Over the last few weeks, one thought has kept me from losing hope, "This world is not my home!"
I have always loved that old hymn. When I was young, it was just fun to sing. My first memory of it was when Dick Cochran would lead it at Yorktown Road Church of Christ in Logansport, Indiana. As I matured, so did my understanding of that song.
As it has been a very hard and humbling last few weeks, the words of that song have not been far from my lips. Packing up or otherwise discarding 38 years worth of worldy possessions and deciding what was really valuable and what was not was a seriously arduous ordeal. Finally determining what was important enough to put into 8 checked bags, 4 carry-ons, and 4 personal items took many hours of packing, repacking, repacking again and sending yet more stuff to Goodwill or storage.
We left the States on 21 July, but we were out of our house on 2 July. What a debt of gratitude we owe to Ralph & Carol for their massive effort in transferring our stuff to their barn, the burn pile or various other means of liquidation. Our amazing friends, Doug, Donna, and Mikayla Griffith, allowed us to completely take over their basement as our last staging area from 2 July until we left Joplin on 20 July. Such a wonderful example of Godly servants - I miss you guys so much already!
God blessed us with a fairly uneventful trip down here, other than one checked bag spilling onto the tarmac at Houston. They boxed everything up and let us know about it. The overnight stay in San Salvador was pleasant and uneventful. I'll let you read Lori's or Ruth's blog to find out more about the trip to the beach or up the mountain.
When we arrived at the Hotel La Palma, the staff greeted us so warmly. They are all wonderful. They had even placed a banner in our room welcoming us!
So now we are in La Palma. We have started the preparations to move into the building in which we will live for the next year. We have found where we will be purchasing matresses and some nice used furniture. We may move in as early as tomorrow but may wait until Monday. We look forward to worshipping with our family here Sunday. We will begin making plans with the brothers here to do the most good in the best ways possible.
We are anxious to be settled and rested. And yet I know, we will never be truly settled or rested until we go home. Which brings me to the start of this blog entry. This world is not my home. I'm just passing through. My treasure is laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's open door, and I can't feel at home in this world anymore. So we will work, journeying on until we reach the restful place we will truly be able to call Home.
I have always loved that old hymn. When I was young, it was just fun to sing. My first memory of it was when Dick Cochran would lead it at Yorktown Road Church of Christ in Logansport, Indiana. As I matured, so did my understanding of that song.
As it has been a very hard and humbling last few weeks, the words of that song have not been far from my lips. Packing up or otherwise discarding 38 years worth of worldy possessions and deciding what was really valuable and what was not was a seriously arduous ordeal. Finally determining what was important enough to put into 8 checked bags, 4 carry-ons, and 4 personal items took many hours of packing, repacking, repacking again and sending yet more stuff to Goodwill or storage.
We left the States on 21 July, but we were out of our house on 2 July. What a debt of gratitude we owe to Ralph & Carol for their massive effort in transferring our stuff to their barn, the burn pile or various other means of liquidation. Our amazing friends, Doug, Donna, and Mikayla Griffith, allowed us to completely take over their basement as our last staging area from 2 July until we left Joplin on 20 July. Such a wonderful example of Godly servants - I miss you guys so much already!
God blessed us with a fairly uneventful trip down here, other than one checked bag spilling onto the tarmac at Houston. They boxed everything up and let us know about it. The overnight stay in San Salvador was pleasant and uneventful. I'll let you read Lori's or Ruth's blog to find out more about the trip to the beach or up the mountain.
When we arrived at the Hotel La Palma, the staff greeted us so warmly. They are all wonderful. They had even placed a banner in our room welcoming us!
So now we are in La Palma. We have started the preparations to move into the building in which we will live for the next year. We have found where we will be purchasing matresses and some nice used furniture. We may move in as early as tomorrow but may wait until Monday. We look forward to worshipping with our family here Sunday. We will begin making plans with the brothers here to do the most good in the best ways possible.
We are anxious to be settled and rested. And yet I know, we will never be truly settled or rested until we go home. Which brings me to the start of this blog entry. This world is not my home. I'm just passing through. My treasure is laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's open door, and I can't feel at home in this world anymore. So we will work, journeying on until we reach the restful place we will truly be able to call Home.
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