Playing in the parking lot

I spent a wonderful weekend with my college girlfriends, celebrating two new babes on the way and reminiscing about old times.

My best friend told a story about her trip to California a few weeks ago with her husband and her 2-year-old son.

She had bought her son some new sand toys, and they headed to the beach to see the Pacific Ocean for his first time.

When they got the little boy out of the car, he was so excited to use his new toys that he started to dig in the sand in the parking lot. When his parents wanted to head to the beach he said, "No, I'm digging in the sand."

She pointed and told him, "The beach is not here, it's over there. Follow me up the hill and you'll see the whole beach and the ocean. You don't want to play in the parking lot."

But he was having fun there and didn't understand that the beach would be so much better, so he refused to go with his parents.

Finally, they just picked him up and carried him to the beach, where he could dig so much deeper and had so much more fun than in the parking lot.

What a profound metaphor for our walks with Jesus.

How many times have we been content where we are, unable to move, even when we feel God prompting us to go?

"No, it's nice here. I am enjoying myself."

"But my child, I know what's over that next hill. It's wonderful. It's so much better than here. Just follow me."

"I don't want to!"

Sometimes it takes tears. Sometimes it takes God picking us up and forcing us to move. Sometimes we miss out on something that could be so much better because we just didn't want to move.

Is God telling you to leave the parking lot? Does he have something so much better over the next horizon?

Don't be afraid of what you can't see. God sees it all. He knows what he's doing.