2nd Corona Letter

God has blessed me by allowing me to travel all over the world, even the opportunity to have lived with my wife and children in mainland China from 2003-2005. That included stops in Japan and a couple weeks in Thailand.

I spent three weeks one time in Russia and the Republic of Georgia helping with revival services and teaching in a small Bible school.
Then there was a month long vacation in the UK and the Netherlands, France and Belgium.

I have seen some of the most beautiful things this world has to offer; the Cliff’s of Moher in Western Ireland, The Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland, and I’ve had the humbling experience of walking on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.

Oh, there are many others I could mention. But here’s the thing, None of those places is home. Yeah, there are a lot of places I wouldn’t mind setting some roots down, But they’re not “Home”. Not even the current place in which I reside is really home to me. Do you understand what I’m getting at?

Have you ever been on a long road trip and on the journey back home, it just seems to take forever? Especially that last 60 miles, man it just never ends. Your mind starts thinking about all the things you have to do when you finally get there; get the mail, turn the air conditioner on, go to the bathroom, go get some groceries, oh and the lawn needs to be cut, etc. etc. etc…..

Here’s the thing though – For the Christian we will just never be home in this world. Meister Eckhart wrote, “God is at home, we are in the far country.” Isn’t that so true? We are not home here, we are just passing through, pilgrims on a greater journey. My heart is so encouraged by the Andrew Peterson song “Far Country”:

Father Abraham
Do you remember when
You were called to a land
And didn’t know the way

‘Cause we are wandering
In a foreign land
We are children of the
Promise of the faith

And I long to find it
Can you feel it, too?
That the sun that’s shining
Is a shadow of the truth

This is a far country, a far country
Not my home

In the dark of the night
I can feel the shadows all around me
Cold shadows in the corners of my heart

But the heart of the fight
Is not in the flesh but in the spirit
And the spirit’s got me shaking in the dark

And I long to go there
I can feel the truth
I can hear the promise
Of the angels of the moon

This is a far country, a far country
Not my home

I can see in the strip malls and the phone calls
The flaming swords of Eden
In the fast cash and the news flash
And the horn blast of war
In the sin-fraught cities of the dying and the dead
Like steel-wrought graveyards where the wicked never rest
To the high and lonely mountain in the groaning wilderness
We ache for what is lost
As we wait for the holy God
Of Father Abraham

I was made to go there
Out of this far country
To my home, to my home”

Don’t you see it? If you’re honest, you feel it too. We’re just not home yet.

All this stuff with the Coronavirus has our eyes firmly focused on the here and now.
We are worrying about “Stuff”. Some of it legitimate, some, not so much. Believe me, I know the things that are important, health, food, clean water, shelter. And I also know that some of what we are going through with this crisis is bringing us brokeness and pain in the very depths of our being, it’s a struggle. We are also hurting for people, those who have lost family members, those that are currently ill, those who have lost jobs, those who are having to learn how to do things, like teach their children, that they have never done before. We are scared when we go into the grocery stores and markets and see the shelves half empty and for whatever reason, can’t find a roll of toilet paper (I just don’t understand the people who bought 90 rolls of toilet paper, I’ll be honest).

But again, for the Christian, we are NOT home.

Yet…

We have our eyes focused on the promise of Christ in John 14: 1-4:

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.

C. S. Lewis said, “We’re not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; We are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be…”

This ordeal we find ourselves in today very well may be here tomorrow, maybe next week or even two months from now. It may get worse. There may be more pain for some of us. But where is your hope today? Is it in Christ and the fact that the salvation that comes through Him is steadfast and sure? Is it in the promise that the home we eternally have is not here but it is in a “Far Country” where our Shepherd resides.

Am I worried about all this? Worried, no. Concerned, Absolutely. But Christ Jesus reigns today supreme, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, whom shall I fear then? At the end of the day we should all be able to say, “Corona who? I’ve been talking with my Lord and King in the far country and He has said all is well for me and He will meet me at the door when I finally come home.”