I finished writing this final blog on my last plane ride home:
I love thinking about home. About finally being able to have conversations with my family face to face and holding my baby niece. About being able to jump in a car and drive wherever I want and being able to be alone. Having air conditioning, ice in my drinks, free refills, and eating at Salsaritas and Pei Wei. Hmmm…sleeping in a real bed with my down comforter and taking a hot shower…inside the house! Throughout the year, we've talked and reminisced about home. Then we would remind one another to be present and not wish this year away.
But I have to tell you, sometimes thinking about home helped me to endure hardships patiently. I went through months of cold or no showers, months of unending heat and months of just eating enough to fill my stomach because the food was not appetizing. But then I would remember that this is just for a moment…and someday I would return home and have a new appreciation for all the blessings in my life. And the truth is, when I get home, I will be filled with a thankfulness that comes from enduring trials. Because when I step out of the heat into air conditioning, I will be so thankful as I remember the times when there was no relief. And the times when I get to go to my freezer and fill a glass with ice, then water from the tap, I will flow with thankfulness because on the Race, I lived with a hope for these simple things again. Maybe this seems small and pointless to you…but as I was pondering what it would be like to go home, Jesus brought revelation.
"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Cor. 4:17-18
How often do we think about home…our true home? We can all quote the verses that talk about how this world is not our home, but it's not until a trial comes in this life that is too much for us that we start to cling to and dwell on the promise that we have a new home. And yet this is what we are instructed to do everyday…set your mind on what is eternal. I started to practice this a couple of months ago. I tried to spend a few moments everyday imagining heaven, just like I would think about my home. I started talking about heaven with a few teammates like we would talk about our home in the States. When we would visit amazingly beautiful places, we would marvel at what the new earth will be like.
When was the last time you became giddy with excitement over heaven? And yet, this is the greatest hope that we have. So why don't we think about it more often? Why is heaven not constantly on our minds? What an incredible hope God has given us…and He instructs us in endurance and tells us to meditate, dwell, linger, set your eyes on what is unseen! Jesus endured for the JOY set before Him. Are you missing joy in this life? Then set your mind past this life and spend time thinking about the reality that this life is but a moment. Those who are in Christ have an amazing inheritance waiting for them.
"We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." Romans 8:22-24
As I saw a new level of suffering and poverty this year, I wondered how people endured. How they could live with joy and not dwell in unending days of worry and frustration. I wanted to fix all their problems but I didn't know how. I wondered many times over what Jesus would do or would have me do in the face of overwhelming need. I couldn't find these people new homes or make sure they weren't hungry ever again or give them secure jobs. So many people looked to us to fix their problems. They would demand money from us to pay their child's school fees or ask us what we had brought to give them. And I tried to tell them that what we had to offer was far better than what they were looking for. I tried to convey that if the only hope they had in this world was for an American to come and give them money, then they were missing out. They were missing out on trusting God, not just to provide for them on earth, but they were missing the fact that they could have hope that would outlast this world. They needed to know Jesus so that they could live in the truth that "our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."
When we do finally make it home…how sweet it will be as we think about what we've endured. We won't regret the hardships when we make it to heaven; they will simply be fuel for overflowing thankfulness. The hardships make the homecoming that much sweeter. So choose joy. Choose to endure with patience. Choose the uncomfortable for the sake of Christ. Choose to seek treasures that will last. Choose to throw off sin and other distractions that easily entangle and run this race with endurance. Choose to live everyday with your heart and mind set beyond this temporary life…praising Jesus that we have the hope of the redemption of our bodies. We get to see Jesus face to face someday and we will live in eternal glory!
