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There is an island in the Pacific Ocean that is green and lush, so green and lush there are names for it like the Garden Isle and the Island of Discovery and to many it’s the most beautiful location on Earth. There are mountains and jungles on the island and beaches, canyons and waves and films filmed there. The unemployment rate is 3.9%. The islands tourism site claims to have settings ‘you’ve only dreamed about’. And it is a dream so there’s little consideration of a need for hope. I’ve spent months here.
There’s another island that was green and lush before 98% of its forest was cut down. Now the most descriptive word is desertification. There’s sickness and there is no official tourism site. If there was hell on earth maybe it would be found here surrounded by saltwater. The worst neighborhood in the world resides with no toilets or schools. The unemployment rate is 40%. When talking about poverty, there’s something called ‘abject poverty’, and it’s half of the population. Abject (adj) – being of the most contemptible or miserable kind; wretched. Wretched poverty. For those that haven’t given up on it there’s hope here and it’s a desperate kind. I’ve spent a month here.
Computers with screensavers of postcard beaches kindle lust in offices through America with a promise. Life isn’t great here, but it could be there. Here there is no view, the people are boring and here the job is something to dread each morning, but there. There it’s really something. Life could be good there. One day, maybe I’ll go there. Those beaches with those sunsets behind palm trees and those people and the sound of those waves. Life could really be lived there, in that screensaver.
That island I mentioned, the one with the sickness and the miserable, was a life changing, love-filled, joyful month. One of the best 30 days I’ve had. The other one, with the dreams, was months of perfect beaches, loneliness, green
mountains out of the sea, bitterness, anger, all-inclusive resorts, surfing and depression.
So I’ve been thinking where joy comes from, how life – real life – happens. Why could the worst place in the world be great and the best place in the world be less than great? In the last couple years I’ve lived on beaches, deserts, jungles, east coasts, west coasts and forests, cities, beautiful, desolate and mountains, and the only constant that I can find amongst all of it is that location will not solve my life problem. It is nice to have a porch with a view of mountains each morning, or to sleep with the sound of waves in the background, but that’s about the extent of it. It’s nice.
I need more than nice. I need Fulfilling. Joy. Love. Heart-filling. Complete. I cried after only one month when I had to leave that island many would never dare visit. It left me with a thought that I have now been convinced as a truth. Real joy, real life, real fulfillment comes from a location. The location has nothing to do with the amount of beaches or mountains or the weather or the view. Where the presence of the Lord is, in all his abundant and fulfilling love, is where I find completion in life. It’s the location where I must be. I can’t live unless I reside in his presence. If I’m not there, I’ll always be searching in a screensaver for something better.
Of course, on both islands the Lord was present. His love could be felt on one island as much as the other. His love is whole and constant. The problem was, where on one island I was looking at the perfect waves, the other I had no choice but to look for my father, because in the darkness there was nothing else to look at, and he was there, and it was good.
If you haven’t heard, I recently moved. And as of Wednesday, my house is on the most photographed street in southern Spain. There’s a wine museum literally next door. I can see the Mediterranean from here. It’s worthy of a screensaver. I’m still support raising, and logic would say, ‘don’t tell your wonderful supporters that you are enjoying yourself.’ It’s certainly easier finding financial supporters from a mudhut in Africa. But I know the wine and the Mediterranean isn’t why I’m here, so I’m alright with talking about it.
I won’t be able to find life from the stuff here that is nice. The presence of love has never been nice and I won’t waste my time with nice here. If you’re looking for me in Mijas, Spain, my location will be wherever the presence of His love is, complete and fulfilling and whole. Maybe I’ll try to put that on the background of my laptop.
Are you looking for a different that location that will bring joy to life? Or are you bringing the father’s love to where you are right now?
