In the next couple of weeks, many families will be taking their last trip to see family or enjoy the ocean waves or visit a new city before students and faculty must return to school from their summer break.

This thought reminds me of some of the trips our family has taken. It is those experiences that give me complete confidence in telling you that the person who knows how to pack a car travel bag better than anyone else in the world is Pam Robinson. Nobody, absolutely nobody, can put that package together quite like my wife – and when our children were small this was her specialty.

She began with an old box, decorated it with maps and pictures and highlighted the places where we were headed. Then she loaded it up with snacks like cookies, chips, and candy - you know, something from all of the basic food groups. There was an assortment of games, the kind that were specifically designed for use in the car. There were coloring books, comic books, and dot-to-dot drawing books, along with crayons and pencils. She even included one of those small pencil sharpeners like the children put in their notebooks on the first day of school. Most importantly, however, were the carefully wrapped packages. Each child had a special gift to be opened along the way. The guiding principle was one package for each road day, although generous exceptions were made to that policy.

Now would you believe, even with all of the opportunity for entertainment located right there in that box, we soon would hear the dreaded question: Are we there yet?

Either as a child or as a parent, most of us have encountered this practically universal question related to journeys. When we talk about our spiritual journeys, though, it is the wrong question, and I am indebted to H. Beecher Hicks, Jr. for disclosing the correct question [Preaching Through A Storm. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House].

Dr. Hicks is the Senior Minister of Metropolitan Church in Washington, D.C. During a "stormy" period in his life and ministry, he returned again and again to the Psalmist for relief, support, and growth. When he came to Psalm 30, verse 5, he read these words, "weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning" (NRSV). This is what he wrote in response to that verse,

And I want to believe that, I genuinely want to believe that.... I genuinely want to be personally persuaded that "the flowers of character are watered by the tears of tribulation." But I have a question. A serious question. If weeping endures for a night, I want to know, "How long is the night?"

This is the question that you and I must ask as we move along the journey of life. It is a question about the amount of time required of us to endure the trials and tribulations that come upon us. It is a theological question, and one with which every adult someday is required to wrestle.

Too often American evangelical Christianity presents the Christian faith as the best deal a person ever had. It is promoted as the solution to all of our aches and pains. It is championed as a good way to make happy people even happier. In a culture such as ours, accustomed to having everything in an instant with push-button speed, we easily forget that nighttime does come, and it does linger.

As we come upon those stormy seasons in our pilgrimage through life, whether as an individual, a family, or a church, the question is not, "Are we there yet?" Rather, the question we must ask is, "How long is the night?"

Thanks be to God, the answer to that question is, not long actually. This is God's world and God still remains in control. Weeping may linger for a night, but joy really does come in the morning!

Les Robinson, July 2011