When you begin planning a trip you first consider the cost and then you look at a map and consider the route you will take. Many times you make adjustments depending upon the date you have set and even how long the trip will take. You leave the packing to the last minute taking note not to forget anything. Some make lists with many revisions. Some just play it by ear! When the money is gone they go home!
Jim, Jennifer and I are planning a trip to Iowa where I was born and to see my brother and his family that never left. Money has been somehwat accounted for and Jennifer has been looking at maps and places we will stop on the trip going and the return trip, taking a different route. She loves planning; this is up her alley and so we best not deviate from the plan.
Jim tells the story of a ship that was heading for Singapore, once upon a time. The captain planned and plotted the course that would take him there. During the voyage a great storm came up and caused the captain to detour and take a different route. He was still headed for Singapore but now it looked like he was headed for somewhere else. After avoiding the storm, an ocean current pushed his ship off course and he had to correct his heading once again. It caused him to be back on course; headed for Singapore.
Many times we are headed in one direction with a destination in mind but circumstances come up and we discover our course of direction has changed; even to the point of a brand new destination. When these events cause our courses to change, we decide that perhaps this is God's will for us and we rest in His promises and set off with hope in our hearts.
"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." John 1:1-2 There is come controversy about whether the road to Calvary was planned in the beginning before man appeared or if it was planned after man had sinned and it became more apparent to God that there was no other way for man to return to Him but through Christ's shed blood.
Personally, I believe the plan was already in place. The Old Testament became a school to teach right from wrong and the penalities for disobedience. After the flood and man found his way back into his sinful ways; God put His outline into focus and the path was being prepared through prophecy and their fulfillment.
"When the days drew near for Him to be received up to heaven, He set His face to go to Jerusalem." Luke 9:51 "Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem." Luke 13:33 Jesus was on the path and nothing would deter Him; His mind was set and His eyes were fixed on Jersalem. The place of the scull; the place called Golgotha; Calvary!
"And taking the twelve, He said to them; 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written of the Son of man by the prophets will be accomplished'." Luke 18:31 I can't imagine what went through the minds of the twelve. I can't imagine their frustration because of His determination to go to the place that surely meant death. I can't imagine!
"And when He drew near and saw the city He wept over it, saying; 'Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes'." Luke 19:41-42 We know so much more than they did; we know more because the Word that became flesh is the book we live by. Jesus who was in the beginning; the Alpha and the Omega is present in us through the Holy Spirit. Easter is coming and the world celebrates eggs and bunnies. Easter is coming and we sing; "Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" Jesus and Calvary meet at the end of the road! Jane Ann Crensha 3/22/10
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