Quick Thought: Homeward Bound
My parents used to love that song by Simon & Garfunkel. Not really my musical cup of tea but I’m borrowing that as this post’s title because of something powerful and wonderful which occurs around once a week in my life.
As discussed in past posts, not too long ago the Lord laid the calling on and in my heart to memorize the entire Bible and then (a) recite it, His “love letter” to us, back to Him as a unique and indeed historic love/thank-You gift for all He does and who He is, and (b) educate, encourage, and empower others to do likewise after the Bible completes its current, unfolding work of revealing to my mind’s eye a specific memory method to make all of that a reality. When He did that, I committed the rest of my life and my life savings to that end. And midway through this website’s being built, I sold my car – my only means of transportation – so this site could be finished so people all around the globe would be able to track each step of the way in this historic undertaking.
As a result, I’ve done a lot more walking and bicycling in the months since, and as also mentioned in past posts, it has been during the subsequent bike rides and walks which many of the thoughts that became posts arose. It has been a real blessing, those usually 3-to-4-hour treks and time spent just walking and talking with the Lord and reciting His Word… I LOVE it!
But that’s not to say that by the end of those three or four hours of nonstop exercise my body doesn’t start to feel it. It does. And you know the almost singular thought which occupies my mind in those final 15 or 30 minutes? I just want to get back home so I can shower and rest. (Preferably, though not always, in that order. =)
The pain produced by several straight hours of exercise makes me yearn for home. And that’s exactly how it is in the Christian life! Simply going through life will, by definition, entail pain, trials, tribulations, testings.
- “… man is born for trouble. As sparks fly upward.” (Job 5:7)
- “… In this world you will have trouble.” (John 16:33)
- “… the sufferings of this present time…” (Romans 8:18)
- “… momentary, light affliction…” (2 Corinthians 4:17)
That last verse goes on to say that such “affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison” and that the purpose of such pain is to point our mind, our focus, away from the horizontal and onto the vertical, away from the temporal and onto the eternal, away from the earthly and onto the heavenly. In other words, to remind us that we’re homeward bound. To remind us that this is NOT our home, but rather, as stated so clearly in Philippians 3:20, “our citizenship is in heaven”… heaven is our true home.
Back to those frequent walks I’ve become so fond of taking, I have three preferred routes. If I need to run an errand during my walk I’ll take the route most conducive to that but otherwise it really just depends on whether I’m hankering for a city, water, or park setting. (If I lived near a beach that would definitely be a fourth regular in the rotation. =) The park setting usually takes the longest – four or five hours on average – and when I get back to within a mile of my humble abode I make this one left-hand 45-degree turn and, wah-lah, I can see my home for that final 20 minutes or so of my roughly 4-hour walk. And it’s the most amazing thing: just seeing home – less the brick structure itself but rather the forthcoming rest and cleanliness (shower) it promises – literally makes me forget about the physical pain or discomfort I had been feeling just ten seconds earlier.
Such is the power of home. It not only makes me forget about that present pain but actually goes to the other end of the spectrum and imbues me with motivation and excitement and joy.
As I said, I take this particular walking route around once a week on average yet it never, ever gets old or boring. Indeed, that fact, that process, that instant transformation of sorts amazes me anew each and every time. The immense benefit and benefits when a Christian is reminded that he or she is homeward bound.
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