***Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash***
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (Heb 11:13-16, ESV2011)
This passage above speaks of where I have emotionally been for the past few months, “desiring a better country, that is, a heavenly one.” Frankly, I have not had any inspiration to write. I have asked myself many times, “Why did we moved to east Texas from northern Idaho?” Logically, we moved here to be near two of our kids, six grand kids and five great grands and visiting with them has been a blessing. But I have to ask myself, “What is it that God has for me to do while here and where is His family IN Christ?”
Since we moved here we bought a very nice house that is walking distance to a very large lake with lots of fish to be caught. But in this area the humidity off the Gulf of Mexico is very high and the summer months are hot and muggy. This is hard on those of us who have lived just two hours south of Canada most of our lives. The winter months were tolerable, but these summer months for the most part keep us cooped up in air conditioned spaces.
The main thing that bothers me is that it has been hard to find any real fellowship in the Spirit even though we are surrounded by hundreds of churches and thousands of church Christians. It reminds me of lines from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean…
We have even tried going to a couple of Sunday churches and it has all been so two dimensional. They are like “painted ships upon a painted ocean” stuck in the doldrums where there is no Spirit breath or motion. And they call this part of America the Bible Belt? Jesus did not die on the cross so everyone can have a Bible. He died to blot out our sins that separated us from God so that we too could rise again in newness of life and enjoy our fellowship with the Father and the Son IN THIS LIFE! (See John chapter 17). The poem continues with a familiar verse,
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
What a contrast! Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well,
“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:10, ESV2011)
The ancient mariner had killed an albatross on their voyage which was a sign of bad luck and the crew reacted against him.
Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung…
Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. (Acts 5:41-42, ESV2011)
I believe that He is a husband to the widows and that He places the orphans in families just as it is written. There is hope.
After a long voyage and perils at sea the Mariner’s ship finds its way back to his home harbor…
We drifted o’er the harbour-bar,
And I with sobs did pray—
O let me be awake, my God!
Or let me sleep always.
And now this spell was snapt: once more
I viewed the ocean green,
And looked far forth, yet little saw
Of what had else been seen—
Like one, that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows, a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.
But soon there breathed a wind on me,
Nor sound nor motion made:
Its path was not upon the sea,
In ripple or in shade.
It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek
Like a meadow-gale of spring—
It mingled strangely with my fears,
Yet it felt like a welcoming.
Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,
Yet she sailed softly too:
Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze—
On me alone it blew.
Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed
The light-house top I see?
Is this the hill? is this the kirk [Scottish for church]?
Is this mine own countree?
We drifted o’er the harbour-bar,
And I with sobs did pray—
O let me be awake, my God!
Or let me sleep alway.
The harbour-bay was clear as glass,
So smoothly it was strewn!
And on the bay the moonlight lay,
And the shadow of the Moon.
The rock shone bright, the kirk no less,
That stands above the rock:
The moonlight steeped in silentness
The steady weathercock.
And the bay was white with silent light,
Till rising from the same,
Full many shapes, that shadows were,
In crimson colours came.
A little distance from the prow
Those crimson shadows were:
I turned my eyes upon the deck—
Oh, Christ! what saw I there!
Each corpse lay flat, lifeless and flat,
And, by the holy rood!
A man all light, a seraph-man,
On every corpse there stood.
This seraph-band, each waved his hand:
It was a heavenly sight!
They stood as signals to the land,
Each one a lovely light;
This seraph-band, each waved his hand,
No voice did they impart—
No voice; but oh! the silence sank
Like music on my heart. <end>
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1Thess 4:16-18, ESV2011)
There is hope, for those in Christ there is an “Easter rising.” Even this poem speaks of the resurrection of his ship mates that died at sea.
I know that there are others of you who can relate to my struggles. God has allowed me to find fellowship with other saints by phone, email and a rare visit from afar, but it is a manifestation of the living body of Christ here locally that I miss. Paul wrote to the Colossians,
May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col 1:11-14, ESV2011)
It fits! Bless you all in the fellowship of the Father and the Son,
Michael