Monday, May 30, 2011

The Beginning Again

It's gradually begun to dawn on me that we are entering a new era. Babyhood is coming to a close with our second little girl. We're building a new home. We're saying goodbye to the military. We're embracing the community of believers in this town. I don't know how long it will last....but, we're here for this phase of the Journey.

Yesterday, I was sitting in church, listening to Pierre preach on Luke 9:57-62. As he was expositing on the "cost of following Jesus" I thought, "This is a good example of what our family is entering into right now. We've set our hand to the plow, we've basically committed to a Work of the Kingdom here in Lacey. Hey, that would be a good title for a new blog, 'Hand to the plow" or something like that." A second later, Pierre started quoting the OTHER scripture from my CURRENT blog, "I press on towards the goal of the upward calling..." and I was like, "Wow."

So, upon that "Wow" moment, here I begin our new blog. 

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
 He said to another man, “Follow me.”
 But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”
 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Though we are building a new home here, we still consider ourselves "sojourners" on this earth. Like Christ, we set our sights on Heaven as our Home, and fasten our hearts on His work, His goals. Some of the costs are painful for us. We won't be living near family, and we will miss seeing cousins grow up together. I doubt we will ever be able to have the "farm life" we once craved, with chickens and gardens and such. We're city-dwellers, now, and we are "seeking the welfare of the city." 

(Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.) 

Not to say we see Lacey, WA as Babylon....not in the least. But, this world, in a way, is like a Babylon, to which we have been exiled. Here we are, building a house....settling down....seeking the welfare of the city. 

I still have longings in my heart to be finished with this world. I end every day, breathless at how fast the time speeds by, longing to be done with the Things Of This World, and see the face of God. But, every day moves us closer to that, I guess. We are pressing on....we have set our hands to the plough.

"We press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

"No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of Heaven."

No comments:

Post a Comment