The “bumpy” road…

Recently, my son and I went to my in-laws to work on their computer.  On the way back, he asked, “Daddy, are we going to go on the bumpy road?”  Let me stop here: he classifies roads into one of two categories – bumpy and blue.  The bumpy ones are the concrete interstate roads – quite a comment for our friends at the DOT, but that’s not the point – just interesting.  The asphalt roads are the blue ones.  He prefers the blue ones – especially when we take my 4×4 truck to go places – because they are smoother and don’t jar his tiny brain around as much.  My in-laws live in a community that is on the other side of the AR river and we have to cross the river using a bumpy road to go back and forth.

Resume story:
I answered, “Yes, we have to go back on the bumpy road to get home.”
“Why?” (imagine a 3-yr old whine there).
“Because that’s the only way to get from here to home.”
He countered with, “But I don’t like bumpy roads.” (pitiful-meter at full tilt now)
“I’m sorry, but there’s not another way home.”

This exchange happened to resonate with me at another level right there in the truck.  I thought about life and how bumpy it can be and how at times, I long for a stretch of blue road every once in a while.  Even more profound is the thought that we must endure the bumpy roads to get HOME.

God didn’t design life with only blue roads for a host of reasons, but one that I was reminded of is that the bumpy roads make me look forward to home that much more.  Hope in heaven is lost on me most of the time as I’m such a “here, now” guy, so I’m glad that God uses those around me (my kids especially) to help me glance up and out from time to time.

How about you – is it time to look toward something rather than enduring the here and now?