#10 – Where are you going? – May 2, 2024

               John 3:8, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

               This past Monday was a day I’d been waiting for several months to come around; clear, breezy, dry, warm, and a good sit-outside-on-my-swing kind of day.  As I sat watching a few clouds skirt across the sky, I watched several jets passing overhead. Some jets were so high up that they were only leaving their sound and their visible white contrails as proof of their existence.

               And I wondered… who are the people in these jets and where are they going; New York, California, Alaska, or somewhere overseas?  Everyone knows “who” they are and, most likely, knows
“where” they are going physically but do they know where they are going spiritually?

In January 2000, leaders in Charlotte, North Carolina, invited the aging Billy Graham to a luncheon in his honor. Because of his struggles with Parkinson’s, he hesitated to accept the invitation but reluctantly agreed when they said: “We don’t expect a major address. Just come and let us honor you.”

After wonderful things were said about him, Graham stepped to the rostrum, looked at the crowd and said: “I’m reminded today of Albert Einstein, the great physicist who this month has been honored by Time magazine as the Man of the Century. Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of every passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn’t find his ticket, so he reached in his trouser pockets. It wasn’t there. He looked in his briefcase but couldn’t find it. Then he looked in the seat beside him. He still couldn’t find it.

The conductor said, ‘Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all know who you are. I’m sure you bought a ticket. Don’t worry about it.’

Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket.

The conductor rushed back and said, ‘Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don’t worry, I know who you are; no problem. You don’t need a ticket. I’m sure you bought one.’

Einstein looked at him and said, ‘Young man, I too, know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going.’”

Having said that Billy Graham continued; “See the suit I’m wearing? It’s a brand new suit. My children and my grandchildren are telling me I’ve gotten a little slovenly in my old age. I used to be a bit more fastidious. So I went out and bought a new suit for this luncheon and one more occasion. You know what that occasion is? This is the suit in which I’ll be buried. But when you hear I’m dead, I don’t want you to immediately remember the suit I’m wearing. I want you to remember this: I not only know who I am, I also know where I’m going.”

What comfort and peace to the believer to know who we are (a child of God) and where we are going (to be with Christ forever).

Do you know where you’re going?  If not, then use the spiritual G.P.S – God’s Precious Scriptures! They’ll not only tell you who you are but they’ll tell you exactly where you’re going!

Nancy Stoppe

Stoppe123@comcast.net