Do you need to get away?

Some days are hard. Some days are so full of stress and anxiety and fear and heartache that you long to get away.

 And perhaps you have done just that. Maybe you went to an all-inclusive resort in paradise where you lounged on the beach all day. Or maybe your choice was a cozy ski resort in the mountains where you slalomed up and down the slopes and sipped on hot chocolate as the sun set. Like any good vacation, it was probably a time filled with delicious food, beautiful sky and laughter. Vacations are suspended spans of time where stress is left behind. No bills to pay. No deadlines to meet, just an opportunity to commune with God, nature, and loved ones.

 But then the week ends and reality returns. As soon as you arrive back home you can feel it again. The things that need to be done. The concern about projects. The relational tensions. Back to a world where it seems as if Satan might be winning. But for a moment, you had a tiny taste of what could be.

 The Book of Revelation is an authentic taste of what will be. It is the promise that in the end God wins. Life may be hard now. Life may be unfair now. There may be challenges now. But in the end, God will demonstrate he is the Victor. And he will give us a life in Paradise.

 The Apostle John was given a vision of the New Jerusalem that comes down from heaven. It is an immense place. Some get caught up in the dimensions outlined in Scripture. But I believe the reason we are told of the size of heaven is to give us the assurance that there is room for everyone. “All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

 The end will be much like the beginning. The God who shaped Eden out of chaos will take the chaos of our world and shape it into something new. A New Heaven and a New Earth- where we can be with Him forever.

So call on his name and make your reservation. It’s all inclusive.

Fight the fight

One day in the late Spring they came to his cell in the Mamertine Prison in Rome and opened the door. His executioners led him out of the city on the Ostian Road. As they were walking out, other travelers would have been walking into Rome. They would have paid him little attention. No one would have recognized his face. No one would have known his crime. He was just another prisoner, just another “dead man walking.”

After traveling a few miles out, the executioners would have stopped. A block would be laid down. His head would be placed upon it. A sword would be raised. And in an instant the head of the most influential writer of all times would roll upon the ground.

Paul had known his share of suffering, but he did not shrink back from his calling. If we could look closer, we would see how scars spread across his back like a windshield crack and how wounds stiffened his joints. His own account of his hardships included floggings, lashings, beatings with rods, pelting with stones, shipwrecks, dangers from rivers and bandits and Jews and Gentiles, danger in the city and in the country, danger at sea and from false believers. He knew hard labor, lack of sleep, hunger, thirst, cold and nakedness (2 Cor. 11:23-29).

It’s a wonder that he could move at all, but move he did. From Corinth to Ephesus, from Thessalonica to Colossae, he left his footprints all over the known world of his day. His visits to these cities were not for sightseeing. He worked. Long days of preaching and establishing churches.

When he wasn’t walking he was writing. He wrote letters to the church in Rome and Corinth and Galatia nd Ephesus. He wrote to Titus and he wrote to Timothy. Letters that continue to bless. God’s grace turned his world upside down and his life was spent telling others about it. Until that day on the Ostian Road, when he drew his last breath.

When you face struggles because of your faith, remember Paul. He anchored himself to a purpose that was higher and greater than his life. There are many fights you can fight, but Paul trained himself for the “good fight” (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

His fight did not end at death. His writings have encouraged, exhorted, and educated followers of Christ till today and for all the tomorrows to come. He gave himself totally to eternal things.

So can you. Fight the good fight. And like Paul, finish the race well.