The journey never ends.  When you read that statement does it frighten you?  Do you feel weary just thinking about it?  Perhaps the statement excites you thinking about the next adventure ahead of you.  Maybe you are not sure just what I mean by “journeys”.  A journey is a purposeful trip, usually of some length.  It is not completed in a few days but many.  Usually journeys involve varieties of experiences, great ranges of emotions, challenges,and relationships.  One likes to think that a journey involves an accomplishment; but sometimes just enduring the journey is the accomplishment.   

I am coming to realize that my whole life is a series of journeys like mission trips.  When one ends, another will soon begin.    Like when I was young . . . I loved going to amusement parks, literally running for the next ride or climbing the fences to get back on the same roller coaster.  Then the purpose of the journey was the thrills, the excitement  . . . the fun.  Most of the family vacations we took when I was growing up were fun.  But my parents had an ulterior motive.  Their hidden purposes were to educate us and strengthen relationships with us.  We traveled to Jamestown and Plymouth to see how the Pilgrims lived, to Mount Vernon and Monticello to find out about our Forefathers, to mountains and aquariums and zoos; all so we could broaden our experiences and widen our educational potential.   My heavenly Father has taken me on many mission trips; some known and planned, others covert and spontaneous.  I believe God’s motives are similar.  He wants to deepen relationship with me, just like my parents.  He wants to strengthen my character and develop a godly nature.  Spending time with Him in a project accomplishes so much between us.  Often the outward purpose of a mission is to impact others, to meet a need.  Yet, throughout the mission, it is amazing how He works.  Just like the internal edification He is accomplishing in me, together we are spending ourselves attempting to minister to others.  The way He blesses is exponentially explosive and implosive (is that a word?). I mean together you go off with a purpose to build others up, be it a person, a group, a nation; and at the same time you are impacting others, you yourself are being impacted internally.  Astounding, isn’t it?

What about the in-between times, the lags between purposeful mission?    Bus stops, waiting rooms, drive-thru lines . . . suddenly I am feeling impatient.  Trying to get somewhere, are you?  The traffic, the people, the weather . . . it seems like everything can be in the way.  Then there is boredom, doldrums, slack time, lag time . . . no body likes it when you put your rudder down and still go no where.  Waiting, do we know how to do this well?  Uh? Not really.  Why?  I think it is because we tend to be so self-focused.  Everything (we think) is about our agenda, what we need to accomplish, where we need to be and when we need to be there.  Yes, until suddenly you are blanketed by back to back blizzards or something important gets broken, like the landing gear.  If our self-focus causes us to be impatient, could we learn something from that?  I mean what if the reverse is true?  If we would focus on others, could we become more patient?  Standing in the grocery line, the express line with 15 other people in front of you, could you at the moment you start your heavy-sighing suddenly stop yourself and think of the clerk desperately trying to catch up or the mother of 4 kids all under 6 years of age in front of you.  Could you focus yourself on them for a moment?  Suddenly you could be on mini-mission trip.  If you could just begin to focus yourself on impacting someone else for good and (POW), you begin to grow inwardly.  Your smile returns and the tension leaves.  It’s not about you anymore, what a relief!

Even better, could you once more see yourself in relation with God in every moment in everyday?  Even when no one is looking . . . especially when no one is looking, open your heart to Him. In the over-stuffed, outrageously powerful moments and in the still, uncluttered moments, He is the backdrop of your life, the operating system.  Every moment, everyday.  Like fixing the car with your son or making strawberry shortcake with Mom, or watching the snow bury your lawn furniture or praying for the people parting at the airport,  the relationship with Him is the biggest journey of your life.     This is the journey that never ends.

I awoke this morning hearing a song inside of me singing, “Do you know, do you know, do you know what time it is?"  Over and over it plays inside of me today and I know that the Spirit of God desires us to respond and find out the answer.

