I want to preface everything I write with a simple, yet profound truth; Christ in us, the hope of glory. God dwells in us, in Christ. It is Christ who heals us and changes us from the inside out. It is the work of the indwelt Holy Spirit whose working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. The fruit of this work is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. This is the fruit of a growing relationship with Jesus.

In the movie Phenomenon, John Travolta's character nearing the end of his life makes an interesting statement. He said “Everything is on it's way somewhere” and I pretty much have to agree with his character George Malley's statement. Certainly in the context of time, we can see how as time progresses things get older. We are born, we are growing, maturing and eventually dying to be reborn, so to speak, in Heaven. Life moves forward. Even when we stop moving, we are still going somewhere (usually backwards).

I remember as a boy growing up being told that life will really start when I reached high school. I reached high school and realized that there was so much more of life still to come. “Ah post secondary that's when life starts, on my own, making my own decisions” and guess what still more life to come. Then it was when I get a job, and then when I get married and when I have children. Then when I make more money and then when I retire. Each milestone in my life turns out not to be destination but a marker along the road of a greater journey. A new vantage point to see the next leg of the journey. For many years though I lived for the destination. Life would truly begin as I achieved the next level and lo' and behold, as wonderful as it was, it never satisfied the hope I had for it. It was life lived for a series of goals and how to get there as quickly as I could. Problem was there was a lot of life in between destinations, which if I had to do it again, I would enjoy the journey day by day, moment by moment.

A bunch of us took a trip from Taber to IHOP in Kansas City. It was a 27 hour drive so we decided that driving straight through the night was the way to do it. What beautiful scenery we missed as we traveled through many states we'd never seen before. This was made apparent one early morning as I woke for a moment to see a sunrise in North Dakota that I will never forget. Yes, we got to IHOP, had a great time and yet missed 27 hours of the wonder and beauty along the way.

'The journey is the destination' for Christians this side of eternity. If we understand that Jesus can be found in the midst of every moment, Christianity is no longer about getting somewhere as much as it is a growing relationship with Jesus nurtured along the journey of everyday life – though exciting things and not so exciting, through happy and peaceful moments, and hectic, painful moments. It is in the journey of life with Jesus we find significance in each breath, in each person we meet, in each conversation, in each dirty diaper and each shed tear.

We as Christians have an eternal hope, we will live eternally with Jesus in the new earth with a new heaven. Where there will be no more pain, no more depression, no more frustration, no more loneliness. We will live in continued contentment, joy and peace with Jesus forever! This is the eternal hope and good news of Jesus and the Kingdom of God! Furthermore, we are not left on our own to 'hang in there' until we go to glory. The cross means that we can live everyday, all of life with a loving personal God! He will never leave us or forsake us! There is no need to strive to gain Gods love or acceptance! Secure in the hope of eternal life and the indwelt presence of Jesus, we walk this journey of life with Him. This is really good news!

This year the Lord is taking me a little deeper into this theme. Together, we'll be walking this year as He helps me to learn to live in the present moment of His presence. He is no longer in the past for it is gone. He is not in the future as it hasn't come yet. He is with me now, in the present moment and every moment to come. I am learning to see Him moment by moment, when I am working on ministry stuff, hanging out with friends and family, wrestling with the loss of a friend, feeling misunderstood and misjudged and even when I walk through health concerns with someone close to me.

It is a journey. It is the natural process of life - growing, learning and experiencing, being loved and loving others! We are saved and yet working out our salvation, we are on a journey through to the end of our earthly life and on to our eternal glorious hope in Christ. We celebrate the milestones along the way but we experience life, abundant life in the present presence in the present moment.