This summer, we set out to climb a mountain.  Back in February, my brother from Washington emailed all the siblings and asked if we wanted to climb Mt. Adams, the 12,000 foot volcano near his home.  In a few days, the siblings emailed back: “Let’s go for it!”  And just like that, we had a Destination.  A few days later, my wife and I bought the plane tickets on Travelocity, and now it was certain.  We were headed to our destination!

And though it was icy cold that winter morning, I whipped on a pair of running pants and went for a jog over the snow.  Since we now had a destination, a mountain to climb, we had to prepare for it!  That meant running.  It meant putting heavy weight on our backs and hauling it up hills.  It meant getting our legs and lungs in the right shape.  It meant living differently because we had a goal to focus on. And it meant thinking and dreaming about what it would be like, come July.  We had no idea.  We’d never done anything like this.

July finally came.  We were ready and prepared.  We began our climb.  Our destination was near now!  However, on day two of the climb, the storm clouds moved in.  We couldn’t see the peak.  Our destination was there, alright, but we couldn’t see a thing!  Just the snow driving around us.  By normal standards, what we were doing wasn’t actually fun.  Or enjoyable.

But we kept going.  Why?  One reason.  We had a destination.  The top of the mountain.  We had no idea where that was or where we were!  Except for what our altimeter told us.  It showed us the altitude we were at, and we simply had to trust it.  We knew we had to keep going until it said we were at 12,271 feet.  Our destination.  And that’s the way it is with the journey that God puts us on.  You might not always see it, but He has given you a destination.

Where is life taking you?  Do You have a Destination in Life?  I am convinced that the majority of people today live without a destination in life!  They just get up and go to work.  They get home, get the kids fed and put to bed, clean up, pay the bills, watch TV, go to bed, get up, and do it again.  They try filling their lives by doing stuff that will give them something to look forward to, something that will give them a sense of accomplishment.  In fact, a lot of the people who climb mountains do so for a thrill because they don’t have a destination in life!  People spend money they don’t have on things they don’t need to impress people they don’t even like!  They live as if the life they have here is all they have.  Does this sound like you?

Now, all of the things we fill our lives up with can be great…if we have a destination, and therefore, a purpose for doing those things.  But if they are an end of themselves, if that’s all we have to look forward to, that’s sad, isn’t it?  We need a destination!  Something to put faith in!  Something to put hope in.  And friends, I believe with all my heart that we do have a destination!  Like the altimeter guiding us on the mountain, there is something that guides us to and tells us where that destination is.  It isn’t as technologically advanced, but it’s been around a long time.  The Bible.  Our text begins: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  This is what the ancients were commended for.”  God has a destination for us that we can’t see, and He wants us to put our faith and hope in that destination!

God gave Abraham a destination.  In our reading from Genesis today, we heard how God told Abraham to leave his country, his people and his relatives, and make a long journey to the land God would show him.  A destination he couldn’t see!  Our Hebrews text tells us: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” (v.8). No doubt, this was a difficult thing for Abraham to do!  Can you imagine doing that?

What kept him going on that journey?  God didn’t tell him how long he would have to wait for all those promises to be fulfilled.  So what kept Abe going?  HOPE!  The hope in Abraham’s heart kept him going!  Hope keeps you going through any difficulty because hope is anchored in a future destination!  Why did Abraham have hope?  Because he was looking forward to a promised land he could not see!  Promised to him by the God who has never broken a promise!

V. 9-10: “By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”  Even when Abraham got to his promised land on earth, he didn’t settle down and live there as if that was all there was going to be.  He knew his real home would be a home with God lasting forever!  And so, having a destination changed the way he lived and prioritized his life!

Life is different when you have a destination!  Do YOU have a destination?  If you don’t, how do you even get up every day?  How do you push yourself through?  But listen to this text! God is not ashamed of us!  We are his people!  He has given you a destination!  A heavenly one!  And when you do have a destination, when you know who you are and where you are going, it gives you what you need to get through the day!

It gives you hope.  It gives you an anchor.  There is a neat picture here.  Back in those days, when a large ship would come into the harbor from a long journey, there was a rock deeply embedded into the granite in the harbor.  They called that rock the “Anchoria,” where we get our word anchor from.  A few crew members of the large ship would get into little boats and take the anchor rope from the large ship and row it into the harbor and fasten it to the Anchoria rock and then the ship would come safely into the harbor and be anchored securely.

Hebrews 6:19 says, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.  It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.” Friends, our soul has an anchor that needs to be fasted securely!  Jesus has carried our anchor behind the curtain, and fastened it to the inner sanctuary of God’s presence!  When Jesus lived and died for us, he gave us an eternal destination!  He has affixed that anchor there in God’s presence, so that as we move through the journey of life, through turbulent waters, we have an anchor that is secure!  And as we follow that anchor, which is Christ, that gives us strength and hope for all those times we don’t know what to do.

