On The Road Again

“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. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2-3)

The next line of this famous Willie Nelson song says, “Just can’t wait to get on the road again…” He has to be crazy. I just got back from four solid days of driving. I close my eyes and see nothing but white lines and green signs. For those of you who attend Crest Bible Church, I have announced over the past few weeks the story that led to this marathon road trip, and I will summarize here for the rest. My mom and dad for the last 19 years have done the “snow bird” thing and spent the winter months at South Padre Island at the very southern tip of Texas. They love it there, evidenced by the fact they have done this for 19 years in a row. My dad is 87, and my mom is 81, and she does all the driving since he can’t see very well anymore. He only drives when the fog is thick, because it doesn’t matter if you can see then. As their age has advanced, the trip has posed greater challenges each year. But it is one of the great loves of their lives, and they continued to make this trip despite the challenges. We kids were increasingly squeamish about it, but you can’t roll up in a fetal position and quit living. There is risk in any venture of life, and if you don’t take a few of them, you aren’t living. Within reason, it is usually better to do the things you love rather than fret about what might happen.

This year’s trip went off the deep end. About 6 weeks ago, my dad took very ill and ended up in a hospital and then an assisted care facility in Texas. It became gravely serious, and my 81 year old mother was left with the burden of trying to manage this completely by herself while being exactly 1,062 “mapquest” miles from home. Some of my siblings took time to fly down and stay with her for a few days, and we tried to manage some of the medical decisions by phone and email from Kansas City. We almost lost him, but as time went on, he began to recover, and plans were made to “Medivac” him home. I volunteered to take this portion of the mission, and with the help of my brother Keith, we drove 1,062 miles down to Texas, loaded dad in a car, and drove them home another 1,062 miles. Including running around southern Texas for half a day taking care of last minute details, we traversed about 2,300 miles from 7AM Monday to 8PM Thursday. God gave us a great trip, mom and dad did fine with all the struggles of that type of travel, and we were able to get them home so that dad can continue his recovery and his life with his family.

I love driving. Road trips are always fun for me, but I don’t want to see another freeway for a while. Instead, I am looking forward to the next big trip on the itinerary – the rapture of the church. This world is in a mess. Its inhabitants are sick; yea nigh unto death. We are thousands (upon millions) of miles from home, and we are holding on for dear life. While we are here, our job is to rescue the other sick inhabitants and figure out a way to get them safe at home in the loving arms of the Saviour. Our only solution for the ills of this world is a “Medivac” mission to transport us to the home that Jesus has been preparing for us. Since he was a carpenter when he was here, and since he has the power to create from the spoken word alone, and since he has had a full 2,000 years to work on the place, I can only imagine that it must be awesome!

Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” If your faith is fully deposited in him, you have nothing to worry about. He will get you home. While you are biding your time here, holed up in the infirmary of this world, figure out a way to add a few more souls to the trip. Don’t worry about space. He has plenty of room. As the old hymn says, “Though millions have come, yet there is still room for one. There is room at the cross for you.” Get ready to take the “road trip” of the ages. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!