C’mon, a Life Lesson at the County Fair?

Yep. It’s true.

Last night I went to the county fair with my family and saw thousands of smiles (one of them you can see above on my grandson’s face). I saw thousands of people in relational bliss. And I saw thousands of people happy in that moment, their NOW.
  
My drive home in the still-warm night was filled with those images that were frozen in the cinema of my mind, along with thoughts about how they relate to God’s desire for us to ALWAYS be living in our NOW, not just at the county fair.
  
I realized how we make that difficult by fixating on our destinations. Our goals and dreams. Our all-consuming drive for an envisioned and often idealized future.
  
It was at this point that God served up his county fair lesson:

Arriving at a destination in the future is nothing more than another part of the process, another episode in the journey. What he wants is our complete dependence on him and his power in the now—each and every moment—always.

God wants our focus to be on staying perpetually connected to him, trusting so much that in all circumstances we are calm in Christ, firm in faith, and unafraid in uncertainty.
  
When we approach life like this, God’s purpose is alive and active and working on the supernatural level—far beyond, of course, anything we could ever do on our own. In this mode we “see” Jesus in every now moment and that, in turn, generates confidence in his plan and the courage to face whatever might ring our doorbell next.
  
“For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 3:8
  
HERE’S THE POINT!
  
Living in the now brings glory to God!
  
It is clear that God is looking for our obedience in the now, but NOT so we can arrive at our destination goal. No, he wants to use our obedience to stretch and strengthen the fibers of our faith muscles for the next step…the next now.