SILOAM SPRINGS — Six hundred and sixty-five miles was the distance from Siloam Springs to the wedding in Minneapolis. My family traveled through the corn fields of Iowa and the first interstate rest areas I have been to that had wireless Internet access.

After Iowa, we enjoyed the picturesque farms of Minnesota while shuddering from our mental pictures of so much snow, they would close the interstate with the gates we saw on many on ramps.

The wedding was our destination, but we enjoyed the journey.

Our travel route took us to the Strategic Air Command museum and the Blue Bell Ice Cream Museum and Soda Fountain. We read books, watched movies, talked, took pictures, enjoyed the scenery and just enjoyed being with each other, being out of our normal routine and anticipating the destination. Oh, the destination. It was the wedding of some of our most loved people.

The journey isn’t neutral. It adds to or detracts from thedestination. It would have been easy for tempers to flare and to begin the Blame Game when it was cold, rainy and we passed our turn for the campground. The sweetness of ice-cream cones from the Blue Bell soda fountain could easily have been eaten in stony silence after the stress of threading our tent trailer into an inadequate parking lot following the pressures of decision in the midst of traffic.

Conquering the challenges enhanced the joys they encapsulated while making us look forward to the destination - a destination devoid of stress and filled with grace.

I can be so worn out and irritated about things on the journey, I focus on the past trip and its problems instead of the present destination and the happiness it promises. Similarly good or bad circumstances can enhance my expectations of and excitement when I finally get to the destination.

Why do tires blow out, hotels fill up and GPS units miscue? Why did you happen to stop at that great little restaurant or take that road that had the prettiest sights and the greatest curves?

Many consider Solomon, an ancient king of Israel, one of the wisest people who ever lived. One of his proverbs says, “Don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God!”

John, a follower of Jesus, recorded the time Jesus said he was preparing a place for us in heaven. Not only was he making us a place to live forever, he was going to come back and take us there.

Did we get that? The destination is heaven, but the journey there will be with Jesus. Who better to tell our troubles to? Who better to brighten the gloomy day?

Who better to eat ice cream with? Who better to enjoy a wedding with?

Now what was the question again? Which is more important: the journey or the destination?

- Dr. Randy Rowlan is pastor of First United Methodist Church. Comments are welcomed at randyrowlan@yahoo.com.

Religion, Pages 6 on 11/04/2009

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