Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Not fallen off the face of the earth...just traveling it!


I Corinthians 2:9
Long time no see! 

     My last blog posted so long ago it may seem I’ve fallen off the face of the earth…Actually, I’ve been traveling it!  A few weeks ago I journeyed to the land of Israel.  Trying to explain one’s adventure to The Holy Land is like trying to describe marriage to a single person.  It’s just something you have to experience for yourself to fully understand. If you ever get a chance to go, don’t even hesitate.  Do it!  I still have not processed all of it, but I know one thing.  I’ll never be the same… 
     I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to articulate, but I do have a strong overall impression.  It’s this: I have a brand new perspective on what Heaven will be like.  And after this experience, I absolutely cannot wait to live that part of God’s plan!
     One of the best aspects of the trip happened totally on accident. I didn’t plan it this way, but I believe it contributed to my trip of a lifetime. As it turned out my cell phone charger shorted out leaving me with no regular connection to anything back home…no cell phone, no Facebook, no email. While we did have a TV, we never even touched the clicker.  Hence all the issues and struggles of daily life remained in oblivion till I returned home. 
     My only responsibility entailed choosing my outfit and showing up to the appointed places on time.  Which usually is an issue for me, but since that was my only requirement I managed both quite well. I didn’t have to figure out what to eat, where to go, how to get there.  I didn’t have to clean up or check on anyone or anything.  My focus consisted of soaking in each moment and loving those around me!  I laughed uncontrollable belly laughs. I cried deep guttural sobs.  The hair on the back of my neck stood up as Biblical pieces began to fit together.  I witnessed the Bible come alive in ways I’ve never perceived before. My heart burst as I walked the path of love…the path Jesus walked in my place.  In between the laughs and the tears, I caught glimpses of the sheer magnitude of God’s majesty. His power and glory is way bigger than my wildest imagination.
     Honestly, I didn’t want to come home.  The Galilean landscape dripped with lush color.  The Dead Sea floated (literally…did you know it’s impossible to sink in the dead sea because of all the solvents?) through my eye gate with its dreamlike mountainous pale bluish, petal pink backdrop.  And Jerusalem…Ah, Jerusalem!  Never have I seen a more magnificent, awe-inspiring city in my life.  I don’t suspect I ever will. 
     Whatever my vision of Heaven consisted of before this trip, I certainly needed to crumple it up like a scratch piece of paper and start a fresh!  How could Heaven be anything less than the varied beauty, the stress free delight, the full breath of lungs bursting with laughter, the cavernous sense of purpose and hope God permitted me to experience in His Holy Land?  I don’t believe it will be any less!  I believe I just dipped my pinky toe into His amazing future for all who accept Him as Savior.
     I thank God for letting me sample a teensy bit of what I’m really living for! Things of this world…they don’t mean as much to me because I know there is more!  Earth is not my final destination.  I want to be all that God has for me here.  I want to embrace every moment and relationship and opportunity because there are intense purposes I cannot fully comprehend.  I know I don’t understand it all. I’m not supposed to, but I aspire to walk by the light God does give me because I don’t want a second’s regret when I get Home!  
"...Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him." 

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