[:en]THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

Santy and I would like to thank so many of you who have come and helped us move. We really appreciate your thoughtfulness and kindness. By the grace of God we have moved into our new house. As usual God provided at His perfect time—not too early and not too late. As usual He guided at His perfect pace—not too fast and not too slow. And, as usual, He only asked us to trust Him.

Moving from a relatively large to a smaller place requires two actions: jettisoning and rearranging. We have to throw away objects that we still might want to keep but don’t really need anymore. And, we have to rearrange the objects we will keep so they can fit into the new place. Simply put moving forces us to really see what is important and—I am sure you know what I will say next—there are not too many!

The Bible teaches us to call our earthly residence a tent. To me it is interesting because the Bible could have used the term, a house, as opposed to the mansion we’ll occupy in the heavenly realm later. But, no, God wants us to call it, a tent. There are of course a number of reasons why He wants us to call it a tent; one of them, I believe, is because He does not want us to build too strong an attachment to it. Come to think about, we just don’t have an attachment to a tent, don’t we? A tent is simply a tent, nothing more.

After we emptied the old house, I looked at it and felt something strange: This house, which I had lived for the last 11 years, no longer felt like my home. It is different because it is empty—no face and no voice that I am familiar with. Instead, the new house has become a home—faces and voices that I am familiar with. I guess that’s how we all will feel when we are in our heavenly home.

Pastor Paul[:id]THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

Santy and I would like to thank so many of you who have come and helped us move. We really appreciate your thoughtfulness and kindness. By the grace of God we have moved into our new house. As usual God provided at His perfect time—not too early and not too late. As usual He guided at His perfect pace—not too fast and not too slow. And, as usual, He only asked us to trust Him.

Moving from a relatively large to a smaller place requires two actions: jettisoning and rearranging. We have to throw away objects that we still might want to keep but don’t really need anymore. And, we have to rearrange the objects we will keep so they can fit into the new place. Simply put moving forces us to really see what is important and—I am sure you know what I will say next—there are not too many!

The Bible teaches us to call our earthly residence a tent. To me it is interesting because the Bible could have used the term, a house, as opposed to the mansion we’ll occupy in the heavenly realm later. But, no, God wants us to call it, a tent. There are of course a number of reasons why He wants us to call it a tent; one of them, I believe, is because He does not want us to build too strong an attachment to it. Come to think about, we just don’t have an attachment to a tent, don’t we? A tent is simply a tent, nothing more.

After we emptied the old house, I looked at it and felt something strange: This house, which I had lived for the last 11 years, no longer felt like my home. It is different because it is empty—no face and no voice that I am familiar with. Instead, the new house has become a home—faces and voices that I am familiar with. I guess that’s how we all will feel when we are in our heavenly home.

Pastor Paul[:]