Abram and Aliens

So a couple of weeks ago, I had a meltdown.  Surprising, I know.  HA!

It was in the Target parking lot in Saginaw.  Funny place for God to speak to you, but whatever.  While I was having a great time with the other girls on our shopping trip, it was a very clear reminder that we are leaving.  For about a year now, every purchase has been weighted with the question, "can we take this with us?"  And that gets old. 

This whole transition is sorta like having a baby without a due date.  I laughed when I said that today because one of my friends here at Barakel just experienced that.  But seriously, we don't know when the move will actually happen.  It could be in a couple of months, it could take a lot longer.  We don't know. 

I was feeling sorry for myself, a lot of the "I am the only one who has experienced this!"  And there, in the parking lot, God prompted me to read Hebrews.  His way of gently saying, "Oh honey, you are not the only one, just look here..."

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.  And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

I am not the only one to have walked this road!  Which of course I knew, but needed to hear.  You know how that is? 

Over the last few weeks, God has been showing me that really, the way we are living now, with the hope of a new country, isn't that much different than how we should have been living before.  As followers of God, we are all on our way to that Heavenly country, the one that we have only heard descriptions of. And our lives should be ordered around that.  That question of "can we take this with us?" applies too.

These verse also talk about being aliens and strangers in the land, and I was reminded that Jesus was the ultimate alien!  Goodness, he choose to inhabit a body!  Talk about culture shock! Those verse about how we have a great high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses rung true again!  He knows all about cross cultural living, and moving!  So,

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

 And Lord, teach us how to be aliens, longing for that Heavenly country!