25 March 2009 ~ 4 Comments

The Journey

Yesterday I left Temecula to head toward Santa Cruz at approximately 1:00 p.m.
I finally arrived at my home at approximately 3:15 a.m.
How did a drive that can be accomplished in 7 hours end up taking 14 hours?
Simple.  I grew up in Southern California.  I worked in Southern California.  I have lots of relationships in California.  So I can't drive through cities without stopping to spend time with people.
So I stopped to hang with a portion of the staff from my Long Beach church family.
I stopped to hang with an old friend who's a college pastor in Downey.
I stopped to literally meet my half-sister in Thousand Oaks.  Well, I met her once when I was 14, so this qualifies as meeting in my book.

I realized on the drive home (which left lots of time for thinking) that this is a microcosm of how I view and approach life.
1.  It's more about the journey than the destination.
2.  The journey is all about the relationships.

So my encouragement…slow down today.  Take a moment to stop sprinting to the finish line without much regard for the people or the process.
Don't get me wrong.  The finish line is important.  But the reality is, in real life, it is either moving or just leads to a new finish line.
You'll spend a lot more time on the journey.  So put a little extra investment in a relationship along the way today.  In the end, it will probably be worth the time.

4 Responses to “The Journey”