If you’ve asked me where I’m from, looked at my Facebook, or peeked into my cube, it won’t take you long to realize I’m no stranger to airplanes. They have always been part of my life.
At the age of one I was on an airline visiting grandparents in Austria, while at two, I was moving to Costa Rica, and then to Ecuador. Pair my love for adventure with the fact that my family lives around the world, and you may start to grasp the significance of an airplane ticket to me.
An airplane ticket is a confirmation of a dream, a hope that there is more than the mundane, and a license to explore the possibilities!
The Ticket
How fitting then, that God would also use the analogy of a ticket to get my attention. When I was seven and living in Ecuador, my mom brought my sister and me to a chapel service at a local Christian school. We sat near the back of the big auditorium. I’d heard this speaker before, and I enjoyed his stories.
Somewhere in his talk, he asked the poignant question: “Have you accepted your ticket to heaven?” I imagined God’s hand-stretched down below the clouds with a ticket between his fingers. Looking up at it, I wondered – had I ever reached up and actually taken hold of that ticket stretched out to me? No, no I had not.
I raised my hand ever so slightly and grabbed the ticket in the air. No one would have noticed, except that my mom was right beside me. When we got home, she asked me about it and explained more about what it meant.
What it Means
We all do wrong, separating us from a perfect God. Like polarized magnets repel each other, we cannot get close to God. We don’t have the power to change that. In His love for us, God sent Jesus to be the sacrifice for our wrongdoing. In His life, Jesus showed us who God is, and in his death paid for our wrong. His resurrection demonstrates death’s defeat and promise of abundant life. Accepting a ticket to heaven and abundant life is free. However, it does mean repenting of our wrong and believing in what Jesus did for us.
Accepting my ticket to heaven confirms my dreams that there is more to life. It frees me to trust in the fantastical world of God’s power, allowing me to commune with Him. It means that I have a hope in a Heavenly Father who is looking out for me.
My ticket is proof He has lovingly reserved a seat for my journey home which no one else can fill.
The Journey
These days, if you notice a twinkle in my eye, I am probably scheming up a new trip. In which case, you will likely find me with a “Lonely Planet ” book. I browse the pages and find what the people are like: their etiquettes, values, and styles. Studying the bible has similarly shown me about God. More than anything, it seems God is in the business of transformation—of expanding possibilities.
At numerous points in my own journey God has transformed me and brought me to destinations I never would have thought possible. He took my learning challenged and dyslexic seven year old self, and made me the sixth grade student of the year. He took my shy second grade self, who was too afraid to make light of the fact that I was overlooked at snack time, and gave me composure to talk to hundreds for work.
Though some transformations may not always seem advantageous, my Heavenly Father is slowly transforming me to be like Him—and this ultimately opens a whole new dimension.
The Hope
As I locate my assigned seat, I have bright hope at what God has in store – a hope that surpasses any of the hardships of travel. I am filled with an inexpressible Joy.
