“Don’t get off the journey.” Those words were like honey to my lips when I heard them in Cavite, Philippines that night. As I was standing in service that night, Planetshakers were leading in worship, and brother Billy Wilson asked me if he could pray for me for a moment. As he laid hands on me, the Lord used him in a mighty way to prophetically speak into my life and future. The Lord was saying to me, “Don’t get off the journey. Stay on the journey. Don’t try to hurry it. The Lord will take you places you have never dreamed of.” Praise God! God has me on a journey that He will lead. No need to fret.
What simple words. But at the time they were rhema to me. As I ended my week in the Philippines this last July, I was about to start the 24-hour trek back home to Cleveland, TN. This was my intended travel itinerary, my 24-hour journey, if you will: Manila, Philippines to Tokyo, Japan; Tokyo, Japan to Detroit, Michigan; Detroit, Michigan to Chattanooga, Tennessee (not Atlanta, Georgia). After a week of such refreshing, I could do nothing other than praise God on my flight from Manila to Tokyo. I arrived in Tokyo, grabbed a Starbucks, and then loaded the 13-hour flight to Detroit. As anyone over 6 feet tall would do, I spent most of that flight standing near the bathroom. My legs are just not cut out for those small seat spaces. By the time I arrived in Detroit, I was worn out because I did not sleep the night before I loaded the plane (so I was going on about 20 hours of no sleep). It was 12:00pm in Detroit, and my scheduled flight leaving for Chattanooga was not until 7:30pm that evening. It was scheduled to arrive in Chattanooga at 9:50pm. Surely there had to be an earlier flight leaving for Atlanta, GA and then I could catch a flight from Atlanta onto Chattanooga and get there way before my flight from Detroit would get me there.
Then the bright idea hit me: I will go to the Delta desk and see if they can re-route me to Atlanta asap, and then I can fly from Atlanta to Chattanooga and be home to see my wife and son much sooner than scheduled. So I approached the Delta desk. Bingo! There was a flight leaving Detroit to Atlanta at 1:30pm! I would make it to Atlanta by 4:10pm, leave Atlanta at 4:45pm and be home in Chattanooga by 5:30pm. I had figured it out. I had managed a way to hurry the journey.
By the time the plane for Atlanta got in the air, I was already fast asleep. Next thing I knew I woke up and the pilot said that we had been delayed to land in Atlanta because of a storm and that we would be arriving 45 minutes late. I looked down at my watch. It was already 4:45. NO! I had already missed my flight to Chattanooga. Once we landed, the Atlanta airport was more packed than I had ever seen it. I was placed on a waiting list for Chattanooga, and then I received the much dreaded information for someone who had already been traveling now for about 22 hours. I would have to wait until the next morning to catch a flight to Chattanooga. Frustrated and without even a thought about God, I grabbed my carry-on items and began walking out of the airport to catch a shuttle from Atlanta to Chattanooga. I didn’t even care if I left my checked luggage behind. I would figure that out later. The two-hour packed shuttle ride would be way better than spending the night in the airport. I had caused myself an absolute headache by switching and alternating my scheduled route.
As I was walking through the packed concourse, the Spirit of the Lord whispered into my heart as clear as day, “What did I tell you this week in the Philippines? Don’t get off the journey. Stay on the journey. Don’t hurry the journey.”
The people around me probably thought I was crazy. I was almost moved to tears. I had caused myself unnecessary pain and headaches all because I attempted to speed up the journey. My impatience had created a mess.
I loaded the shuttle and took the two-hour ride to Chattanooga. When I arrived there, my wife picked me up and I sat down in the passenger’s seat. We pulled out of the shuttle station, and I glanced at the clock on her dashboard. It read 9:51pm. I surely enough had arrived in Chattanooga at the exact same time I would have arrived if I would have waited in Detroit for my flight.
Same destination arrival time. Only difference? Pain and unnecessary mess when I tried to speed up the plan.
God will get you where you need to be when you need to be there, if you allow Him. God will always give His best to us when we leave the choice up to Him. “But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him (Jeremiah 18:4).”
Stay on the journey. Be patient. He who promised is faithful. We serve a God who is able to make you become what He has already called you. He doesn’t wait until you become it to call you it. The reason God can do it and we can’t is because if God calls you something, He has the power to make you whatever He calls you no matter what you are! You just must stay on the journey.
