the gift of destination

I opened my email this morning to find I had a message from my friends at Southwest (they must be friends... I get an email from them almost every day!). It seems I have earned a 'rapid reward'. I have flown enough with them in the last 24 months to warrant a free trip! Woo hoo!

Anyhow, the subject line of the email is "Give the gift of Destination". I thought that was pretty clever... 'you have earned a free flight... give it to someone you love'... etc etc etc....

...then it occurred to me that 'the gift of destination' is precisely what God gives you and me.

My dad is somewhat famous (in our small circle) for saying "Christians have the best life here on earth and the best of the life to come"... and I know what he's getting at. But, really, God's promise to us has little to do with happiness in this life.... His servant Job summed it up pretty well: "Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble" (Job really knows how to bring down a room... if you don't believe me, just read the rest of Job 14... arrrgghhh!)

Anyhow, my point is that our life here is not even in the same zip code as heaven (even our feeble understanding of it)... and God's promise has very little to do with rewards or pleasure in this life, and everything to do with the splendor of our destination.

That's the true gift God gives... the gift of destination. We were made to look forward.... and upward...

and I cannot help but imagine, in my feeble little brain, that God is like a parent on Christmas eve who cannot wait to see his child's reaction to the awesome gift he has put under the tree.

For my part (though I can't begin to grasp the awesomeness of it), I am very very excited about the gift God has prepared.

The gift of Destination.