Joy of the Journey
I admit that I am a little excited this year for Annual Conference. That is VERY unusual for me! First of all, I'm working with the youth caucas...a group of youth who are interested in loving Jesus, serving, and having fun the whole time. Also, a few good friends work with them too so I get to hang with some great people for the week. The theme or Bishop Tom Bickerton's opening message is "The Joy of the Journey" which I am anxious to hear. What a cool concept. If there is one thing I sometimes lack, and something I think our churches sometimes lack, it is joy in the journey. Getting there is half the fun. Coming back from vacation on Sunday, Carla and I got stuck in an hour and a half traffic jam south of DC. There was an accident and it took us that long to go 4 miles!!! We could have walked faster. But the time went by like the snapping of a finger. We sat there in our trusty van and just talked and talked and talked. I barely even noticed the delay in our trip. Why? Because the joy was in the journey as much as it was in getting home. I don't want to miss Jesus on my journey through life. I want to make sure I am seeing Him and grabbing His hand as we walk together down that narrow road that leads to life...
As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." (2 Corinthians 6:16)
5 comments:
Have you read John Ortberg's book "The Life You've Always Wanted"? Chapter 4, entitled 'The Dee Dah Day', is aboout joy and celebrating life NOW. We are always waiting for the perfect day to celebrate meanwhile many, many moments to celebrate are passing us by today. He says we are killing time and therefore killing ourselves.
Praise God for your 'Dee Dah Day' as you were stuck in traffic...otherwise you would have missed great conversation with Carla.
The idea of Conference as a means of grace is powerful...one which we don't always live effectively, either because some of us ignore our vows and skip out early or because our leadership lead us into a wilderness state that week in June.
That said, I'm not looking forward to it as much this year. Maybe I'm just tired, maybe the politics of the Conference has me in a skeptical mood, maybe because with an impending move, there's a lot on my plate.
PS - "Caucus" is spelled C-A-U-C-U-S. In the love of Jesus.
I'm going to make you a tape of what it sounds like when all four kids are in my van for an hour and a half. You can pop it in whenever you'd like and see how it feels to walk on the dark side. Just kidding. Having kids doesn't make waiting any better or worse, really. Time is time. It's what you do with it that matters. Sounds like you and Carla really enjoy each other's company. What a blessing. I'm really happy for you!
P.S.
That McIlwain guy is really picky. I'm glad I never have to spend an hour and a half doing anything with him.
In the love of Jesus.
r
:)
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