A couple days ago, my friend Brenda came back from Seattle where her wonderful father had passed away.  He was always an example of Godly strength and integrity in her life.  He was a state patrolman in Washington most of his life, and to her, he always seemed to have all the answers.  But as he lay in his hospital bed with family gathering near, one lingering question remained.  He whispered to her, “I’m just trying to figure out how to get there.”

It seems to me, we all seek to answer that question in our own way.  Even people with no knowledge of God or of the sacrifice Jesus made to have us join Him in His presence, contemplate what it means to get there.

There are a lot of  people who believe their final destination is heaven, but we find it so hard to live with a heaven-minded focus all the time. Things jumble up our lives, get in the way and block the view of our destination.  I love how it’s stated in the Message Bible, in Hebrews 12:13, “So don’t sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall, so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle. Help each other out. And run for it!”

What is the one thing you look forward to the most when you get to heaven?  It seems to me, for most of us it’s the thing we lack most here on earth.  For some, healing is at the top of our list.  For others, it’s being reunited with loved ones.  For others, it’s the desire to sing and worship with the angels, or to see heroes of the faith, like Abraham and Moses.  But the one constant, is the desire to see Jesus, and to be like Him.  There is nothing that can compete or compare when it comes to our longing for Christ.

Kirk Franklin has a song that says, “You’ll wipe tears, You’ll say ‘well done’ and you’ll hold me close and tell me I’ve overcome, You will exchange joy for my pain, and I’ll praise your name Jesus, when I get there.”

Until we have the experience of “getting there” for ourselves, who can say how it’s really accomplished or how to control the timing of it.  We can, however, control how we live today, for it’s in how we live today that determines how we get there.  We can live today with hearts full of love, kindness, compassion and thanksgiving.  That alone can clear the road of clutter for someone else to follow.  We might be tempted to think we get there alone, but in reality, there is always someone else following on the road behind us, watching how we get there.  Like it says in Hebrews, we need to help each other out.  It’s our right and responsibility as His people to clear the path for others, and to run for it until we get there.