"Oh, the Places You'll Go!"

If you haven’t yet noticed, I have on a couple occasions received my blog inspiration from our Pastor Dean Wood.  This is another. 

Sunday’s message started with an analogy from Dr. Seuss’s famous “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”  Pastor Dean’s focus was that sometimes we find that the best course is both “inconvenient and unstrategic”.  His messages often trigger thoughts related to my current travels.  Having CLL with all the negative markers and awaiting a stem cell transplant is neither convenient nor planned.  But here we are.

You'll look up and down streets.  Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

Often as teens or young adults, we think we have our life course calculated and are confident of our final destination.  Yeah, right.  It doesn’t always work that way. 

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own.  And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

Perhaps we think we know where we’re going, but we don’t know how.  We think we know where we’re going, but we don’t know when.  We think we know where we’re going, but we don’t know why.  

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11

Ezra’s charge to the people of Israel was to stop their traveling for three days of fasting and prayer.  What?!  Why would we want to take time away from pushing forward just to fast and pray?! 

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't
Because, sometimes, you won't.

If we believe that God is in the journey, why do we insist on going our own way?  Strategy and planning are empty without the hand of God.  There is always so much that we want to do, but we rarely stop to listen.  What is the point of arriving if we are not also becoming the person He desires us to be?  What is the point of arriving if He’s not there? 

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

We have had to wait on this journey of ours.  Wait for a diagnosis.  Wait for test results.  Wait for treatment.  Wait for a donor match.  Wait for a plan.  God can teach us much in our waiting if we let Him.

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

Sometimes the wait is part of the journey.  Sometimes it’s a lack of willingness to shift into gear. 

But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your enemies prowl
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

I’m not sure of Dr. Seuss’s eternal view, but this particular verse is quite “you” focused.   If we continue to gaze at ourselves in the rearview mirror while our foot is on the gas, we will eventually crash.  If we keep our focus on the One we’re following, we will have a much better chance of arriving safely.  Sometimes we’ll need to stop and rest.  Sometimes there will be traffic.  Sometimes there will be storms.  We may have a flat tire or blow a gasket.  But if we know Who we are following, the Way will become clear.

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!

Just remember Who is the Author of the Journey.

“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

Proverbs 16:9