I FEEL LIKE TRAVELING ONWARD

I FEEL LIKE TRAVELING ONWARD

We have been on long journey back to see our children in the east, and what a journey it was.  We visited, laughed together, and visited many places and met new people, and even met a new great grandson.  But I am reflecting back on that journey and my experiences watching people, sitting in long lines, making it to the next gate to catch a connecting flight.

I saw a world that needs Jesus, people in great darkness, and it grieves my heart.  My life is so secluded from that world that the Lord has to remind me that there is another world out there.  It is a pleasure seeking world, a world who does not know or care that there is a God who loves them, and He sent His Son to die for them and that the Lord is reaching out His arms to a lost world!  It is a world on the verge of judgment, for the Lord will soon return.

I know many of you travel with the airlines, and picture sitting in a plane on the runway for five hours, as communication problems grounded the plane and then a thunderstorm sat overhead with pouring rain.  And I was reminded that “I feel like Traveling on.”  I felt like traveling on physically and spiritually.  I longed for my earthly home again, and even more so, my heavenly home.  And the Lord brought to my mind this old song written in 1838.  And I am sure that this gentleman was not stuck in a plane on a runway, but he may have had circumstances in his life that made him long for heaven no matter what was in his life. Those times were certainly different from the times we live in but our ancestors had their own set of trials and struggles.  Read the words of this song and reflect on your heavenly home, just over the next hill, or around the next bend.

I FEEL LIKE TRAVELING ON

My heav’nly home is bright and fair,

I feel like traveling on;

Nor pain nor death can enter there,

I feel like traveling on.

REFRAIN:

Yes, I feel like traveling on;

I feel like traveling on;

My heav’nly home is bright and fair,

I feel like traveling on.

Its glitt’ring tow’rs the sun outshine,

I feel like traveling on;

That heav’nly mansion shall be mine,

I feel like traveling on.

Let other seek a home below,

I feel like traveling on;

Which flames devour, or waves o’erflow,

I feel like traveling on.

The Lord has been so good to me,

I feel like traveling on;

Until that blessed home I see,

I feel like traveling on.

(William Hunter)

Sitting in that plane reminded me of my walked with the Lord.  And I wonder why things are not moving in my life, I am at a stand still, it seems, and my communication with Him seems lost.  But there He is working out difficult situations in my life, and in His time, I can travel on again, down the path He has prepared for me, for He knows what is ahead.

And many times storm are raging overhead and the rains and winds come stopping me on my path, and I can’t see what is ahead, but my Tender Shepherd has traveled those paths and knows the dangers ahead and I have to just wait patiently until the rain stops, the clouds part and the sun shines again.  It was beautiful looking out the plane window and to see the clouds part and the sun shine again and we were on our way home.

We toured a beautiful mansion with many rooms and acres of lovely gardens.  During its time there were servants, butlers, maids and luxury.  But now it is a tourist attraction, its residents and all their riches are gone.  It was grand indeed with its nine stories and grand halls.  But it cannot compare to the mansions our Lord has gone to prepare for each one of us who love Him.  Our minds cannot comprehend the beauty and the glory of our heavenly home. 

These big mansions will indeed burn someday, but we have a mansion forever. Oh, Praise the Lord!  We toured the museum and viewed the treasures that were left behind.  Those things were once of great value to the residents, but I realized they did not take anything with them.

Most of us do not live in such mansions here on earth, and my earthly home would probably fit in one corner of one floor!  But I think of my heavenly home, where no death can enter or no more pain, and I am filled with joy and anticipation.  I think of one of our dear sisters in the Lord, who recently entered her heavenly home, and what a welcome she received!

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” John 14:1-3.

On my journey east there were many sights and experiences I could share and their comparisons to our walk with the Lord.  I do pray that you are traveling that road with Jesus, and that your eyes are ever looking heavenward, looking for the day when Christ returns or He calls you home.  “What a Day that Will Be When My Jesus I Shall See.” 

So travel on, my friends and keep your eyes on the goal, heaven is just ahead.

In Jesus’ Name,

Pastor Sharon