Gospel Lessons from Carryout Pizza

by Joe Leavell

Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels

Several years back when our kids were smaller, my wife Rebekah and I decided to celebrate a rare day off work with a fun family night. The plan was simple; order carryout pizza and watching a light-hearted family movie all together. We thought it would be fun to surprise the kids, so I asked my two older boys if they wanted to join me on a short car ride.

My younger son jumped at the opportunity to do something out of the house, but my oldest is the analytical type like his dad. He immediately asked for details of the trip so that he could assess whether it was a worthy investment in his valuable free time. He immediately began peppering me with questions and guessing dozens of plausible destinations. I gently informed him that this time I was not going to tell him where we were going. Our destination was a surprise and I wanted him to just enjoy some time with his dad.

Instead of agreeing to come, my son doubled down, insisting that the trip meet his pre-determined approval before he devoted himself to this mysterious outing. He was genuinely concerned that he would be bored or that the destination would be a major disappointment over the computer game he was currently enjoying. Pressing him for a decision, he grudgingly agreed to my terms…his fear of missing out on something good trumping his fear of the let-down of a dull car ride.

For the first few minutes of our drive, my son was relentlessly complaining about my cruelty in not revealing the destination. So, I let him in on the main reason for my secrecy.

“Bud, I’ve been working a lot and we just haven’t had much time together, so I asked you to come in order to hang out with me. It wasn’t because we’re going someplace fun or special. I want you to be with me because I love you, and I want to just enjoy each other’s company as father and son for a bit.”

I explained that sometimes, just being together was the best part of being a family, not just the activity we happened to be doing. He seemed to get the point and settled down. He was fine, that is, until I made what he considered to be a wrong turn. Ironically, even though he had no idea where I intended us to go, he was quite convinced he knew how to get to his idyllic objective better than I.

“That’s not the way to Wal-Mart Dad! I thought that was where we were going! I thought you were going to buy me a treat after you went shopping! I only agreed to go because I thought you were getting me something special at Wal-Mart and wanted me to pick it out!” He was very frustrated to the point of tears that his ideal destination turned out to be different than mine.

Working with him through his sentiments of regret at having agreed to come, we finally pulled into the pizza place. Still frustrated at this purposeless trip he finally looked up and saw the sign for pizza and everything immediately fell into place for him.

“Oh…well Ok.” He said sheepishly.

He was excited, but obviously embarrassed at his sour attitude throughout our journey. Before leaving for home, I stopped and asked both my boys for their continued trust. I told them that I love them and asked them to simply enjoy spending time with me rather than constantly worrying about our destination. I knew all along exactly where I was going and what we were doing. I knew they would like what we were doing but just wanted them to enjoy being with me. I want my children to learn to value our relationship instead of just judging the worth of the destination to see if they will participate.

The Lesson was for Me

Many people, even believers, look at the Gospel through the same lens as my son. There is much to learn from this story but let me bring you in on my own journey with Christ. For years, following Christ was supposed to mean automatic blessing for “successful” goals and desires. I was supposed to faithfully and obediently follow God and He was supposed to bless my goals.

My life, however, often has taken significant turns in which God did not bother to get my approval beforehand. Like my son, I began to complain. “What are you doing God? I’m not going to get where I told you I wanted to go. Why are you taking me this way?! Hello? Are you even listening to me? I told you I wanted to go a different way!”

My questions and even accusations revealed a lot of “I’s.” They spoke nothing to my relationship with Christ. I simply wanted God to be a chauffeur through my life and I felt like my obedience was a way to get God to do what I wanted Him to do. Just like my son, I found myself becoming obsessed with questioning anywhere God took me and informing Him of the best routes to get there.

Yet, like my son learned with me, God has taught me a significant lesson through the years about enjoying His presence rather than using Him to get what we want.

“Similar to my son enjoying just being with his Dad while grabbing some pizza, going through life as a believer is about finding joy, fulfillment, and identity in what we do with God, not what we do for God.”

As the Psalmist penned in Psalm 23, sometimes the journey with my Shepherd takes me to green pastures and He leads me besides still waters, but at other times He takes me through the valley of the shadow of death. Yet, though I may not understand why He has led me the way He has chosen, if I am truly delighting in my Savior and enjoying His presence, I am comforted by the nearness of my Shepherd and the intimate relationship that we share.

I admit that when He asks for my trust, I still sometimes struggle with gauging whether the end result is worth the journey to me, regardless of the promise of His presence.

His Presence IS the Destination

Paul stated in Philippians 3:10 that his life goal was,

“That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”

Paul’s road trip with God included being beaten, starved, imprisoned, stoned, shipwrecked, and finally, ended with being beheaded. I doubt he was excited to experience any of those things. But experiencing the journey with Christ, sharing life with Him, and knowing the end of the journey was an eternity with Him, made his life worthwhile. The Gospel is about knowing Christ and what He has done so that we can experience God’s presence. As a good God, His objective is to plan our lives in ways that reveal our own need for Him and to enjoy the experience of a relationship with Him.

In this way, wherever He takes us and whatever He makes of us in the meantime is worth the trip, no matter what. He knows the joy that will be on our faces when we experience the end destination with Him for all eternity. In the meantime, He asks us to trust that He loves us and wants us to just chill out and enjoy hanging out with our Father. He’s worth it.