FIRST-CLASS JOURNEY

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:32

During the early twentieth century in Russia, there were turmoil and mass murders. In the capital, there lived an 11 year old boy named Alexander, whose very educated Jewish parents were members of the resistance.

After his parent’s execution, Alexander’s grandma smuggled him out of Russia to Sweden. She used her entire life savings to buy Alexander a one-way, first-class ticket on a steam liner from Stockholm to New York. Relatives would be waiting for him in America.

By the time Alexander passed through the lines boarding the ship it was filled with many people and he got shuffled around. Before he knew it he was placed in low-class steerage for the almost 3 week journey. It was cramped, poor ventilated, full of illness and bland food.

After a few days, Alexander began to walk around the large ship and discovered higher decks. Because he was small, he could hide and since nobody was looking for him he was able to navigate his little body around the ship.

One day he found himself outside the first-class dining room, peering into the porthole windows from behind a crate. The sights and smells were beyond what he thought possible. He saw plates of meat, fish and chicken. He longed for food that looked and smelled that good. He heard laughter and music and watched as people enjoyed themselves.

Alexander became content with visiting that port-hole window every night for the rest of the trip. He would wish, imagine and hope.

When the ship docked in New York Harbor, his relatives were waiting for him. As they began to ask him about his voyage, it didn’t take them long to realize that something had gone very wrong. His description of the conditions of his daily “trip” to the port-hole window were not the stories they expected to hear from a boy whose grandma had bought him a first-class ticket. They asked to see his ticket and said, “Look, Alexander! This is a first-class ticket!” Alexander shrugged and said, “I didn’t know!”

We can be a bit like Alexander. Through his ultimate sacrifice, Jesus provided us with a first-class ticket on this journey called life. Yet we often get shuffled and disoriented and settle for steerage.

We wish and imagine and hope as we peer through the port-hole of other people lives. We never fully enjoy the journey because we are too busy getting distracted by the scenery.

God has provided safety, abundance, healing, wholeness, victory, power, joy, peace, love and so much more! We don’t have to come to the end of the journey feeling foolish about not enjoying all that was so generously given to us.

I don’t want to see God face to face only to offer Him an apologetic “I didn’t know!”

Declaration to Life: I have all I need in this life to enjoy a first-class journey! I will live my life abundantly, to the full, till it overflows!