Jeremy Myers
Summer is a busy season in ministry.
Over the course of the eight to 10 weeks of summer, camps, conferences and mission organizations provide numerous opportunities for service and encouragement for people of all ages. While it is a very exciting time, it also is a very exhausting season.
By the time you insert a vacation or a weekend away, the summer is spent, and you often find yourself needing a vacation from your summer vacation. But summer is a wonderful time of year, and I enjoy all of the opportunities for engagement it avails me.
During the course of all of those activities, there is usually quite a bit of time spent packed in close proximity to other human beings as you travel around. Over the course of this summer, I’ve traveled to Orlando to watch the Seymour Marching Owls and Guard do their thing on Main Street at Disney World, to Puerto Rico for the biennial gathering of the American Baptist Churches USA and this week, I’m on a mission trip with the student ministry of FBC in Huntington, West Virginia.
With all of that travel, I have heard the inevitable phrase that arises every time one travels a significant distance with children or youth: “Are we there yet?” On most of our ventures, this question comes out early and often. On this most recent occasion, the question was first posed before the bus tires left the parking lot at FBC.
Those asking the question obviously know the answer. If we’ve not left the parking lot, we’re not there yet. If we’re still flying down the interstate at upwards of 70 mph, we’re not there yet. If we’ve stopped at a fueling station along the way, we’re not there yet.
As the trip continues, the question becomes less a matter of obnoxious humor and a genuine desire for information. We’ve all been on long trips before and understand that the longer we’re stuck in the vehicle, the more uncomfortable we get and the more we are looking for the hope of arrival at our ultimate destination.
I find this to be a fairly accurate picture of how many of us approach a variety of things in life. We are constantly looking forward to arriving. As we go through school, we more and more look forward to the day when we graduate. As we move into adulthood, we look forward to getting into our career, getting married, growing a family and eventually retirement.
Throughout our lives, we make great efforts to move toward greater levels of stability and sustainability. We want to find our comfort zone and settle in for the duration. We want to arrive. In a metaphorical sense, we’re constantly wondering, “Are we there yet?” We have a bad habit of sacrificing the experience of the journey in favor of the destination.
We must be careful not to allow this attitude to adversely impact our relationship with Jesus. The invitation Jesus has offered is to follow (Matt. 16:24). The calling he has placed on each of our lives is to go (Mark 16:15).
Movement is assumed in our relationship with Jesus. It is a process that will not find its completion until the day we are standing in his presence at our journey’s end. In short, we have not arrived, nor will we this side of eternity.
We need to keep in mind the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:13-14. He writes, “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have laid hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.” We might paraphrase it this way: “I have not arrived, but I’m still on my way.”
We must learn to embrace the discomfort of the journey understanding that we are, all of us, in process. And it is in the experience of going and following Jesus that we learn and grow into the people he has made us to be. May we remember that we are not there yet and keep pressing on until Jesus gets us where we’re going.
The Rev. Jeremy Myers is the lead pastor of First Baptist Church in Seymour. Read his blog at jeremysmyers.com. Send comments to [email protected].