Our Desire Is To Go Where God Leads Us

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘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.’ (Hebrews 11:16)

The snowbirds are beginning to leave us for the summer as they head home, back up north to family and friends and enjoy what they believe is cooler weather, though in looking at summer temperatures and humidity levels, they can be the same or higher in the Northeast and Midwest than they are down here in Florida. There are, of course, more ‘leafy’ trees and the rolling hills that cascade into the Appalachians. Up into the north and west are the plains, flat as Florida is but without swamps.

For those of us who either choose to stay here year round or do so out of necessity, it is where the Lord placed us. Without an impetus to send us elsewhere, we stay behind. I, personally, am good in staying here though the summer heat and humidity (lasting 9 to months out of 12) is a bit brutal as I age, though I enjoy the heat (as long as I also have an air-conditioned spot to go into for a respite).

Despite growing up in western Pennsylvania, in the steel valley just north of Pittsburgh, I don’t necessarily miss the woodlands and the rolling hills that bank the Ohio River, and certainly not the decay of old factories and neighborhoods left behind, from an era when the area thrived of American industry 50-plus years ago. There is a fondness I still have for Pittsburgh, but more what it used to be than what it is now.

When I graduated high school, I realized that I needed to leave and my future wife needed to come with me. The Army called and we never looked back. We came to Florida after an opportunity opened here in 1988 and thus this where we decided to plant our roots. Though I came later to Faith in Christ, I believe the Lord put us where we needed, and still need, to be. This happened long ago, as well, according to the Biblical record.

The context of Hebrews 11:16 by Paul is with Abraham, when he left Ur (an ancient city in now-southern Iraq) for what is now Israel.  Israel was and is not necessarily a land that is completely friendly in terms of the environment – then and now.  The southern part is desert, the land is rocky and very hilly to the north, and of course it is at the crossroads of Africa, Europe, and Asia where many armies have gone through over the course of time. 

God, however, called Abraham to the land of Israel, and later called the Hebrews out of Egypt to go back and reclaim it, and reclaim it again and again after the Babylonian exile and in 1948 after the Diaspora.  The current Israel has made the land prosper despite its shortcomings and has made its land useful for crops and they have thrived there despite its terrain and its enemies at (or even in) its doorstep. 

When we lay roots down, we need to be content as well, and make the best of where we live, despite its shortcomings.  Yes, we have hot summers for 10 months of the year, with only a very short ‘spring-fall’ before we get the heat again.  Of course, this makes up for us not having to shovel snow for six months out of the year as they do in New England. 

Paul, though, brings up where we really want to relocate to, Heaven.  Jesus promised us that if we accept Him as our Savior, there is a ‘mansion with many rooms’ (John 14:2) that is awaiting our arrival.  This is our true home, one that the Lord has at the ready when it’s time. 

However, until that time comes, we need to be content with where the Lord has called us, and it could certainly be to stay in place, to move to another location, or to wander around, but wherever the Lord calls us to be, we need to make the best of it and ensure we do what the Lord asks of us, which is spreading the Gospel and the Love of Christ to all!   

I say Lord, thank you for allowing me to be in a place of sunshine and warmth, and one day I look forward to graduating to that Perfect Place where everything will be perfect as You will be there with us, Your children!