Ezekiel 18:30-32  “Therefore, I will judge each of you, O people of Israel, according to your actions, says the Sovereign Lord. Repent, and turn from your sins. Don’t let them destroy you! Put all your rebellion behind you, and find yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O people of Israel? I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live!” (NLT)

Psalm 1:1  
How well God must like you— 
you don’t walk in the ruts of those blind-as-bats, 
you don’t stand with the good-for-nothings, 
you don’t take your seat among the know-it-alls. (MSG)

Psalm 1:6  
GOD charts the road you take. 
The road they take leads to nowhere. (MSG)

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Yesterday was C-Day. Every three years, I have the opportunity for the doctor to check me out in one of those exams that requires a nap on my part and an invasive instrument in the doctor’s hands. Preparation began Monday evening with my personal last supper. Tuesday was a day of fasting and water and a rather disgusting beverage requiring fortitude in receiving its medicinal purpose and its long-lasting results.

Yesterday morning began with more of the same. 

It’s really not as much fun as it sounds. 

The clinic playlist was attuned to the age range of those of us gathered behind the sheets demarking our space to await our chance to ride in style into the very cold room with the very invasive procedure. The best part of it all was the nap. 

Why do we endure such procedures? Because we want to stretch our endurance upon the face of this earth. Because we want to get well and stay that way. Because we have delights and joys we want more and more of, and we want to avoid the pains and problems associated with pretending we don’t need a doctor to tell us how to live.

Why do we fight death so hard when heaven is so good? We find a bit of an answer in the Bible verses above. God wants us to live, really live. He wants full and meaningful lives for each of us. John 10:10 in the New Living Translation says, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

God wants you to enjoy a rich and satisfying life. Don’t let the adversary or any of his allies convince you otherwise. 

Ephesians 2:10 compounds this truth when it says, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

God created us anew in Jesus to do the good things he planned for us before the world began. 

Psalm 1:6 and Psalm 23 declare the same truths. God has a path for each of us. We don’t walk anyone else’s path. We don’t live anyone else’s life. God has an individual, personalized plan that is better than any we could chart for ourselves. Psalm 1 tells us about two paths: the right one and its benefits, and the wrong one and its unwelcome experiences and destiny.

GOD charts the road you take. 
The road they take leads to nowhere.

God wants to take you somewhere. God will be with you everywhere you go. The end of God’s path for each of us leads us into his perfect peace and joyful presence forever and always. It is there where we discover what we became and are fitted with a new name (Revelation 2:17; 3:12) as we live beyond our years in the delights and joys of what life on this side of the curtain made possible through rest and work, and by knowing and experiencing God along the path he laid out for us. 

The best is yet to come. Today is Preparation Day. Today is the test. That Day is the outcome we long for our whole lives. It is all we really wanted. It is all we really needed. It is Graduation Day. It is entry into the Land of No More Night and No More Tears. It is the Land Where Dreams Come True. 

Endure the prep. Take the test. Receive the results. Learn to laugh more heartily than ever as only forever makes possible. 

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I will live, really live here and now, there and forever. 

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Our Father, I am ready for today’s walk. Empower me for the steps before me. Enrich my walk with you now so that I become all you dreamed I would be. Use me to empower and enrich others along this journey so that they too may learn how to walk, how to dance, how to live, and how to exchange their tears for laughter echoing across eternity. Amen.