Destination Influence

In getting ready for my trip to Israel, I was pouring shampoo from a large bottle into a travel sized bottle.  As the smaller bottle began to fill something interesting happened.  Because of the thickness of the shampoo, there began to be something of a "pile" or mound of shampoo in the middle of the travel bottle .  The stream from the bottle of origin began to pour down the side of this little peak of shampoo in the middle of the bottle and started to move around the mound. 

This made a hard task even more difficult because the travel bottle had a small opening and now the stream of shampoo I was pouring began to dance around making it difficult to keep from spilling on the edge of the travel bottle.  Thankfully this dancing stream was short lived as the bottle filled up.

It dawned on me how the stream of shampoo became more determined by its destination than its origin.  That should be a good thing for us to aspire to as Christians.  As I was getting ready for this trip, my thoughts turned more and more to my destination.  There were a lot of preparations to make for being in another country.  The Christian life ought to be more and more like that as we mature.  We should become more influenced by our destination than our origin.  We should be getting ready for living in a new place.  The difference between my trip and our journey as Christians is that my trip is temporary, our trip and destination as Christians is permanent.  We are not getting ready for a visit there we are getting ready to live there eternally. 

So what is influencing more of your life today - your place of origin or your destination?  What preparations are you making for your journey?  Why not start today?

For the journey...
Tim