No place like ...

© 2016 Julie Crane All rights reserved

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? (Psalm 139:7)

We just got back from a week in Vermont for the Thanksgiving holiday. We traveled through Canada because it is shorter. Oh, Canada! With your kilometers for miles and liters instead of gallons! Unfamiliar roads; foreign road signs in heavy traffic ... what joy to see our Pure Michigan sign when we crossed over heading home!

Home. From vacation. Or school. Or work. Long day of shopping and running errands. And then home. To flannel pajama bottoms. Putting your feet up. Relaxing. Unwinding. Shaking off the burdens of the day. Not doing one more thing. What a joy to see my favorite chair, my kitties, and my favorite blanket waiting for me! The stresses of the day all but forgotten. Can't you just picture it? There's no place like ...

There are two directions I want to go with these thoughts. The first is that going to Jesus is kind of like going home. There is peace and rest in Jesus. You can come as you are with Jesus. You can let go of the stresses of the day with Jesus. Curl up in your favorite chair with Jesus. Can't you imagine it? There's no place like ...

Another thought I had with this, is NOT waiting to get back to your familiar physical home but turning your thoughts to Jesus at anytime. Whether you are caught up in heavy traffic at night on Friday at 5:00pm near Toronto (I certainly prayed then!), or in the midst of something at work or school, or the hustle and bustle of running errands - you can curl up into the arms of Jesus anytime and receive that peace that is like coming home.

I didn't stop my usual morning prayer time just because I was away from home. Because God was certainly there with me on vacation! What a comfort to sit with Him even while away.

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast. (Psalm 139:8-10)

Wherever YOU are, the Lord is with you. And there's no place like ...