A Slow Journey for Fast Food

This weekend I got to experience one of my favorite things in the world, I went to “In-N-Out Burger.” If you are not familiar with In-N-Out, they are a fast food burger chain from the West Coast that I have visited on every trip to California . Once I heard that there was one in Ft. Worth, I knew that when I was there this weekend I needed a Double-Double (that’s double meat, double cheese). The reason these restaurants are not everywhere is due to their obsession with quality, they have limited stores and a limited menu so that everything can be served fast, fresh, and delicious. And while the food is definitely a draw, another part of what makes going there so much fun is the journey aspect, the fact that they don’t exist everywhere and so there is a quest to get to the In-N-Out Burger to enjoy their food.

This weekend’s experience was definitely a quest. Arriving in Ft. Worth at lunchtime, we experience bumper to bumper traffic as we neared the exit. Then the directions from their website took us past the restaurant, I literally watched as we drove past our destination in slow motion. We had to exit a mile down the road, but the difficulties didn’t end there. We were in the middle of a construction zone, and you could not get back on the highway going the other direction from where we were. If not for Meghan’s iPhone, we might still be trying to find this place, as we had to duck through a cute little neighborhood and do some fancy maneuvering. But we finally made it.

And it was good.

It’s often said that life is a journey and not a destination. This is good advice that we often brush past on our way somewhere. I’m big on living in the moment, and God is challenging me to make the most of every opportunity my life affords. Sometimes the journey is more important than the destination, and God always has a life lesson in those difficult times. And maybe, just maybe, there’s a double-double with fries and a chocolate milk shake waiting for you at the end of the trip.