You Can't Get There From Here

“You can’t get there from here,” so goes the old joke as the bewildered traveler asks directions from the “helpful” but misinformed local. How many times in our lives have we thought this absurd statement to be true? Sometimes where we are now, and where we desire to be seem worlds apart. What goal in your life seems like an impossibility?

My husband and I took my daughter and her friend to a water park for her 10th birthday. I laid down the rules from the outset; the general mommy fare, stay together, stay with us, don’t run, etc. . . . As soon as we arrived they jumped on the biggest ride there which landed on the other side of the park. Incidentally, this ride was the only way to get to the other side, wonderful engineering! It was called the Stealth, the ride was the shape of a Stealth plane wing, it careens you up and down its triangular shape by your own momentum, until you slide off of the bottom and into a pool. Now, I am she who went to Disney World and only rode the teacups, and felt a little queasy when I did. I hesitantly climbed the wooden staircase to the summit of the ride. As I waited my turn, I had visions of a 10 and 8 year-old doing everything I asked them not to. As a tan, zinc-nosed teenaged boy began to shove my raft off the edge, my anxious face reflected in his sunglasses, I asked, “What are the chances of me flying off of this thing?” “Noooooone,” his reply was drawn out in the empty air and summer sun as I whizzed down the enormous wing. Evidently my body mass was enough to prolong the ride, I swung up and down, in ever smaller arcs until I finally slid off of the end. Slightly rumpled, I got on the Lazy River which floats around the perimeter of the park. I languished in the sun, floating slowly until I found the girls, who incidentally, were fine and thought I had lost my mind. One moment I was careening into oblivion and the next I was lazily floating to my destination. God moves us along the paths of our lives, sometimes at lightning speed and sometimes painstakingly slowly. The express route may be tragic, a death, illness or other great loss. It may be a promotion, sudden fortune or other windfall. The slow pace of everyday life may seem stifling or comforting. Regardless, God has a path and a plan for your life. He will be there with you every step of the way. If anyone ever tells you that you can’t get there from here, know that with God all things are possible! He loves you! I pray for your salvation and relationship with Him.

Patti