Pursuing the Promised Land

'"If we have found favor in your eyes," they said, "let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan."' Numbers 32:5

A sign outside a church I passed the week after Easter read "Attention: We are open between Easter and Christmas." Isn't that great? I got a chuckle out of the church's tongue-in-cheek attempt to remind folks that there are 50 more Sundays a year to worship the Lord besides the two biggest Christian holidays.

Because I happened to be in the middle of a Bible study on the book of Numbers at the time, my mind was immediately drawn to the Gadites and Reubenites, who begged Moses not to make them cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land. These people were among the Israelite tribes that had been wandering the desert for 40 years since the Lord freed them from slavery in Egypt. Finally, they've made it out of the desert and they're camped just outside the land of Canaan that God had promised to their ancestors. It's nearly time to enter the land, take possession of it and settle into their new lives, and these people say thanks but no thanks. This land looks really good for raising our livestock so we'd rather stay here. Can you imagine that?

Sadly, I can. It really made me pause and think about how often I am willing to "settle" instead pressing on in faith toward what God has planned and prepared for me. God had promised these people life in a land "flowing with milk and honey" and they turned it down! They grasped for what they could see before them right then, without moving forward with trust that what God had in store for them would be even better.

Things are no different today, unfortunately. I'm always so happy to see the church jam-packed at Christmas and Easter, and I always hope that many of the people who only show up those two days a year will be so inspired by the services that they will be moved to return week after week. It saddens me when the attendance drops back down the very next Sunday. Jesus offers us "abundant life," our own opportunities for Promised Land living. We might think we're living it, but when we don't spend time in regular worship, prayer, Bible study, and fellowship with other believers, of if we don't really even believe in him, we're only settling for what's before us and missing out on an abundance of blessings.

Hebrews 11:1 says "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see." The Gadites and Reubenites had faith in what they could see. Jesus' disciple Thomas, when told of the ressurrection said he would not believe it unless he could see and touch Jesus' wounds. When he got that opportunity, Jesus told him "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Lord, please help me to always pursue the Promised Land and be among the blessed.

Goodbye and Godspeed

A very dear lady passed away early this morning, and I couldn't let the day go by without taking a moment to reflect and pay her some tribute. She was an elderly lady in my church named Nancy, and she just had this way of making people feel special.

Maybe it was the fact that she always greeted me with a smile, a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. Maybe it was the fact the she reminded me of my Great-aunt Louise, another faithful and amazing lady who passed away many years ago. Or maybe it was the fact that when she said she was praying for me, I always knew without a doubt that she really was.

Yesterday at church I was stunned to hear that Nancy had had a stroke and was in intensive care. So today I drove to the hospital to check in on her...I really just wanted to hold her hand and pray for her. When I got there, however, they didn't have her listed as a patient and I assumed I had gone to the wrong hospital. A few minutes later when I called a friend to try to find out where she was, I was heartbroken to learn that Nancy had died in the wee hours of the morning.

For the next little while, I was so angry with myself for not going to see her yesterday as soon as I heard she was hospitalized. Instead, I came home from church and just hung around the house for a couple of hours before I had to attend a scheduled event later in the afternoon. I so truly regretted missing the chance to let her know I loved her and say goodbye.

But then I started reflecting on the last time I saw her. It was in the sanctuary at church, as folks were filing out after a beautiful and joyful Easter Sunday service. She was waiting for our pastor to finish shaking hands with everyone so that she could give him a cake she had baked for him. That was so Nancy, she loved to pamper people with her cooking, and I was blessed to have been a recipient of that goodness as well!

Anyway, when Nancy saw me she came over and gave me a big hug and kiss on the check. "Oh, I just love you Honey," she said. "I prayed for you just this morning and I pray for you every day." And I hugged her back and returned a kiss on her check, and I told her I loved her too.

Reflecting back on that, I'm so very grateful that God allowed me that moment with her. That was our goodbye, and what more needed to be said than that? Even more special was the setting, two sisters in Christ standing beneath the cross of Christ on Easter. How fitting that that was Nancy's last church service...she dearly loved and faithfully served the risen Savior! I know she's rejoicing to be with him now, for to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

Thank you for all the examples you set Nancy, and the love you so freely shared.

"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." Psalm 116:15