Desperate Destination

Often as a young boy, me and my brother would visit my Grandmother (Granny) and Grandfather (Granddaddy) in Caruthersville, MO (southeastern Missouri, right near the Mississippi River) during the summer months for a few weeks.

We would hang out with my cousin, Tim, the whole time. My Aunt Betty (Tim’s mom) lived about 3 miles from Granny and Granddaddy. We always looked forward to going to Aunt Betty’s so we could go crawdad fishing in a nearby creek. We would steal bologna or raw bacon from her refrigerator to use for bait. We would just tie a small piece of bologna to the end of a string and we’d be in business.

Tim would ride his bike to Granny’s house to see us. There were so many times that the three of us would ride on one bicycle to get to Aunt Betty’s house. When one or three are desperate to get somewhere, you can get pretty creative.

One would be riding on the handle-bars, one would be sitting on the seat with feet on the pedals. The other would be steering. He would be sort of standing on the feet of the one sitting down helping him pedal. We called it double-pedaling.

The one sitting down always ended up with sore feet, because his feet were being scrunched by the other. The one standing up pedaling always had sore legs. And the other one on the handlebars had the worst of it. He had a sore rear-end, was nervous and was just plain vulnerable.

We would rotate these positions to be fair. But we would not be denied of our destination. On the way we would always stop off at the pet store to check out the exotic life of this world (turtles and snakes). It was always a refreshing, air conditioned break.

It reminds me of our journey to our real home…heaven. Sometimes I look back and see how desperate I have or haven't been for Jesus in my life. Sadly, too often I've been more desperate for what I wanted than for being close to God.

The journey can be downright uncomfortable and painful at times. And sometimes we need a brother or sister to help us double-pedal through some tough times. When you share it someone else, the pain can be coped with a little better. And, sometimes we need to take a break to get refreshed as we continue on the journey.

How about you? Experienced any creative ways to get to where you want to go?