            Although God lives outside of time, we do not.  Timing is important.  The Word of God honors the sons of Issachar because they knew what to do and had understanding of the times in which they lived.  Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees because they could predict the weather but could not read the signs of their times.  The Lord grieved over Jerusalem because they did not know the time of their visitation and soon afterward this city was razed to the ground.  The cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum were destroyed because they did not realize Who had come to their city.  They loved the miracles He did but they did not repent. 

            We must respond.  We must pay attention.  We must repent for being so focused on the minute details of our lives that we miss the purpose of our being here at this time.  Mordecai humbled himself greatly and wept in prayer to God when the destruction of his people was imminent.  He understood what was happening and caused Queen Esther to see the importance of her position at that critical time.  God positioned her to be queen, knowing that His people would come under a threat of genocide.  She and many others fasted and prayed and sought God.  Because of their faithful response the entire situation reversed.  It is time to seek the Lord.  It is time to fear God and revere Him above all things and people.  We must listen to what the Spirit of God is saying and respond in a way that pleases Him.   Each of us has a purpose.  God has positioned us.  But we must understand what we are to do and get our direction from the Spirit of God.  Know the times, seek God to understand your purpose in these times.  It is not an understatement to say that lives depend upon it.  

            Do you know?

            Do you know?

            Do you know what time it is?

Credits: I Chronicles 12: 32, Matthew 16: 1-3, Luke 19: 41-44, Matthew 11: 21-23, Esther 2: 20, and 4: 1-17 ; the teachings of Rick Joyner of MorningStar Ministries about knowing the times in which we live.

 Praying Sunday morning, a text came that I felt I should check.  The text was a forward that referenced me.  It said, “I felt a cry in my spirit for the church, tell Cheryl, God says, ‘Move’”.  Returning to prayer more alert now, I saw in my spirit a tuning fork.  God struck the tuning fork and a clear, pure sound went out into the heavens and the earth.  

            What is God saying to us?  Although I had the sense that God is adjusting me so that I be in tune with His sound, I checked out tuning forks and saw some interesting things.  Wikipedia says the main use of a tuning fork “is as a standard of pitch to tune other musical instruments.”  God’s sound is the standard.  Our sound is to line up with His.  We must be in tune with God.

            The article also mentioned some uses for tuning forks.  Other than tuning musical instruments, a tuning fork can be used in watches or in discerning if people have hearing problems.  In mechanical watches the tuning fork, with the help of a battery, can keep accurate time.  Spiritually God could be aligning us with His timing or checking the hearing of His people. 

            Are we hearing God’s sound?  Are we adjusting to it? Or are we out of tune with Him?  I looked at the reasons for a piano going out of tune.  An article gave the most common reason: changes in humidity.  If too much moisture is absorbed there is a swelling and the strings become too tight.  If there is too little moisture, dryness causes the strings to be loose and flat.  What kind of climate are you living in?  Are you swelling with pride or are you slack from dryness?

            Another reason for going out of tune is loose tuning pins.  This happens with age or if the instrument is kept in an environment that is too dry.  The only enduring fix is a deep renewal process where practically all the guts of the piano are removed and the pinblock replaced.  If this restoration process is done well the piano could last for another generation.   

            Pianos are built to last but if they sit for long periods of time without being tuned, they will take several periodic tunings to become stable and to keep their tune.  This is because there are so many parts involved, over 9000 perhaps.  When pressure is placed on one, the others push back.  It takes many tunings to get the adjustments balanced between all the interconnected parts.  Just as in the body of Christ, we are many members.  God has to make many adjustments until we all come into the harmony He destined for us.

            New strings get out of tune very easily and require frequent tuning until the strings stretch enough to hold the tune.  Pianos that are used moderately should be tuned at least twice a year based upon the changing seasons.  But for a professional, tuning should be much more frequent.  For concert halls or recording studios, pianos should be tuned before each performance.   This underscores the importance for me to get into God’s presence daily, to hear His Sound and to allow Him to make needed adjustments in my life.