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The Greatest Trip You’ll Ever Take

I recently saw a report that said, most people spend more time planning a two-week vacation than they spend in a lifetime planning their trip to Heaven.  Have you ever given it much thought?  What’s the journey to heaven all about?  After all, aren’t we all just tourist passing through?  Commit to burn a few mental calories at the beginning of this new year and watch what God can do through you, the lives of your family, and those in your circle of influence.

When we plan a two-week vacation we schedule flight, make hotel reservations, buy tickets, and research all the highlights in the cities we’re visiting.  Also, we would never leave home without making sure that everything was safe and secure while we were away.  So how do we get ready for our trip to Heaven?  Plan, Pack, Pray.

Plan

Steven Covey in, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, says begin with the end in mind.  What’s the end game of every good vacation?  In other words, what’s the barometer of a great trip?  You might be able to sum it up in one word, memories.  During every family reunion we all love to sit around and share our favorite memories of our family trips.  By the way, some of those memories are not when everything went perfect.

God has started us on this amazing journey called life and we will intersect the journeys of hundred of others along the way.  It’s at those intersections where the real importance of our lives happen.  As Christ followers every intersection is an opportunity to leave a lasting impact.  God has a plan for your life, but it’s only when you invite Jesus into your life and commit to His ways that God’s plan will begin to come into focus.

Pack

A friend of mine recently lost her father and at his funeral he had requested that the hearse pull a small U-Haul with a sign that read, “you can’t take it with you”.  I love Christian funerals.  There is still grief, but there is also celebration.   Packing is all the stuff you going to take with you on the trip.  On a summer vacation trip, we would pack cloths, toothbrush and take a few extra dollars out of the bank, but if we can’t take any of those things to heaven what do we pack?  If Packing is all the stuff you take with you then it’s these two things:  your personal relational experiences with God, and the memories of all those you poured into over the year with the message of Gods love.

Pray

At my house we start praying for our trips the minute they go on the calendar.  Think about all the things that can interrupt your plans and all the things that must go right.  So, start praying for your trip to Heaven.  I pray this prayer often; “God I love being Karla’s husband and I love being Chandler and Miranda’s father.  If it’s in your will I will strive daily to be a great husband and father and to serve you faithfully in the positions you have place me.”

Pray that God will sharpen your spirit to recognize every moment and to be ready with the words that will pierce the darkness and to shine light on the path of hope.  You will begin to see the waitress, the barista, and the mechanic differently.  You will begin to recognize the subtle cues from the Holly Spirit as He helps you pack the most into those intersections of life and pack them with eternal impact.

Big Picture

I am proud of all Royal Ranger Commanders.  They might not have every considered this, but by saying yes to the call of Royal Rangers they were allowing God to use them to change someone’s world and in turn started packing for their trip home.

The people that have inspired you the most are not those who lost the most weight or finally became debt free, there the people who have changed the world through there impact.  Everyone has the ability, through God, to change someone’s world, and that’s when you’ll know your ready for the greatest trip you’ll ever take.