Ticket for the Journey

Romans 5:6 (New International Version)

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

Do you ever worry about what might happen in the future? Or do you find yourself anxious about things over which you have no control? If so, then a teaching from author and lecturer Corrie ten Boom may help.

She learned a powerful lesson as a little girl. Having encountered the cold, lifeless body of a baby, she realized that the reality of death would someday strike her family, too. Perhaps her father or mother or sister, Betsy, would soon die. She anxiously worried about these possibilities until her father came in one night to tuck her into bed. Corrie burst into tears and sobbed, "I need you. You can't die. You can't!"

Her father sat on the edge of the narrow bed and spoke tenderly to his daughter. "Corrie," he said gently, "when you and I go to Amsterdam, when do I give you your ticket?"

She sniffed a few times and considered the question. "Why, just before I get on the train," she answered.

"Exactly," he continued. Then he gave her assurance that was to last a lifetime. He told her that a wise God knows when she will need things, too. "Don't run out ahead of God," he cautioned her. "When the time comes that some of us have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need -- just in time."

Corrie and her family were sent to concentration camps where she suffered greatly during World War II. She, indeed, was to experience the deaths of her parents and sister, as well as numerous friends. She was to endure hardships which she could never have imagined as a young child. But the words of her father stayed with her and proved to be true. "You will look into your heart and find the strength you need -- just in time."

Regardless of the suffering or hardship she encountered, when she looked inside her heart she found the strength she needed -- just in time.

If you find yourself worried or anxious about an uncertain future...perhaps you are running ahead. You have not yet been given the ticket for the journey. And if that thing you fear should ever arrive, it is then you must look inside your heart.

The strength you need can be found there -- just in time.

Dear Lord we pray that we would not run ahead of your timing. Thanks for giving us the ticket just in time for the journey. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.