Are we there yet? That’s every parent’s favorite “back seat” question on a long family road trip. I’m sure I asked it often growing up and remember hearing it from my kids. How about you?

Are we there yet? In some form or another we still ask that question, especially when we want something to be different.  We may want to be somewhere else. We may want to be doing something else. We may want things to return to “normal.”  Are we there yet?

“…those who had gathered together asked Jesus, ‘Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?’ Jesus replied, ‘It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. Rather…’”   (Acts 1:6-8, CEB)

The risen Jesus is about to ascend into heaven. The twelve apostles want to know, “Are we there yet?” They want to know if this is when Jesus will use his great powers to make everything the way God wants it to be, at least the way they think God wants it to be. 

Jesus’ answer isn’t yes or no, but neither. “Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth,” (Acts 1:8, CEB).

Are we there yet? Only God knows. My prayer is that in the meantime, we hear and live into Jesus’s call to be his witnesses in the power of the Holy Spirit; first to those we know and are comfortable with and then to those we aren’t.  Doing that, may just get us to wherever “there” is! 

Your partner on the journey,

Pastor Steve