Hotels and Rental Cars

If you ever see someone put custom wheels on a car they rented from Hertz or purchasing a lamp for their hotel room during a vacation, you need to get them some help quickly. Either they have slipped and hit their head on the edge of the pool, or tasted a little of the moonshine back by the barn. Why? Neither of those things warrant that type of treatment, because both of them are temporary. The same with this life of ours. It’s all on loan.

You ever had someone come and stay in your home for an extended of time and made themselves a little too comfortable? I did once. When I was younger there was a family that took me in after I got into trouble at home and Gertrude my moms kicked me out. (And rightfully so.) These people that took me in were very well to do city folk and had a beautiful home. I was from the ‘hood and this was like the sitcom Diff’rent Strokes. [I’m showing my age!] They were kind people and I was not mature enough to understand that they were showing me love… not longevity. I acted like this was my new eternal dwelling place, while they were just giving a brother a chance to get on his feet. My feet were not what I stayed on. I stayed on my butt. I mean, when these nice people were gone to work I would make myself at home! I would watch cable tv in their room because that was the only room that had MTV for some reason. I ate up all of the lunch meat and drank up all of their Kool-Aid. Although I was still a teenager, I shouldve had enough sense to know that this WAS NOT my home. After several months of their kindness, it was time for me to move on. I’d spent those months treating what was temporary like it was eternal. They saw that. And, in their tough love, they had to shake the nest, or I’d never get out and fly.

God knows that He made something beautiful here when he sculptured into existence his excellent work of art called earth. No matter what your lens is, theological or scientific, the earth is a beauty to behold. But don’t unpack your bags, fold your arms, and think this is the final act in the wonders of God. You better get some more popcorn, baby, because this ain’t it!

The little interruptions of life — these aging bodies, the crying and crackling of nature, breakdown of all the things you’ve trusted in — are all wake up calls that this life is nothing more than rental cars and hotel rooms. Drive ‘em, stay in ‘em, enjoy your time in ‘em, but don’t cry when they breakdown. They were never permanent in the first place.

Now I know that I may be putting too much weight on your view of this thing called the Christ centered life, and by all means, check what I say and see if it lines up with God’s love manual. But, if you realize you have suffered from a bipolar style of Christianity — up one day down the next, conditional worship, and seasonal commitment — maybe it’s because you don’t gaze up at the heavens and miss home.

Ah, Home!

The place that even John had a hard time explaining to the churches in his letter on the isle of Patmos. A place that the human language can’t even grapple with the weight of even the idea.

A place where the children of God will see Him as He is.

Transformed.

Healed.

Complete.

We don’t talk about that much anymore… I’m still a young buck, and I remember the older folk talking about heaven. We want it now; and yet we remain unfulfilled. Because this planet was the beautiful interlude of a celestial overture reverberating through the universe, it is a mere tambourine in comparison to what has been composed with you in mind.

You will never be totally happy here because you’re not at home here.

You will never fully fit in, because you’re from another world. To forget that – and to only consume yourself with CNN, reality shows, big churches with self-makeover programs — is like getting your first boyfriend’s name tattooed on your ankle. It’s not promised to last. This keeps the stress down when the things of this life don’t work.

You don’t invest your whole life here.

You invest in eternity. You do that by loving people. Giving to the needy. The scriptures remind us that we’re storing up treasures for ourselves in heaven when we do these things. Just to invest in yourself is putting it in things that will rot away. When you live with earth in the rear view mirror and heaven as your window, you are more prepared when things fall apart. (Believe me – they will fall apart.) With the right perspective, you shake it off, count it all joy, and keep searching the stars.

About as soon as you turn back in the Prius and drop the key off at the front desk, we’ll be going home.

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