Starting at the End

I love my iphone for a number of reasons.  One of the biggest is the GPS function.  As a pastor and a new Richardsonian it sure helps to have a tool like iphone GPS.  If I have your address my phone will lead me right to your doorstep.  I just follow the little blue light till it hits the little red flag -- and I'm there!  No more need for directions.  I've found that there are two types when it comes to giving directions:  Those who give succinct, pertinent and accurate information; and those who don't.  There are more of the latter than the former.  So my GPS is great. If you start to give me directions I'll just say, "The address please.  All I need is the address." 

This is a bigger deal than you might first imagine.  Just think about it. No more pannicky phone calls to your friends saying, "How do you get there, again?"  No more scribbled napkin directions.  No more riding around in circles while your wife says, "I told you we were lost an hour ago. Stop and ask directions!"  That alone is worth the price of the phone.  I love the GPS function on my iphone for a number of reasons. But most of all I love it because if you know exactly where you are going it makes the "getting there" a lot easier. 

It's the same with life.  If you start at the end, it makes the "getting there" a lot easier.  Start at the end.  Where do you want to end up? What do you want people to say about you when they are standing by your casket?  What do you love to do so much that you never want to stop doing it?  What makes your heart beat a little faster?  Make a list of the things you want to do before you die.  You may not do them all.  That's O.K. ... half the fun is making the list.  One thing is for sure: If you don't make the list you'll never get there.

In Genesis, chapter 50, Joseph is at the end of his life.  He makes one last request.  The request is centered on a promise that God made generations before Joseph.  A promise that he would bless them and their descendents, and that through them the world would be blessed.  That promise had been the little red flag on Joseph's iphone GPS screen.  He ends his life aiming at that little red flag.  Like a lot of things on your bucket list, he never saw the promise fulfilled.  But no matter.  His living for it was not in vain. 

Joseph saved his people from famine ... and eventually they gave birth to the Savior.  Start at the end and it will make the "getting there" a lot easier.
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