The Land Between

Northview, my church in Lafayette, is going through The Story. This was week/chapter 6 which is about the spies going into Israel, the Israelites sentenced to 40yrs in the desert, and Moses dying. David Choutka was preaching in Steve Poe's absence and began the message something like this (bear in mind that this is purely from my memory):

"My wife is a great packer. I'm banned from packing because she's just so good at it and I've screwed it up so many times. My job is to set up the GPS and do the driving. The first thing I look at is the ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival. My goal on every trip is to beat the ETA. If the GPS tells me I wont get there until 8:05, I do what I can to bring that down to 8:00, then 7:55, then 7:50. Then I hear the dreaded words, 'I gotta go to the bathroom.' After using the restroom or getting gas we get back on the road again and now the ETA is 8:20. AAAHH! It's so frustrating!"

I'm raising my hand in my heart. That's me. I've said or thought all of these things: How much over the speed limit can I go without getting caught? How long can I go without food before I have to stop for something to eat? We ONLY stop for gas!

What's my rush? Well, it's not that I don't love traveling. I love to travel, but I like being there even more. Is it a surprise to you that the primary reason I've actually finished reading a number of books I started reading was purely because I wanted to know how it ended? In my own life I've seen this desire to be at the destination or finish line, as it were, and wanting to skip what's in between the start and the finish.

I felt pretty convicted while I heard the Sunday message continue. "My wife asked me why I was in such a hurry. I said I wanted to just get there. 'And do what?' was her response. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that some of the best times I've had with my own family has been in-transit to the destination... The journey is what's called the Land Between."

The Land Between is where the real growth, the real story, happens. This is Moses' second round of 40yrs in a desert. God did amazing things in his heart the first time. Can you imagine what happened in the hearts of the Israelites in 40yrs?

I began to think about this in other contexts. I tried to imagine Cinderella without the Land Between: "This girl named Cindy met Prince Charming and they lived happily ever after." Lame story. Anything that makes the story of Cinderella unique or interesting happens in the journey. I also had a flashback to English 409: Introduction to Writing Fiction: "Only conflict is interesting. Literature revolves around conflict. The better your conflict, the better your story."

I'm currently in the Land Between. Yes, I'm close to completing my initial application for Wycliffe (woot woot!) and pretty much everything is looking up for me now, I'm nearing the end of it, but this is one of the most difficult Land Betweens I've ever been in. Pretty much all I've wanted from the beginning is to escape it. No joke.

It's not just my Land Betweens either. As a kid, all I've ever wanted was to be a grown-up. I never wanted to go to Neverland or never age with Peter Pan. When I was younger I wished I could fast forward to the part of my life when I would be married and having children. That was really living.

False. I mean, those things are great, I'm sure, but if there's so much more to life.

Being an adult is lame. Unfortunately, looking back, I wished away my childhood. I made myself grow up too fast because I was in a rush to get to the end of my journey. It wasn't until I was nearly graduated from high school that I realized I needed to enjoy where I was. I needed to cherish the time I currently had or I would regret it later.

I had the same realization again today. Yeah, it's the Land Between, but God is there in all seasons of life and in all circumstances. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. This Land Between is another chapter in making me more like Him (even if it doesn't feel that way).

God will provide for me in my 40yrs in the desert. He's put me there to prepare me for inhabiting the Promise Land. How much more I'll appreciate my destination after a long and weary journey. How many memories I can create and lessons I can learn in the Land Between.


~Christina

If you want to watch/listen to the sermon I've mentioned in this post, you can visit the Northview Church website and click "watch messages." This message was from March 10th.