A Week Since Easter

In the week since Easter day, as we have continued our lives, I have found myself drawn again and again to the story from the 28th chapter of Matthew's Gospel of the first Easter day.  In particular, I have found myself pondering the image that appears frequently in that story of Jesus going ahead, and of the invitation to people to go to where Jesus is, and of Jesus' command that the disciples go and baptize.  It's an amazing image--Jesus not just in the past, and Jesus not just beside us today,  but Jesus out in the future.  Jesus in the future, calling us to journey toward that future in faith.   

If Jesus is in the future, then we need not fear the present.     And, if Jesus is in the future as well as in the present, then we can have the courage to go wherever it is God calls us to go, knowing that God is waiting for us to arrive.