Going on a Cruise?

        People like to talk about their cruises and how exciting they were or they are looking forward to going to this or that country via a cruise. The cruises that they talk about are more of the luxury kind where you have a stateroom, buffets all over the ship, pools, activities and friendly ports of arrival.   I have been on some "cruises" myself but they weren't of the luxury type.  Actually, it was only one cruise and lasted only about four months.   My "cruise ship" was a 320 foot long, dark gray naval destroyer and my stateroom consisted of the third bunk up where I was about 18 inches from the ceiling, or as we called it in those days, the "overhead."   Larger vessels in the U. S. Navy are even called "Cruisers" but they don't look like the bulky floating cities of the touring industry.  The cruise was just wonderful but the landscape, or the "seascape" always looked the same.  I could never figure out how anyone really knew where we were.  One night, I spotted a quartermaster out on deck with a sextant "shooting the stars."    It seemed to be just as accurate as a GPS.  It is always important to determine your direction if you expect to reach a certain destination.  One might well ask "Where am I?" here in this life.  Where is our ultimate destination?   Mark 10:21 says, "Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me."  

           Here was a person that wanted to reach the final destination of heaven and eternal life.  He asked the question, "How do I get there."  Jesus told Him the answer with that final statement, "...and follow me."  That's the answer to the question.  Jesus has given us a clear map of how to get to heaven. Jesus even went on to say that He is the only WAY in which we can get to the Father as it has to be through the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.    It's not like a map from the gas station, but it is a map.  John 14:6 tells us that Jesus is the way to eternal life.  All we need to do is to follow Him.  So, if you are lost in this life trying to figure out just how to get to heaven, try following the One who really knows the way.  Praise God today for the way that He has prepared for us to arrive at our "eternal life."