Do you remember a time when you were pulled into something that you initially didn't want to do?

What eventually became of it?

Yesterday, I got the privilige of speaking to the new CGA students here at Adventures in Missions.

We talked about our health and bodies as they relay to Kingdom concepts and principles.

We talked about why God wants us to be healthy, how to do so, and seeing the fruit in the journey.

At one point, God brought a picture to me.

It was Pawpaw and I working together at home on the farm.

Pawpaw taught us his favorite passion – farming.

Tears began to line my cheeks as more was revealed to me during this time.

As a child, I didn't want to farm. I wanted to be a kid.

I saw no value in learning what Pawpaw knew.

I knew I would get bored. I knew it would be difficult. I knew I wanted to play.

I just wanted to eat the fruit of his labor, not learn the process of growing it.

Nonetheless, I sat on that grand ol' John Deere tractor for hours, did what I was told, and learned.

I shoveled fertilizer for hours on end.

I hauled watermelons until I couldn't feel my arms.

I picked peas until I thought my fingers would surely fall off.

I rode endless nights doing my best to stay awake just because I knew he was there.

I enjoyed the daybreak breakfast runs, the endless buffet dinners, and the afternoon naps.

I picked up on not only his passions, but who he was – his character, sense of humor, and all the rest.

I learned the why, the how, and began to value what was being gained – the fruit of the journey with this wonderful man.

I was coming alive in every sense of my being just because he invited me in.

As I stood before my peers, I rolled in this and spoke of what Pawpaw, inviting me into his passions, did to my life.

This morning, as I relished in the beauty of that journey, God told me this: "Colby, once you began to see the value in what you were learning, it suddenly became only about being with Pawpaw."

Dang.

Once we begin to see past ourselves and uncover the value of these journeys, learn the how, and let the why constantly renew our minds, it changes us. And all of a sudden it becomes just about being with Daddy.

That is where we adopt His character, sense of humor, and all the rest.

That is where we discover the ALL that we were created to possess.

That is where we begin to come fully alive.

That's when it's not about the pain, the how, the journey or the fruit anymore.

It's just about being with our Father.