“He hit me!”
“Well she stole my blanket!”
“Stay in your spot!”
“Don’t put your feet there!”
“Dad. Dad? Dad. Hey dad. Dad?”
“Can you turn the air on? It’s hot in here.”
“Give it back!”
“Be quiet, I’m trying to sleep!”
Ahhhh the pleasure of 12 hours in the car with multiple children and luggage in tow. With great anticipation, my family packed up yesterday and made the long haul to the beach for a week of fun and relaxation. The journey to get here was near miserable, but being at the beach makes all the bumps along the way so worth it.
Though we headed for a place we could not see, we were filled with excitement because we knew what was waiting for us. I tried to imagine the sand between my toes, the salty air, and the gorgeous sunsets. These visuals kept me focused on the goal, the destination at the end of the journey. But the truth is, the imagery in one’s mind does not do justice to the glory portrayed when you see these things for real. When you finally arrive and stand on the shore, you forget about the mustard you spilled on your shirt in the car on the way there. You forget just how loud the kids were smacking their pop tarts in the back seat. You forget how many yucky gas stations you stopped at for bathroom breaks.
Simply said, the beach is a wonderful place to be. Yet as I sit here relaxed and carefree, I’m struck by the truth that not even this beautiful place was meant to be our home. I wonder how such a seemingly perfect place is only but another stop on our way to our homeland. And the journey there? Well, it’s bumpy too. Full of lots of pain, discomfort, and problems along the way. Just like the journey to the beach, we’re headed for a place we cannot yet see. And as my mind tries to imagine just how wonderful heaven will be, I know that I cannot truly fathom all of its glory and perfection until I’m there.
But until then, we wait. We wait with great eagerness for a place that is yet to be revealed. And though the journey there is a difficult one, it’s one filled with beauty and blessings along the way. And though the sandy shores of Seaside are simply divine, Heaven is still better than the beach.
“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
2 Corinthians 5:1