You've had the experience. Especially when you are spending the night in a strange room. You awake disoriented. The question rises, accompanied by the bitter taste of fear. Where am I? It's an important question. If you don't answer it quickly enough, or if you give yourself the wrong response your big toe will pay the price when it hits the corner of the dresser that isn't there in the place where you thought you were. From Alice in Wonder Land to theTruman Show people have explored this idea of location. It involves not only where I am in God's universe, but where I am in the world of my mind.
Right now I'm in a region of the world that will be my home, Lord willing, for about about a third of the year. I'm watching palm trees blow in the breeze--a breeze that will soon become a gale, here, where I am. Here, things that would merit a slight, "Oh, I should pray about that." where I generally live take on far greater importance.
Like John Donne, and Thornton Wilder before me I am coming to answer the question, "Where am I?" in much broader terms than I used to. I'm not an Island. Though I live in a tiny spot in God's world, my address is not limited to a fifty-foot wide spot on Carpenter Drive. I am part of the City of Covington, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the nation known as the USA. I am a citizen of the world and beyond that I exist in the mind of God. (Here)
As is true with so many things in my life at this time I am struggling for balance.
I am somewhere. Wherever that is, I need to ask the question: "What can I do right here to make a positive impact.?" I should strive to make my place better. I should be salt and light.
I may not be where I can be of the most use. My ancestors found within their hearts an urge--maybe it was motivated by fear, or a desire to do better--to cross the Atlantic and settle in the "New World." My Father, and many in his generation reversed that journey to deal with a threat that was global in it's implications. My world is better because they did.
Where am I?
Where do I need to be?
We need wisdom.
In the midst of my musings I find great comfort in a profound Theological truth expressed in very simple terms:
"He's got the whole world in His hands."
I find great challenge in the reality that there is no person, anywhere on this globe who shouldn't hear the truth of John 3:16.
Lord, I am here. May I be fully engaged, and make a difference on this spot.
It's a big world. Give me the right concern for those for whom You gave Your Son.
I pray that I will hear the beat of Your heart for this world where I am.
Amen
Find out about how the message of Christ's love is able to change all people here.
My church,Covington Bible Church, is putting on a event that remembers, and celebrates the great event in when the Son of God came here. I hope you'll attend out Live Nativity. |
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