Is Jesus in your caravan?

i was talking to an amazing friend last week, and she was telling me about a beth moore conference she was at.
(who doesn't love beth moore? turn to your husband and say "who doesn't love beth moore!" - ha!)
anyways, i loved what she was talking about.
the story is from the book of Luke in chapter 2. 
Joseph, Mary and Jesus, along with many others, had just attended the Feast of the Passover in Jerusalem.
No doubt, this was an exciting event that they looked forward to every year.
after this was over, the group of people started the journey home. they traveled in "caravans" with the women normally going in the front and the men in the back.
you are probably very familiar with this part of the story, but mary and jospeh, probably assuming that Jesus was with the other, realized that they had lost Jesus!
They had traveled for an entire day and not even noticed that He was missing! horror of horrors.
i have heard this story many times, but never heard it applied this way.

who are you traveling in your "caravan" with?
caravan is defined as "a group of travellers journeying together"

to some degree, we don't have a choice as to the people that we are traveling with.
but at the same time, we can be very careful who we choose to travel closely with.
here's the point...
sometimes we can get so busy talking about unimportant things...
the latest sale going on, what we are cooking for dinner, even about the ministries we are involved in...
and doing unimportant things...
redecorating the living room, bringing the kids to soccer games, serving in ministries...
that it could be possible Jesus has left ...and we don't even realize it!

i want to be so sure that Jesus is a part of my "caravan"!!
i don't want my life to be about anything else. what would the point be?
see, i am totally convinced that everything God says in the Bible is true. He tells me in Isaiah that i was created to bring Him glory. i want to make sure i am doing just that.

what i love, is that i have the most amazing caravan that i am travelling in right now.
every thursday night, i get together with a group of girls that i am proud to be in a journey with.
we talk openly about our feelings, and our advice is always. always. based on God's Word. always. they are growing so much, and trying to learn more about how to please Jesus.
Jesus is right in the middle of this caravan. i love that.

i am so blessed to have family that are the same way. we don't go a day without talking about where we've been reading this week, and how God has been teaching us new things.
it's every part of our day and our life.
it's not a church service on sunday.
it's not a good deed for the day.
it's a relationship with a God that loves me. and that sent His son to die for me.

i want to make sure that i never get to a place in my life that Jesus could leave and i wouldn't even know it.
and i don't want to ever get so self-righteous that i think for one second that it could never happen to me.
it could! and it could happen to you too!
that's why who you choose to travel with is so important! don't let other people get you distracted from what your purpose in life is. don't let them distract you so much that you forget to make Jesus first in your life.
don't do it! don't let Jesus leave!

so who is in your caravan?
is Jesus in it with you?
don't just assume he is in your company!

oh, and just so i don't leave some of you hanging...
Jesus was found a few days later, back in the temple in Jeruslaem :)