How To Know If You’re Called to a Journey or a Destination
If you like to travel, to go on a journey, there’s no better time to be alive. Catching a flight or renting a place in some exotic destination has never been easier. But that brings up a question – where? All journeys need destinations.
We go from and we go to. When the Barnes family and a few staff moved to Georgia 24 years ago, I felt God say, “You are the Barneses of Georgia now.” So that’s where we are from.
Abraham was not the first person that God called to move his family to Canaan. His father was. Abraham’s father started out on a journey out of Ur, but when he got to the town of Harran, it must have reminded him of his dead son Haran and he didn’t go any further.
It’s a poignant thing to be called by God to go somewhere and then to stop journeying, whether because of grief or some other painful thing.
God didn’t call Abraham’s father to the town of Harran, he called him to found a nation in a faraway land. And when he died in Harran, the call was still upon the family to go on the journey. It was up to Abraham, his son, to carry it out. The call was not so much to go on the journey itself as it was to found a nation. The journey out of Ur was what got them there.
I’m often asked, “What are your favorite places to go to?” And there are so many places I love – Italy, Cambodia, Guatemala and Swaziland for starters. But lately, one of the places is G42 and Spain. Originally Andrew Shearman had a dream – to found “The Institute for the Arts for the Glory of God” in southern Spain. It was a beautiful dream.
And on my last visit to the white-washed village of Mijas, overlooking the azure Mediterranean, there was Andrew’s dream in living color. Andrew and his wife Mo have a beautiful home there. Now in their 70’s, they have been faithful to the call and they are watching their dream live. I love going there because I love seeing Andrew and I love seeing the call of God that he has journeyed to come alive.
Organizations are often way-stations and vehicles for us. Adventures In Missions and Gainesville is not a destination anymore than Mijas is. The call of God on us is to raise up a generation of radical disciples of Jesus Christ. Wherever we go on our journeys, that is the promised land that we are journeying to – we are raising up a generation.
What is the call of God on you and what journeys are you on to get there? What places along that journey will be way-stations? The journeying life can be fun, but we need to never confuse the journey itself with the purpose and call of God on our lives.
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While on the journey on life we do expect fun and perhaps danger knowing His purpose and the call of God is my foundation.
For the last year I’ve circled the Eastern US and Canada on dozens of trips. On one occasion my co-driver was distracted on a busy bridge near Maryland. We came within two seconds of colliding with a stopped truck in the right hand lane.
We had seven people on board, not sure how many in the disabled truck. If the crash didn’t kill us than drowning probably would have and injured nearby travelers.
Every day the lighted billboard in Georgia and other places tracks fatalities on the roads. Being mindful of never taking for granted or confusing God’s purpose and calling along with His mercy and grace.
The journey is important, His call and purpose gives life.
Wow – that’s a scary story, Donald. Yes – God’s grace is something we should never take for granted.
When reading the title I thought “isn’t everything about the journey and not the destination?” and wondered how you would write on the topic…”God didn’t call Abraham’s father to the town of Harran, he called him to found a nation in a faraway land.”- wow! That is a journey. With a destination. The Way stations are everywhere and I feel like they can be several times a day. Can the call of God be our destination? Wherever He is, there I am.
I pray God speeds you on your journey, Jenn. He’s got great things ahead for you.