God is our Home...

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Garden Tomb, Jerusalem.  Israel.

It's a sacred place - beautiful, quiet and while there, I felt I was walking in His presence.  It was on 07/07/07 when I visited the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.  It is just one of two traditional sites where it is believed that Jesus was resurrected.  I don't know which one was the actual site, but in this beautiful garden area it was not hard to imagine Jesus meeting Mary and telling her to go tell the disciples what she had seen.

It was here, that we sat as a group in the late morning, when one of our tour leaders took a short devotional.  Have you ever read a book for the second time (or even a third, fourth or more?) and suddenly seen something that you know you must have read before, but somehow "missed" it?  Well, this was one of those occassions!  Rick based his devotional on Psalm 90:1 - it's a Psalm of Moses, the only Psalm that he wrote.  The first verse reads

Lord, through all the generations
  you have been our home!

I have thought of this verse so many times since that day, and it has become one of my favourite verses, but it took on new meaning for me today.  I was driving home and reflecting on my recent journey through the valley of death, when I realised that it wasn't until after I had gone home, that I started to realise where my journey had taken me.  I came home on Thursday evening, and it was Friday morning when I was sitting on my bed, when it suddenly hit me how close to dying I came. 

And today when I was reflecting on that, I realised that I felt safe at home.  Safe enough to think and process where the journey had taken me.  Safe enough to become grateful that I was alive!  There are many reasons why God is our home.  Home is where we feel safe, accepted, and secure.  Just to name a few of the reasons.  But safety, for me, is probably one of the biggest reasons I love to come home.  And this is what God is to me - He is my place of safety.  He is where I can go and know that I am safe.  Yes, things can happen, bad things can happen.  But you know what?  As I went through that valley of death, I didn't fear anything - I knew that I was safe and when I was reflecting, I also knew that even if I had died, that my eternal life was secure in God.

Thank you God, for being my Home - for providing me with that safety!

Going Home..

"You can go home today."

When you have been in hospital unexpectedly for the past four days, to hear the Dr say those words was like music to my ears!  It may not have been evident to those around me, but inwardly I was singing and dancing in celebration.

That was 8am when the Dr came to see me and prononounced me well enough for discharge.  Now, I knew that there was a certain procedure that had to be followed, before I could actually walk (or in my case, be wheeled) out the door.  So I waited.  And waited.

And waited.  And then waited some more. 

Nothing seemed to be happening.  I asked the nurse what needed to be done.  Ah.  Well, there's the thing.  As the patient I could not do a thing to get ready - everything I could do had already been done.  Now it was up to the Drs, the Pharmacy, and other allied health professionals to do their thing and write up the Discharge letter, get the medications ready.  All would happen, never fear.  Just relax and wait.  Be ready, because when they needed the bed I would have to vacate - even to the "transit lounge" to await my final departure.

My husband wanted to know what time?  I said, no hurry, come after work.  He did.  At 3pm, still no discharge letter, no medications. 

The nurse came and told me that I had to go to the transit lounge.  My bed was needed.  The nurse from the transit lounge came to get me, and all my worldly possessions - a whole small shopping bag full of odds n ends.  I told the nurse I didn't have a discharge letter yet.  No problem - he had it! 

The Pharmacist came to talk to me.  She would go get the medication sorted out.  My husband started making noises about not having to leave work early, he didn't like waiting.  I told him I had no control over the speed with which these things happen...

5pm.  The phone rings - the nurse answered the call and then said to me, you are right to go.  Suddenly all the waiting was over, I was in the wheelchair and whisked downstairs to the pharmacy, then to the car and I was on the way home!  Home never looked so sweet...

I started thinking.  Jesus has promised us that He has gone away to prepare a home for us.  A home within His Father's house.  One day He will come back to take us back there with Him.  We don't know how much longer we have to wait.  We need to stay ready so we can leave with Him at a moments notice.  Home will never have looked so good!  We don't have control over when that happens, but we only have to stay ready - to hold fast and stay prepared.

It was great coming home after my unexpected stint in Hospital.  But how I long to go home to my Father. 

Even so, Come Lord Jesus!

The Valley of Death...

1 The LORD is my shepherd;
  I have all that I need.
2 He lets me rest in green meadows;
  he leads me beside peaceful streams.
3   He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
  bringing honor to his name.
4 Even when I walk
  through the dark valley of death,
I will not be afraid,
  for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
  protect and comfort me.
5 You prepare a feast for me
  in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
  My cup overflows with blessings.
6 Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
  all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the LORD
  forever.
(The New Living Translation of Psalm 23)

This week I have been walking through the dark valley of death.  It hasn't been pleasant - horrendous, in fact.  It was after I came home from hospital that this Psalm suddenly took on new meaning for me.  I don't think I've ever felt as close to the shadow of death before.  But it was with that realisation that it also dawned on me that neither had I been afraid.  "Your rod and your staff they comfort me."

The shepherd's staff was something he used for support, to help him get over the rough terrain (and the terrain is very rough in the Middle-east!).  The rod, though, is a little different - it has several functions which make it particularly interesting in light of this Psalm, and a walk through the valley.  The rod was somehow used by the shepherd to mark his sheep, I guess a bit like the farmers these day brand their cattle.  But I think the most important use of the rod was to guide and protect the sheep - with the rod, the shepherd would ensure the sheep were guided to safe pastures and the rod would also drive away the wild animals that would hunt the sheep.

This week, I have felt the hand of God around me, marking me as His own.  This is as much HIS choice as it is mine!  I want to belong to Him, and I'm grateful for His protection this week.  The Good Shepherd has been there with me in my journey, guiding me and protecting me with His rod, supporting me with His staff.  Oh, how I have coveted this assurance throughout my life, and it has been there all the time.