I like where we're at.

If you Google "I like where we're at right now", one of the hits is Gus Malzahn, the head coach of the Auburn Tigers football team. Good grammar notwithstanding, there is a world of truth in his words. First of all, the words are a bit redundant.  How can you be "where you're at" (sic) at any other time than "right now"? You are always where you are at a given time.

On the other hand "where you are" is a moving target. Where you sit is moving several hundred thousand, if not millions of miles per hour. Any point on the equator is moving at about 1,000mph on Earth's axis.  The earth is traveling around the sun at about 67,000mph.  Our sun and its solar system is traveling through the Milky Way at around 515,000mph. The Milky Way is revolving around some distant system, etc. through the universe. And where you sit, you don't feel a thing.

But let's get back to earthly matters of location. Here on Earth, relative to the Earth, "where we are" is always "right now."  I get tickled with these huge RVs, these bus sized traveling homes. Here these folks are in a two bedroom luxury home on wheels and they blow past me on the interstate at 80mph. Where are they going in such a hurry if they're already home?  They could pull into any rest area at any time and sleep  for a while or play cards or anything.  Is "there" that much better than "here"?  Why is getting "there" important enough to break the law and endanger motorists to get there?  They need to listen  to Gus and say, "I like where we're at", even if it's on I-75 south headed to Florida.

The thing about Gus Malzahn is that he says "I like where we're at" throughout the season no matter what's happening on the field.  He says it during spring training. He says it at summer camp.. He says it the week leading up to the first game.  Win or lose he says it  after the games.  Can it get any better than liking where you are no matter what's going on around you?  We could all learn from what he's saying.

But it's not football that started all this. It's basketball. For Auburn fans everywhere for their team to reach the Final Four is too exciting to describe. I have watched as many games as possible all season including the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament (the Dance). My heart is still racing and my fingernails are bitten to the nub, but it's been fun. Between games I read articles by Auburn beat writers and national sports figures. They are all surprised and amazed at what Pearl and his Tigers have accomplished. Bruce Pearl said this in a recent interview, "We don't all have to be Bryce Brown, we can't all be Jared Harper, but without Malik Dunbar, we're not  here." When he said, "we're not here" I considered the words of that other coach, "I like where we're at." We are here.

My point is that no matter what, you're always where you are. You may not like where you are, but there you  are anyway.  You can't be anywhere else. The trick then is to move toward where you'd rather be, but meanwhile to be content with where you are. A GPS is an amazing piece of technology. When activated, those tracking satellites know exactly where you are and exactly where you want to be. And then it gives constantly updated directions on how to get there. What's most amazing is that you not  only follow your GPS but the GPS is following you, If you take a wrong turn it simply recalculates and again tells you how to get "there" from  "here".I may never get to where I'd like to go, but "I like where I'm at". And I like "right now." 

The Bible says that "contentment... is great gain."  If you're contented where you are, think long and hard before you go somewhere else.