Growing up, traveling to our cottage took FOREVER. Okay, it only took four hours, but in kid time that was an eternity. Suddenly we would see the exit sign for our cottage and the rundown gas station, and we knew we were close. We weren’t there yet, because 20 more minutes of travel would ensue, but we knew we were in the homestretch. We knew the end was in sight and soon we would be enjoying the north woods and relaxation.

In the first two chapters of Matthew, there’s a genealogy of Jesus, the birth of the Savior, the wise men’s visit, and the plot to kill young Jesus. But like an exit sign, the word “Then” appears in Matthew 3:13, and we can rejoice that the end of the story is near: “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.”

It was a long trip from the fall in the Garden of Eden and the promise of a Savior to the time when Jesus came. But it was worth the wait.

Jesus came willingly without a, “Oh, Dad, do I have to go and die for those people?” No, he willingly journeyed on the road we could not. He traveled that road perfectly. And because he traveled that road for us, we are as impatient as kids as we wait for our final destination.