Let's Get The Party Started!

CBN.com - Former President Teddy Roosevelt was known for his safari treks into the wilderness of Africa. After killing more game than his hunting party could possibly carry home, Roosevelt and his entourage decided the time had come to call it a trip and head home. They boarded a large sea vessel headed to New York. Little did he know, or anyone else on the ship for that matter, that an elderly man who had given thirty years of his life as a missionary in Africa was a passenger as well.

It was a lengthy voyage and the crew of the ship threw one party after another to honor the president. The missionary watched and listened as people ranted and raved about this special passenger. When the ship finally docked in the harbor of New York City, crowds of thousands of people had gathered to welcome Roosevelt home. Bands played, people cheered, and ticker tape was tossed.

The missionary stepped off the ship, stood nearby with his only earthly possessions, a single suitcase, filled with clothes and a few other odds and ends, and began to feel sorry for himself. He thought, "Thirty years I have labored for the kingdom. I've battled sickness and loneliness, and I've watched countless people surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and not one person is here to welcome me home." It was at that moment that he sensed a reassuring peace unlike any he had ever known. It was as if he could hear God whispering, "but you're not home yet." At that, He raised his hand in praise to God, and began to sing, worshiping the Creator and Sustainer of his life.

At times we feel as if the world wants nothing to do with us, we realize that one-day we will experience a homecoming like no other. Norman Cousins once wrote, "The tragedy of life is not in the fact of death but in what dies inside us while we live. True hope can seem distant and unattainable in a world filled with empty celebrations. But Jesus has shown us, even in the little details that He is in control of the party and the ending is something to celebrate."

Why not get the party started now? Each week we come together to worship our God and King. As we worship, let's not worship out of ritual or obligation, but let us worship from our hearts. Let us worship with our hope; let us worship, as we will in Heaven: undistracted, unhindered, and wholly focused on God.