The Journey

A Story...Lost in Time

I woke up in a daze. I felt out of sorts and wasn't quite sure where I was. I began to walk around as if I was in some sort of twilight zone.

There were lights and people everywhere. The streets were crowded as children and adults ran faster and faster to get ahead of the crowd. My heart began to race as the commotion grew stronger and stronger.

I stood in the center as if I were I statue frozen in time. Parents and children alike dashed passed me, breaking me down faster and faster.

There were tears and laughter and even screaming as people ran by. What was going on? What was this important?

I suddenly felt strangely cold as I wrapped my blanket tightly around my shivering body. My curiosity began dancing around in my mind and I was like a child in a candy store.

I had to know....what was going on!

I followed the ever growing crowd as we walked further and further into what seemed like the unknown. The dark clouds began to steam above our heads. My stomach began rolling in knots and this did seem good.

My feet grew tired and my body was numb.

My mind was racing as I wondered if we walking after anything at all. Could anything be this important?

This special?

Worth this?

Just when I felt like I could go on no more, I saw a light coming from the center of the crowd and a man collapsed on the ground.

Who was it? Where are we? What is going on?

I made my way closer as I heard some laughing and others crying; I was so confused.

"Crucify Him!"

WHAT?!?  It was Jesus.... Could this be real? This had to be a dream, but I was intrigued. I couldn't take my eyes off of Him.

I looked around and realized I was really in Jerusalem.

I watched as the crowd followed His broken and beaten body all the way to Golgotha to be crucified.  They yelled and screamed and my heart broke.

I watched Mary as she watched her son. She watched as He was beaten and hung on a cross. I looked deep into her eyes as I saw the love and hurt.

I was taken back to the manger and the moment He was born. Mary gave birth to the Savior of this world. She obeyed God and she loved Him and cared for Him. She trusted that God had a plan.

I wonder what so many must of thought as Jesus died on the cross that day. Where they too taken back to the manger and the realization that this truly was the Savior?

I think about the journey from the manger to the cross and what He went through to teach so many, and yet it was not until He was gone that so many really understood.

I thought about the journey of so many that walked that road to Golgotha. The tears, exhaustion, cold and fear no longer mattered. What mattered was that moment and that they believed. It wasn't how they got there, but that they had followed the journey.

I think back to my own journey and the one that we each face every day. When Bethany died part of me died and I didn't want to go on. I wanted to fast forward and just feel better, but I couldn't. I had to let my heart feel, heal and deal with what I had been through. I had to face the journey.

So  often we want to skip the journey and have God give us all the answers right away. We want to know why, when, where, and how at our demand and we forget that the journey is a precious gift. A precious gift teaching us patience, hope, love and perseverance.

Without the journey from the manger to the cross....there would be no reality that Christ loves us enough to walk through life just as we are. There would be no promise, no hope.

Without the journey we would have no hope that it truly does hold the most amazing and precious gift ever...eternal life.

"Every Journey starts with the First Step"... ann.