Well dear reader, for all of you who have travelled along thru this series of blogs, we have now reached the end of the writing part so it’s time to transition from thought and word into action and deed. If you’re just now joining us, well, you’re catching the epilogue, but if this post seems sufficiently enticing, then you can go to the first blog (Feb 14th) and read through to now to get the thrilling and thought-provoking details.

Therefore, before we begin our trek of actions and deeds, let’s take a look back at our thoughts and words in a summary format and review a la the infamous Cliff Notes method:

We began with the metaphor that “Life is a Journey” and we asked the Question, “What’s the Best way to travel?”

We utilized the typical questions one asks when going on a journey: Where am I going? Why am I going? What should I pack? How shall I travel? Who is travelling with me? Whom shall I tell about my journey? How do I make the most of my trip, how do I help others on their trip and what attitude should I have?

We also had to consider road conditions. What is the truth about the environment in which we are travelling? What is the scorecard for measuring success? To answer that, we started with some very big “If’s”:

“If there is a Creator of the universe whom we’ll call God and…

If God has prepared for mankind a life after this earthly life that is far greater in terms of duration and potential i.e. it lasts for eternity and is far more fulfilling and enjoyable than anything currently on earth and…

If what we say, think, do, and believe in this earthly life somehow affects what our status will be in this next life…

Then…how should we live our life?”

Using science, mathematics, logic, reason, and scripture, we then evaluated and validated each of these “If” statements in a series of six blogs (refer to the blogs from March 5th thru March 18th) to create a description of the environment, the metrics for success, and a worldview from which to navigate.

From these questions, conjunctive ponderings, and established worldview, we built a road map for our journey and we anchored it to the One we are to follow: Jesus Christ. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We are to deny ourselves, pick up our cross daily, and follow Him.

In this site’s very first blog written on Valentine’s Day (see Feb 14th post), we contemplated the meaning of the cross that we must carry and determined it is a cross of love. We pick up our cross of love each day and follow Truth (Jesus) for that is the Way we are to go and the Life we are to live. Christ is both our ultimate destination (be like Him) and the way to get there (follow Him).

We noted that the cross of love that we carry comes from the Greatest Commandment and it contains three loves: Love God, Love Others, and Love Yourself. Therefore, to make the most of our journey and to optimize or find the absolute best way to travel, we need to maximize these three loves. We need to determine how to love ourselves best, love others best, and love God in the very best way.

To love ourselves best is to be our best, to love others best is to share our best, and to love God with our best is to glorify Him in all that we do.

NOTE: We’re throwing the word “best” around a lot! So, to determine what we mean by “best”, we must review again and define what is success. Our ultimate success is to align all our actions (thoughts, words, deeds, beliefs) with our Creator. We all will one day appear before Christ to receive His evaluation and the goal of our life journey is to be complimented by Christ with a hearty “Well done!” To receive praise from Jesus is a journey travelled well!

Now, for each of these three loves, we described three life disciplines that address the tactical, strategic, and holistic aspects for optimizing our travel. These are the tactical day-to-day management, the strategic leadership and guiding principle, and the holistic or driving mindset (motivation) that we are to have. Using the “Climb the ladder to success” illustration, good management is the tactical efficiency of climbing the ladder in the most effective way. Good leadership is the necessary strategy to ensure the ladder we are climbing is leaning against the correct wall. The holistic aspect describes the accompanying motivation and mindset to synergize the two. When put all together, this produced the 9 P’s or Disciplines to possess, maintain, and continually develop in order to pursue the most excellent and exceptional life journey possible!

Wow! That’s quite an intro!

There’s a lot of planning and prep work for travelling well! So with that lengthy introduction, here are the 9 P’s associated with the three loves of Loving God, Loving Others, and Loving Yourself:

LOVE YOURSELF

• PREPARATION – Put on the full armor of God
• PURPOSE – Glorify God
• PRIORITY – Seek God’s Kingdom first

We tactically prepare and suit up each day in God’s armor to make good and wise decisions for every choice we face. We know our strategic purpose is to glorify God in all our actions, and we holistically maintain the mindset to seek His Kingdom first in all that we do. We strive to see the world as God sees the world. This is how we become our best “self” which is how we love ourselves best.

Concepts to Ponder: Our purpose is to give glory to God in all that we do. We face a multitude of decisions every day. To be wise is to filter our choices such that we have a Kingdom of God perspective (seek His Kingdom first) and then evaluate our choices so that we take in consideration the uniqueness of our past, our current circumstances, and our future hopes and dreams. Then choose the wise action to take. If we are seeking God first and foremost and making wise choices on a daily basis, then we are being the best we can be and the possibility of personal regret will be minimized.

LOVE OTHERS

• PROCESS – Love like God
• PROCLAMATION – Tell others about God
• PERSPECTIVE – Trust God

In all our day-to-day actions, we do everything in love, submitting to one another out of reverence to Christ. Strategically, we share the Gospel as the greatest form of love we can offer is to share the truth about Jesus Christ. We have the proper mindset and we guide our actions by trusting God, knowing that He has the ultimate plan to bring His children together into one loving body.

Concepts to Ponder: If we interact with others in love (patience, kindness, no envy or boasting, mercy, serving, accepting, forgiving, encouraging…), then we are treating them in the best way possible. If we share the Gospel message we encourage fellow believers and witness to non-believers God’s wonderful gift of eternal life. If we maintain an attitude of trusting God, knowing that we are just a small piece in His great mosaic artwork and by striving to unify the body of Christ (the Church) towards greater synergy and efficiency, then we are sharing our best with others.

LOVE GOD

• POTENTIAL – Submit to God
• PASSION – Make disciples of God
• PARTNER – Walk with God

We maxmize our potential by surrendering to God so He can use all of us for His purpose. By doing everything in love, we create the miraculous “upward spirals of love” that maximize His glory. We strategically obey the Great Commission which is to make disciples and implement a replication process–growing and developing the body of Christ (the Church). Finally, we get to travel each and every moment of our lives with the Creator of the universe and that’s so cool, there aren’t words adequate enough to describe it!

Concepts to Ponder: God has the very best possible plan for our lives tailored down to each individual. Anyone Who can speak into existence 200 billion galaxies each with 100 billion stars (and knows each one by name), can certainly manage down to the cellular level the activities of man. God not only knows your heart, He knows what’s going on with every living cell in your body. He guarantees to lead us to victory! We must submit our will to be aligned with His will for this to fully work–to completely be our best. We then encourage others to do the same thing. Imagine all the world aligned with God’s plan. That would be full optimization–the closest scenario to perfection we could ever achieve here on earth. It would be the fulfillment of our prayer, “…Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Living in this manner is how we walk with God! The ultimate life experience is an intimate stroll with the Father, Son, and Spirit. It’s the greatest possible way to live that we can have in our mortal state!

This is the theory of the 9 P’s of Travel. More simply, this is The Way.

If we dedicate ourselves to mastering these nine disciplines, we will experience the most extraordinary life journey possible! It is certainly challenging, but it is exceedingly rewarding! It is “The Way” to travel and will certainly end with success. Imagine upon the end of our life’s journey, hearing a “Well done, good and faithful servant!” from God. “Come and share your Master’s happiness!”

It doesn’t get any better than that!

Amen and Amen!