make a lick of sense to me (as we say in the South). “If you say to this mountain, be removed and do not doubt in your heart, it will be removed!” (Mark 11:20) Okay. I’ve got this! “Mountain be removed!” Nada; nothing; zilch! I’ll try this one! “All things are possible to those who believe.” (Mark 9:23). I AM believing! Nada; nothing, zilch! I stare at the words on my thin-papered pages of my Bible and end up scratching my head with the end of my Bible highlighter.

I felt that way when I recently read this, “So God led the people by the roundabout way” (Exodus 13:18). This mind boggling little passage is about the Israelites leaving Egypt to go to their Promise Land. It’s before they messed up and God said they had to wander around for forty years. This is a whole different deal where God intentionally led them the roundabout way.

Have you ever felt that way? Did you have a lot of roundabouts in your 2018 year? I sure did, and I suspect that last year didn’t turn out the way many of you planned also. There might have been some chaos and something unexpected happened. If so, let’s take heart. It doesn’t automatically mean that we’re not in God's will. Sometimes He just leads us the roundabout way.

Why? Because His ways are not like ours. Because we think in minutes and He thinks "eternity". We barely see a foot in front of us and He knows the whole story, the whole winding way that is going to get us where He wants us to go. It makes me sigh and laugh when He sometimes takes the slower, scenic route.

Maybe this year I’ll act less like the kid in the back seat asking “Are we there yet?” every two minutes. Maybe I’ll roll down the window and enjoy the view. Maybe I’ll remember that life is like a road trip. It’s about so much more than just getting there.

We don't know what tomorrow holds -- or this new year holds -- but one thing we do know -- HE KNOWS and HE holds our tomorrows and, better yet, He holds our hands and is with us through the straight and narrow AND the roundabouts. Our future is so bright. Let's purpose to wake each day to the prospects of what each day will hold by Him Who knows everything about everything -- and with that kind of Trip Advisor, if we pay close attention, He'll guide us into making 2019 to be our best, most blessed year EVER!