We'll get there

“We’ll get there.”

            This was said to me by a fellow red-clad fan leaving the stadium known as “The Big House” in Ann Arbor, Michigan, last Saturday. We made eye contact, smiled weary smiles, and she said, “We’ll get there.” 

            It had been a long afternoon. A new coach and a program in sorry shape had been drubbed 56-10. But she encouraged us, “We’ll get there.”

            You can imagine this phrase being spoken by a parent from the front seat of the car. It’s a raging storm outside and the child in the back seat is worried. “We’ll get there,” comforts the driver.

            Perhaps you can also hear this said to an elderly friend, one who is wondering “why am I still here?” It’s a plaintive question, asked by those whose spouse and friends have already gone to be with God. In terms of her query about joining the company of redeemed in the presence of God: “We’ll get there.” Maybe not anytime soon, but “We’ll get there.”

            It could well be used as someone deals with the day to day struggle of living as God calls us to live. For every step of progress there are times we encounter two steps of frustrating reversal. Still, “We’ll get there.”

            Amid the persecutions of Christianity that are predicted for us in Revelation, might it be assuring to hear “We’ll get there”? God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.(1 Corinthians 10:13). “We’ll get there.”

            That “We” in these last three paragraphs does not refer to a rabid football fanbase. It refers to us, the Body of Christ - any group of Christians in whom the Holy Spirit resides. It is this Spirit which “calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the Christian Church,” as the meaning of the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed assures us (Luther’s Small Catechism). And He “keeps” us, with Jesus Christ. “We’ll get there.”

            When the way ahead looks dark, when the burdens are heavy, and when you wonder whether you truly can go on, refresh yourself in God’s Word so that the Spirit of the living God can encourage you with the truth that “We’ll get there.”