a life tunnel

If you are like me then when you go on road trips you play games. Because no matter how fun the destination you are attempting to get to, the hours sitting in one spot turn out to be horrific if you can't make your own fun. I don't know what games you play, but I have played a lot of different games. And I'm not talking about the "hey lug your huge (original) game boy with the attachable night light " type of games. I'm talking about game that involve the group of people you are traveling with.

When I was a kid, my dad would play license plate poker with me. The way this game worked, was whenever a car was about to pass you, if it was your turn you decided if you wanted that license plate. And whatever was on the plate, those were your cards, and who ever had the best hand won. This game could last for hours. Another game we played when I was a kid, involved my parents telling us little tongue twisters or limericks and seeing if my brother or I could actually repeat them.

When I was in college I took a road trip to Florida for spring break. We took three vehicles and obviously walkie talkies. My favorite game, was when my friend marcus would get on the walkie talkie every 15 minutes and say "All is clear on the Eastern Front". I was one of the drivers so I found that to be quite enjoyable (everyone else didn't enjoy it as much). In my car we played a version of name that tune, and who could spot the weirdest people in the cars traveling around us. And of course whenever we came to a tunnel we would all hold our breath lift our feet and touch a piece of metal. Or some combination of the three.

I didn't play the tunnel game when I was a kid. Now that I think about it, I think it was because tunnel's were scary to me as a kid. They were dark, and cramped, and everyone in the car seemed a little more edgy when we were going through a long tunnel.

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today I was reading in Jeremiah. I was learning how God had called Jeremiah, and how basically God using him was a symbol of God saying "This is from me, not some guy" because Jeremiah was a nobody. I was kinda looking at an overview of the book, and realizing that when Jeremiah was going around doing his prophet thing God was using him to tell the people to repent from the wicked ways and turn to him, and then they wouldn't be destroyed.

but at some point God's message changed, it was no longer repent, it was because of the things you have done, Jerusalem will be destroyed but have hope I will restore those who are faithful to me.

At some point, it was decided that the Judeans were going to be taken from their homeland and there was nothing they could do about it. They had already missed their opportunity, and now their hope could only be found in God's restoration.

I was thinking about how this translates into my life today. . .

I think we all go through life tunnels. Times when things are dark, and life is scary and we have no control over what is going on. This is exactly what the Judeans were experiencing. They were in a dark tunnel while they were in exile in Babylon. And just like most tunnels they couldn't see around the curve . . . they didn't know how long this would last.

I am in a life tunnel right now . . . I didn't see it coming and once I was in it, I lost all control. I can't see around the curve, and I don't know how long this is going to last. But I am reminded of God's promise to the Judeans . . . he would restore them. There would be light at the end of the tunnel.

I don't know what life looks like in the light at the end of this life tunnel. But I do know one thing, God has promised to give the light. To restore my sight, relieve my pain, and ease my fears.

so today may you realize that as you experience your life tunnels (those dark times when you can't understand why, or don't think life could ever be good again) that your God is bigger than all the world can throw at you, and that he has promised you light at the end of the tunnel