A friend and I are going on a short trip from Arizona to New Orleans. It's his birthday that week, so this is how he wanted to celebrate and invited me along. After pondering and considering, I finally said, "Hey, what the heck!". Hence, I now have this trip scheduled on my refrigerator calendar.
Usually, I am somewhat familiar with travel mechanics: make a list for things to be packed, double-check what's in the suitcase, drive or get transport to the airport, check where the gate is, etc. This time things are somewhat different. I'm traveling with someone else instead of alone. We're taking a train one way and flying back. Hotel reservations have been made. We have held discussions on whether it will be warmer to wear slacks and jeans and whether a sweater or a jacket would be more suitable. Good thing we aren't leaving until about three weeks from now, given the decisions we still have to make.
I'm a bit OCD about making sure everything is straight regarding directions, times, etc. However, my friend's OCD makes me look like an amateur. He has the whole trip planned out as to where we have to be, when, and what options we have. Tomorrow we're running a rehearsal of sorts for going to the airport we'll be coming back to, finding our parking area, and so forth, even though we'll be doing it in reverse when we return. I will probably forget what we rehearsed by the time the plane lands. Still, somehow, right now, it feels a bit comforting to have a visual plan in my head among so many unknowns.
This trip planning has reminded me of other journeys I've made, both in the sense of travel and in different ways as well. I needed a schedule when I had to leave my house, including having everything out of it, utilities turned off, and my new quarters filled with the stuff I was taking with me. If I'm going somewhere I am not familiar with, I have to make sure I study a map or set my Google trip app to make sure I know when and where I have to turn, etc. Even then, I often take a rehearsal trip there a day or two in advance to get a feel for where it is, what side of the road it is on, and what landmarks I should look for.
All of this makes me wonder about a much more important trip. I don't know of a single Christian who isn't planning to go to Heaven. I know I do (or at least I hope and pray I do), but how much time do I actually spend planning out the journey. It's not that I need the Google app, maps, timetables, or lists of things to do that I can cross off one by one. Still, am I just trusting that if I live out my life without making huge mistakes, breaking most if not all the Ten Commandments, and try to love my neighbor as myself, will that be enough to get me in the Pearly Gates or merely a place alongside the golden fence, sadly looking in through the bars at the wonders God prepared for the elect? I know for sure St. Peter would not like for me to ask for a "do-over."
So how do I prepare for Heaven? I'm sure more prayer would be a good idea and being present with a real congregation. I'm sure adherence to the Ten Commandments and especially the Sermon on the Mount would be steps in the right direction. Then, of course, there would be doing things like visiting the sick and imprisoned, caring for widows and orphans, feeding the hungry, finding shelter for the homeless, treating all persons alike, regardless of race, creed, color, ethnicity, orientation, or whatever. That's a pretty long list right there. And all of them are doable in one way or another.
Still, will any of these get me into Heaven on its own? It might, but then, God might expect that if I can do one of these, I can do more than one, or maybe more than ten, or perhaps whatever comes my way that needs doing. I honestly don't think Heaven is limited to one kind of saint; even the saints' list is full of people of different talents, abilities, proclivities, cultures, and beliefs. And I'm not sure any of them were so focused on getting themselves into Heaven that they ignored jobs God had for them to do.
I'll keep on planning my trip, but I think that between now and then (as well as the sitting-in-the-window-of-the-train-looking-at-the-scenery), I'll be giving some thought and planning for the BIG trip I hope I will be getting ready for the rest of my life.
Now, where did I put that list?
God bless
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