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There was a man in our neighborhood when I was growing up that had a rather large cage in his back yard where he housed several squirrels. Many times I would go over and just watch them play in their cage. They seemed very content and happy and even raised their young. Inside the cage was a small wheel in which the squirrels would sometime get and run. I called it a boogidy-boogidy wheel. They would run and run as if they were really going someplace but to no avail. I also remember a small one getting in and running, then suddenly stopping very abruptly. He was shot out of the wheel several feet.

Let me ask you a question. How many of you have ever felt emptiness and frustration in life or made a statement that probably went something like "there has to be more to life than this….?" How many have felt possibly like the squirrels in the little wheel, running life's race but never getting anywhere? Can we be honest with each other? I can raise my hand with a resounding YES.

As human beings, we are well educated in the field of denying reality. You and I can sometimes hide behind our fears and even tell ourselves all sorts of things just to pacify our need to avoid pain and admitting that things are not the way we have really wanted them to be. You can never get to where you want to be until you can face the truth and confess where you really are in life. Just like that little squirrel running in the wheel, he never went anywhere really until he stopped running in the wheel. I know that you feel like the little squirrel also that if you do stop and face reality you may be slung off somewhere you do not understand. Let me share this with you. It is the lies we have told ourselves and believed that really hurt as darkness disappears and light of truth shines into our life. Truth, however, will not hurt; only lies hurt.

We have been bombarded all our lives with what the world would have us to believe is the all-American lifestyle. We have been beguiled into believing that lie. The Creator of this universe, the one who watches over every detail of our lives, put us here with a far greater purpose. A life far beyond what we could imagine. Can I tell you it involves being rich beyond measure in His kingdom, and that includes while we are here on this earth. Being set free from sin and attitudes that kill and stunt us and feelings of every kind. We need to have our eyes opened to a world of glory, power and beauty in Jesus Christ, the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords.

We need to wake up to the fact that we God did not create us to live a life in any kind of emptiness. He did not create us to be frustrated or live a boogidy-boogidy life style. Quite the opposite! We are uniquely made in the image of the Almighty God of the ages and because He has taken this specific interest in our formation, He has BIG plans for each of us! As some would have us to believe, He has not just dumped us here to go in circles - boogidy-boogidy. He has provided an "out" for us from the rat race the world wants us to believe to be reality.

Does any of this register or make sense to you? Why would the infinite, all-powerful Lord and Maker of the heavens and earth care about ME? I can tell you that He not only cares intensely, but also very deeply loves us beyond our human comprehension. The great gift He has to offer us is a life in Jesus Christ which begins on earth and which brims with overwhelming vibrancy and energy. This life promises us a never-ending supply of the very depths of God Himself. Everything that He is, we can experience.

To good to be true? Well, I can assure you that my words cannot begin to describe what God has for you in your destiny. In reality, it is even greater than I can pen or type.

How do we begin? We must first recognize our state without Him and DO something about it. When Jesus was on the earth He went about pronouncing the Good News, this is one way He described it: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19)

In this verse, He lets us know what we are without Him by describing us as poor, imprisoned, blind and oppressed. Then, however, He extends us the hope of the Gospel, which is that the Risen Jesus has mercifully shed His own blood on our behalf, that we might (if we choose Him), be freed from the poverty and imprisonment we are in apart from Him.

Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Gal 1:4)

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:13-14)

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:28)

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (1 Cor. 15:3)

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, (Rev. 1:5)

Some may even why they would want to change and live for Christ. To them I say, consider a typical day. Wake up, go to work, come home, play with the kids, watch a little TV, maybe read the paper, go to bed. This cycle goes on day after day with only minor variables here and there. Then for some it may be a life on the streets: boredom, fear, rejection, bitterness, boastfulness, deceit, imaginations, and depression. Weekends and vacations, or parties and trouble are the highlights of life. Those in middle class status, your big times are visiting family, going to a movie, playing a sport, or whatever else your hobby may be. When you get right down to it most peoples existence revolves around and hops from one event or "occasion" to the next. So, no big deal you may think. After all, what is wrong with that? Still our cycle goes on, we eventually grow old, and die. We may possibly add grandkids around a Christmas tree to the scenes of our life, eventually retire, and perhaps travel a bit. Then at one point we are going to look back over our lives and think, "Yes, we have lived a full life." ….Or have we?

Although our lives probably have not been filled with evil, God has much more purpose for us than we can fathom. He offers us life to the full - not just a patchwork of things that will vanish nearly before the next sunrise. Life to the full is found only in the One we were created for. Life that is LIFE is found in Jesus Christ and Him alone. That is the way God made it. All else good, wholesome, and fun is only a dim reflection of the reality that is in God's only born Son, Jesus.

Look at the following verses and see what God a few thousand years ago extended to those who would listen.

Deut. 30 says this:

15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

Deut. 8 tell us:

17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

We have the same choice extended to us today because of the risen and victorious Christ. In choosing life, Jesus made the way very clear. He said to repent from the sin in our lives. Specific examples may include that pent-up frustration and impatience that overtake you when you have to wait somewhere and it makes you late. Or the unexplainable blow-up you had last night with your spouse; or the filling you minds with immorality of radio and TV or pornography. Or drinking or drugs. Whatever it is, Jesus asks us to turn actively away from all those attitudes and actions, which bind, frustrate and discourage us, and to run towards Him as our living Lord. Trust your past to Him for forgiveness and cleansing. Trust your future to Him - the ridicule you might face, the letting go of the security blankets of pride, materialism, bragging, anger, physical violence and yelling, cursing, family idolatry, independence that hardens and keeps us from being vulnerable before God and man.

Whether we recognize our present state or not, God declares by His holiness and wisdom that a person can only be saved and live a life of freedom and joy by trusting in Jesus Christ: it requires letting go of everything to follow Him, relinquishing our hold on the temporary, seen things of this world, and grabbing hold of the unseen God.

When we release ourselves to the Lord, we can find our destiny that He has planned for us. Can I tell you that your destiny is in your hands? God wants more than anything to show it to you. He is waiting for you to spend sometime with Him so He can point it out to you.

Most of us have been looking for our destiny in all the wrong places. We have been saying it is over here when in reality it is not there but over there sometimes 180 degrees from where we were looking.

Seek after Him. As you do you will suddenly realize that you are walking toward a different destiny and life filled with purpose and meaning.

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