Today’s devotional reading: a conversation

Scripture: Hebrews 11, starting at v8- “It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance.”

Me: “Hey, I did that! The Philippines really will be a kind of inheritance for me and my family—a new place that will be our home, given to us by God. It is by faith, and some of it is hard!”

Scripture: “He went without knowing where he was going.”

Me: “Oh. Well, that was way harder than what I did. We knew where we were going—Manila, and Faith Academy. And I was definitely anxious about where we would stay until I knew about this apartment. We had it all worked out before we flew. Yeah, I guess my situation’s not so bad!”

Scripture: “And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner…”

Me: “Well, he WAS a foreigner! And that, again, I do relate to. Living as a foreigner in somebody else’s country is a different kind of thing, not always easy.”

Scripture: “…living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.”

Me: “Oh. Right. Again, I don’t have it so tough as that. There is something impermanent about our lives here, though. It is not guaranteed that we can stay, and we know already that we will be moving house at least one more time in the next year. Missionaries are rather nomadic. We’ll move, or the people around us will, many times in the next years.”

Scripture: “Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God… All these people… agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously, people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

Me: “This needs to be me too.”

I will be making my home in Manila for the foreseeable future, with the US as the place more of my history than of my present. One of my main jobs, as I see it, during the next year (and more), while I am teaching part-time and staying at home more, is to make a home for my family. We will be putting down roots here, and it’s essential that we do so—for the sake of our students and our ministry, for the sake of our daughter, and for our own sanity. However, because we are foreigners here, and because of the nomadic nature of missionary life, I think we will not lose our sense of being strangers. We will remember that this is not our ultimate home, and it will sometimes hurt. It will hurt to be away from the US; and when we are there, it will hurt to be away from Manila; and sometimes nothing will satisfy! When I feel that, or when Kaitlyn does, I need to remind myself and teach her that our true HOME, our city with foundations, is heaven. Our home here is where we are, as a family, but our real home is where God is. And in the midst of the chaos of home-making, stressful and sometimes unsuccessful as it can be, there is a precious promise here for me. God HAS prepared a city for us. And it is a BETTER place than anything here. I do have a heavenly homeland, and one day I will be there and be at rest.