Traveling the Rock Road

I don’t about you but I’ve read, seen in pictures, TV and other sources places that make me go, “Wow, I sure want to visit there someday.” Over the years I’ve been fortunate to be able to visit most of the places in my dreams. Some were just the way I imagined and more. Others, well let’s just say they didn’t meet up to what I thought they’d be. One young man (we’ll call him Bobby) I became friends with had one dreamland he talked about all the time. New York! Still living with his parents when we met he showed me his room where the walls were plastered with posters. Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Manhattan and the New York Skyline plus numerous pictures of restaurants and shops.  He had the most impressive collection of magazines, books and videos of the city I had ever seen. He knew more about the five boroughs than probably most native New Yorkers. But what I found most curious about this ardent fan of the Big Apple was that he had never been there. His family didn’t have a lot of money so trips were generally places close and inexpensive; camping, an occasional visit to an amusement park and a yearly visit to Missouri where extended family lived. But that didn’t deter Bobby, someday he’d not only visit but would live in New York City.

The next couple of years I’d only run into Bobby occasionally, generally when he was coming or going to work. He’d always be donning a jacket, shirt or pullover with some type of NYC logo and a Yankees cap perched on his head. “I haven’t given up my dream. Soon as I have enough money I’m on my way,” he would tell me. Always smiling I’d answer, “That’s great Bobby, stay at it.” All the time though my thoughts were, ‘he’s young and impressionable, he’ll grow out of this someday.’ The majority of the young folks I’ve known with wild-eyed dreams (yours truly included) find out chasing a certain dream isn’t as great as they had hoped and go on with something more practical for their lives. Bobby was a good kid but impressionable, he’d grow out of his big city obsession sooner of later.  So I thought.

Early one Summer morning as I was getting ready to go to work, I saw an old Nova coming down the street toward me.  The car was packed so full with boxes the only space open was in the driver’s seat. And who’s behind the wheel? Bobby! “I told you someday I’d make it to New York. On my way now, just wanted to swing by to say so long and get your address so I can send you a post card.” Bobby, that’s awesome! So do you have a job waiting on you?” “Nope!” “Well do you have a place to stay when you get there?” “Nope!” “Okay then, have you made a contact there with someone to help you get settled?” “Nope!” It was easy for Bobby to see the concern on my face so before I could say anything else he chimed in, “I’ll be okay, even if I have to sleep in my car for a while. I just know it’s where I’m supposed to be.” Saying that he gave me a big hug, jumped back into his miniature modern day Conestoga wagon and headed down the street; and I never saw him again.

I saw Bobby’s dad a few days later and his opinion was similar to mine. “He’ll get there and see it’s not everything he thought it would be and head back home.”  A couple of months later I ran into his dad again. “Bobby is bussing tables at some restaurant and living in an apartment that from the pictures doesn’t look as big as his bedroom at our house. I don’t know what’s wrong with that boy but he’ll be home sooner or later.”  All his family and friends felt the same way. I worried that he might be too embarrassed if he fails in New York and may go to any length not to let the ones back home know if he’s in bad shape. After all, everyone knew he was crazy to chase after a place he had never been. He just needed to come back to where he really needed to be. Really?

Flash forward 20 years. I saw Bobby’s mom and dad in a restaurant, so I had to ask how he was doing. “We just got back from seeing him, he’s working on Broadway.” His dad let my eyes get a wide as they could before continuing. “He’s part of the construction crew that builds the sets for the plays.” He went on to tell how Bobby showed them around to all the sights and sounds of the city, took them to great restaurants, met many wonderful friends he had made there and had plenty of room for them to stay in the apartment he was now in.  He finished with, “I never thought I’d say this but he knew more what he wanted than the rest of us and he’s doing great. He’s home!”

For the last 26 years I’ve had my sights on a place I’ve never visited, never seen and have never talked to anyone who has been there. But I know it exists. I know it’s a wonderful full of joy and happiness. I know that once I get there I’ll never want to be anywhere again. In Psalm 84:2 we read, “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” When David wrote these words he also had never seen Heaven, but he knew it was real and devoted his life to day when he would go there. I have known countless many that have left this world with the assurance in their hearts they were going where they’re meant to be; they were going Home.

John 14:1-3 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Philippians 3:20 “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

C.S. Lewis “Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it.”

Bobby, today’s “Traveler of the Rock Road,” knew better than anyone he was made to live in New York City, New York. For the Believer, they know they were made to someday live in Heaven. Why not join them? I can tell you without ever being there, it’ll be the most awesome place you ever been.

See ya next time.