The Highway to Heaven: Choosing Your Destination | Pastor Chip Radke & Joanna Young-Radke

The Highway to Heaven: Choosing Your Destination

Life isn't just a journey—it's a journey with a destination. Too often, we drift through our days like we're on some endless road trip without a map, when in reality, every single one of us is headed somewhere. The question isn't whether we're traveling, but where we're going and who we're following to get there.

God Hasn't Forgotten You

If you're reading this right now, feeling forsaken or forgotten, let me stop you right there. That's a lie straight from the pit of hell. You wouldn't even be here if God had abandoned you. The very breath in your lungs is proof that you're connected to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. You're not wandering aimlessly—you're on a path.

The psalmist David understood this when he wrote those famous words: "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." Imagine that—two angels named Goodness and Mercy, following you everywhere you go. They're behind you, covering your back, making sure God's purposes for your life come to pass.

Stop Looking in the Wrong Places

There's a song lyric that goes, "Looking for love in all the wrong places, looking for love in too many faces." Pay attention to that phrase—"too many faces." How many of us have wasted years running around with all the wrong faces, thinking we knew better than God about who should be in our lives?

We've all been there, sitting in the darkness, wondering if the sun will ever come up again. Searching for something—love, purpose, meaning—in places that could never satisfy. The nightclubs, the relationships that were never meant to be, the careers that looked shiny but left us empty. We look for lovers when we need a Savior. We look for friends when we need the Friend who sticks closer than a brother.

The truth is, many of us have been delivered from our own personal "Jezebels"—those toxic situations, relationships, or addictions that looked appealing but would have destroyed us. And yet, we still catch ourselves playing the "what if" game. What if I had married that person? What if I had taken that job? What if, what if, what if.

Stop it. God didn't just pat you on the shoulder with sympathy when that door closed. He saved your life. You're lucky you didn't end up with what you thought you wanted because God's plan is infinitely better than yours.

God's Plan Is Better Than Yours

Jeremiah 29:11 isn't just a nice verse to put on a greeting card: "I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future."

Read that again slowly. God has plans—plural. Not just one backup option, but detailed, intricate plans for your life. Plans to prosper you. Plans to give you hope. Plans to give you a future.

Your plan didn't work the first time you tried it. Why would you go back and try the same thing again? That's not perseverance; that's insanity. Instead of forcing your own agenda, why not sit still long enough to hear what God is saying? Why not pray a little harder for the right person, the right opportunity, the right direction?

We spend so much time being jealous of what others have. Single people look at married couples and wish they had that. Married people look at single people and wish they had their freedom. Everyone thinks someone else's plan is better than what God has given them.

The grass isn't greener on the other side. It's greener where you water it.

The Power to Fulfill Your Purpose

In Acts 1:8, Jesus promised His followers: "You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. You shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth."

This isn't just ancient history. This is for you, today, right now. God has a plan for your life, and He's not going to leave you powerless to fulfill it. He empowers you with His Holy Spirit to become exactly who He created you to be.

You might be under attack right now. Good. That means you're going the right direction. The devil doesn't waste time attacking people who are already going his way—he just rides along with them. But when you start moving toward God's purposes, expect resistance. Expect opposition. Even expect it from places you didn't anticipate—sometimes even from within the church.

But don't let that stop you. When you stumble—and you will stumble—get back up. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The difference between those who make it and those who don't isn't that some people never fall. It's that some people get back up.

You Can't Backslide from Grace

Here's something that might surprise you: once you've genuinely given your heart to Jesus, it's almost impossible to truly backslide. Not because you're so strong, but because God won't let you go. He's married to the backslider, the Bible says. Try to run from Him and He'll just get closer.

You'll walk into the places you used to go and feel so convicted you'll end up witnessing to everyone there. You'll try to enjoy your old life and find that it doesn't fit anymore. That's not condemnation—that's transformation. That's proof that you belong to Him.

The Journey and the Destination

Life is a journey to a destination, and every step matters. Even your detours have purpose. Every valley teaches you something, and every mountaintop reminds you that God is faithful. You weren't created to wander aimlessly. You were created to walk with Christ toward an eternity with Him.

Hebrews 12 tells us to "run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." Keep your eyes on Him. Don't look to the right or the left. Don't get distracted by what you think you're missing. Just look forward to what He has for you.

The Christian life isn't just about reaching heaven one day. It's about walking faithfully with Christ every single day until you arrive there. It's about staying on the highway to heaven, refusing to be pulled off course by temporary pleasures or permanent regrets.

Choose Your Destination

You have a choice to make about your destination. You don't have to guess about where you're going. You don't have to hope you make it. You can know—right now, today—that you're on the highway to heaven.

All it takes is a simple prayer: "Dear Lord Jesus, forgive me of all my sins. Cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I know I've failed you, and I need a Savior. I need you, Jesus, to be my Lord and Savior."

That's it. That's the beginning of the greatest journey you'll ever take. Not a journey without valleys or mountains, but a journey with a Guide who never leaves you. A journey with a destination worth reaching. A journey home.

So stop wandering. Stop second-guessing. Stop looking back at what wasn't meant for you. God has a plan, a purpose, and a pathway already laid out. All you have to do is follow Him.

The highway to heaven is open. Will you walk it?