Human anchors go into the sea.  Our anchor goes up into heaven!  It is sure, secure, and certain!  A person who has his heart right with God through Jesus does not have to worry about a million temporary problems, because when he remembers where his anchor is, he remembers he won’t have to worry about those problems very long!  But if you aren’t anchored with God, if you don’t have that destination, then you don’t have hope!  You might know some people like that.  That might even describe some of you here today.  You push yourself up every morning, into all of the challenges you face, but it isn’t with any hope.  You have no destination.  Today, I want you to know about the hope and destination you can have through Jesus, who has gone into the most Holy Place, and fastened that anchor inside the presence of God!

Remember Alfred Hitchcock?  In one of his classic TV episodes, he told the story of a wicked woman who murdered someone.  She was found guilty by the court and sentenced to life in prison.  This woman was very angry, and in the courtroom she screamed at the judge that she didn’t care where he sent her, she would escape and come back to haunt him someday.

Well, they took her away, and on the bus ride to the prison, she noticed something that was to become part of her escape plan.  She saw an old man, an inmate, covering up a grave outside the prison walls, and realized the only way she would be able to escape from prison was to know someone who had a key to the gate.  And the only one that did have a key to that gate was the old man who assisted with the burials of the guys who died inside the prison.  He not only buried them, he built the caskets in which they were buried.  His job included rolling the casket on an old cart to the grave site outside, lowering it into a hole and covering it up with dirt.

The old man was going blind and needed cataract surgery. This woman found out about it, and went to him and told him it would be worth his while if he helped her escape because outside the walls she had enough money to pay for all his surgery.  At first, he said, “No, ma’am, I can’t do that.” “Oh yes you can,” she said, “I have all the money you need outside these walls to pay for your cataract surgery and if you help me get out of here, it’s yours.  If you ever hope to have an operation, you better help me out of this place!”  And finally, he reluctantly gave in.

Here was the plan:  the next time she heard the toll of the bell which signaled the death of an inmate, she would slip down to his workroom where he made the caskets.  She was to locate the casket in which the old man had placed the corpse, and then, if you can imagine it, secretly slide herself into that same casket and pull the top down tightly.  Early the next morning, the old man would roll her, along with the corpse in the casket, out to the place of burial, lower it into the hole, dump a little dirt on it, and then the next day he was to come back, uncover the grave, release the lid on the casket, and she would be free!  The perfect plan.  Almost.

Late one night, she heard the toll of the bell.  Someone had died.  This was her moment!  She quietly slid off her cot, made her way down the eerie hallway, looked into the dimly lit room,  saw the casket, and without hesitation she lifted the lid and in the darkness slipped into the box, squeezed beside the corpse, and pulled down the lid tightly. A few hours later, she could feel the wheels rolling as they were making their way to the grave site.  She smiled as the casket was placed in the hole!  She began to hear the clumps of dirt as they hit the top of the casket.

Before long, she was sealed beneath the earth, still smiling.  She had done it!  Silence followed.  She could only contain her excitement!  Time began to drag.  The next day came and passed into the night, and the old man didn’t show up.  Now, she was getting worried.  In fact, she broke into a cold sweat.  Where was he??  What could possibly have gone wrong?  Why doesn’t he show up?  In a moment of panic, she lit a match and glanced at the corpse next to her… and you guessed it… it was the old man himself who had died.

Some of us go to the grave and are buried with our hopes.  A lot of folks you know.  Will it be you?  What is it that Paul says in 1 Corinthians?  “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.”  If we don’t have our anchor fastened by Jesus into the holy place of God, if we don’t have hope in someone who is going to survive all of this, then we have no hope!  Nothing that can pull us through all of life’s challenges and difficulties!

I want to tell you about Somebody who went into the grave.  Didn’t need anyone to come and get Him out.  Of his own power, He came forth victoriously out of that tomb and raised his fist up to say: “If you believe in me, you will live also!”  When you put your trust in Christ, you have the hope of the resurrection!  Is your hope in Him?  Has He fastened your anchor there?  Then you will have a destination!  A guaranteed one.  A better country.  A heavenly one!

We made it up that mountain this summer.  And when we did, I shed tears of joy.  Not because of the great view.  We had none.  Not because of the beauty of the moment.  We could hardly stand up in the storm.  But I was filled with joy just because we reached our destination.  Now friends, just imagine how amazing it will be… when we get to our real destination!  When we get to heaven!   Amen.