Our entire lives are one constant journey. We are traveling through this life day after day. What is the destination? Think about that, our destination honestly looks the same. We all die. In the end, all we worked for, all we survived, all we overcame, all we accomplished, it’s gone. The very homes we live in will one day be demolished. The cars we drive will all end up in a junk yard. Even those things you treasure so dearly will one day be handled by someone who outlives you and they will be left to decide what to do with it. And let’s be honest, most of it will be sold, given away or trashed.

ALL of this comes to an end. And all of US come to an end here at some point. One day you will be here, and the next you won’t.

I’m learning so much about life in this season of full-time travel. Two weeks ago we were in Tennessee, then we were at my Mama’s house in Missouri for a few days, now we’re in Texas with our soldier boy, and tomorrow we leave for Southern California. I literally wake up every morning not having a clue where I am, but I’m always thinking about where we’re going next.

And this is what I’ve found … I arrive here at our current destination, but I’m thinking about where we will go next. I’m planning the next step, thinking of the next stop, preparing for what’s coming and missing what is here.

Isn’t that the story of our lives? We’re here, but we’re not really here. Hey, just because your body is here in this place doesn’t mean your mind showed up too. You could be here in this moment, but not even aware of what is happening.

Lord, wherever we are, let us be there.

Let us not spend the precious days of this life worried about the next. And when I say worried, I don’t always mean that in a negative way. I’m not fretting over where we will be next week. I’m not negatively concerned about what’s happening next. But my mind is already there, while my body is still here.

And this is what is bizarre … where I’m at right now is where I wanted to be before. Where you are right now is likely where you once wanted to be!

I’m here with my soldier boy. I’m in the vacation house I chose online and looked forward to. I’m sharing coffee with the people I wanted to see and hug. But instead of being fully here where I wanted to be, I’m wandering off into the unknown of what’s coming next. It’s like I’m traveling forever and never arriving.

Dang, isn’t that what we do with our entire lives?

We’re traveling forever and never arriving.

Last night I watched the movie “Passengers” with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. They’re 2 passengers traveling through space for 120 years. Their travel is designed to keep them in hibernation the entire time so they do not age, they just sleep and then wake up upon arrival. But something goes wrong and the two of them wake up 30 years into the journey. Now they’re stuck on this space ship for 90 years, just the 2 of them traveling forever and never arriving. They realize their entire lives will be lived out and their travel will never end.

The feeling of knowing I may not live to get where I think I’m going. I will be traveling all my days, yet I may never arrive.

I traveled right through my 20s and 30s. Dang did they go fast. I don’t remember much about that season of life because I was focused on where I was going next. I was so busy trying to raise kids that I forgot I was RAISING KIDS. They were there, in my home with me daily, until one day they weren’t. I traveled right through that.

Dang it, we must learn to STOP along the way. Pull it over on the side of the road sister and look around. Where are you at on your journey? I’m not asking you where you’re going and what you’re trying to get to, I’m asking you where are you RIGHT NOW?

YOU HAVE ARRIVED.

You’re here.

Although your alarm failed to tell you when you woke up, you just arrived to the exact day of your life all your other days have been building up to.

Jesus showed us how to travel through life in different way. You see, wherever he was, he was there. Right there, in that moment, fully present. Where he was was exactly where he was supposed to be for a divine reason.

What if where you are is where you’re supposed to be for a divine reason? What if today, this day, the day all the days of your life have brought you to, is filled with purpose? But the danger is you will rush right through this day as you focus on getting to the next. What could you miss here today? Maybe you’ve arrived and you don’t even know it.

John 4 tell us us about Jesus traveling from one place to another. He stops along the way to rest. His disciples go on ahead to get food and bring back to him. Jesus stays in the shade of a well in the hot sun. There at the well, in the middle of what seemed to be an ordinary day, a woman comes to draw water.

And Jesus was right where he was supposed to be when she arrived. He was there, fully there. This woman had no idea what this particular day of her life would hold. She didn’t know she had just woke up to a day of life that would change all her future days. And she certainly didn’t know she was about to have an encounter that would impact countless lives beyond her own lifetime.

She is the woman at the well. We know her story. The story of a woman who had been married many times. This was a woman with a history, and her history caused her shame. She was there at the well in the heat of the day alone because she was an outcast. The other women of the town came to the well in the morning together, but she was not welcome with them. She was there alone … and what she didn’t know is Jesus was waiting to meet her.

She was the very first person Jesus revealed his full identity to. In John 4:26 he said;
“I, the one speaking to you—I am (the Mesiah).” She believed him because he had just told her the truth about all the shame and guilt she had been carrying. He had to be the savior of the world, the one she had heard about, and here she was face to face with him in this moment.

But she could have missed it. She could have been so busy with her work of drawing water that she never engaged in conversation with him. She could have been so embarrassed by her past that she ran with her shame and guilt. She could have been so consumed with all she had to do next that she missed what was here now.

I wonder where Jesus has been along our journey, but we missed him. I wonder what encounter he had aligned for us, and we were there, but not really there. We missed it. We’re traveling forever and never arriving.

Wherever you are today, please look around and see YOU HAVE ARRIVED. You woke up today to the very things you once prayed for. Your reality may not be perfect, but dang there are plenty of things that are REALLY RIGHT, right?

Just like Jennifer Lawrance on that ship in “Passengers” traveling through space, knowing she will never get out of it alive, we are traveling through our lives and we will not get out of this thing alive. Most every day of our lives will feel like ordinary days. They will be days that we once looked forward to, but once we’re there we will be thinking about the next days.

And if we’re not careful, we will miss where we are is exactly where we’re supposed to be.

Let us travel like Jesus. Wherever we are, let us be there. Engaged. Aware. Grateful. Purposeful.

Today, you have arrived. YOU ARE HERE. This is the day you’ve been traveling towards your entire life. What is here for you today? Open your eyes wide to experience it.