Roads are for walking; journeys are for pilgrims. Christians are meant to be “pilgrims in a foreign land.” Life is not to be resisted or lamented, but to be wrung dry of every drop. Jesus said, “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of (John 10:10 The Message)” Destiny is not to be avoided or evaded; it is to be followed as we allow Christ to unfold His destiny for us.
Your journey is under the cross, and your road is to be walked with the shadow of the cross upon you…before you…within you. The cross is upon you with its claiming questions and its redeeming answers; it is before you with its magnetic pull and its mysterious summons. It is within you with the promise of power and throb of purpose. It is revealed in you through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
You go on toward Jerusalem, weeping over a city that erects a cross, rejoicing in a city that readies its palms. Little huts grace the sand hills, a Roman governor fills his basin, and a wealthy seeker prepares a tomb. You don’t know all that, and yet, you know it for certain. You often trudge, sometimes run, but you move towards a North Star that frequently steadies your compass and just as frequently makes it
haywire.
Along the way are thrones of death and roses of life. Thorns are for learning; roses are for smelling. Let the thorns teach the humility of a cross-laden life; let the roses fill your soul’s nostrils with the joy of a
cross-lifted life. As you Journey to Jerusalem, stop to smell the roses along the cross-shadowed way. Spend time reflecting on God’s Word that guides through the journey. Worship in community affirming the wholeness that the cross brings to all believers.
