The long drive was well worth it. When you grow up in a small town you crave excitement, something bigger than the day-to-day rhythm. I was barely old enough to see out the window, but what I did see were giant, orangish-golden beams that stretched much higher than any tree I had ever climbed. The Golden Gate Bridge was beautiful and the road that crossed it seemed to go on forever over the deep blue ocean waters below. So much history lay in this region and the discussions I had with my parents went from the Gold Rush to the more somber discussion about Alcatraz Island. We enjoyed a ride on the hilly streets in the Cable Cars and of course, enjoyed some great Mexican food. The sad sights of the city were the poverty and the garbage in the streets, along with used syringes from hopeless drug addicts that lay along the sidewalks. These things are not in my memory, though my parents did witness such things along the way, the innocence of childhood allowed me to take in the good, the beauty, and the adventure of the vacation.
Over the years of my childhood, my family took another vacation. This one was to Glacier National Park in Montana. I was in awe of the beauty and grandeur of the lofty mountain heights and taken in by the calm flowing streams. It was amazing that the temperature at the creek could drop ten to twelve degrees as you ascend a mountain. I so desired to see a bear and the time came to catch a glimpse. Well, my whole family saw it, except me, I was not fast enough to turn my head as it crossed the highway in front of us. This longing strangely enough, is still in me, and to this day I have yet to see a bear in the wild, though I have travelled into the heart of bear country in Minnesota and Wisconsin annually.
There is something about a vacation, an adventure, the intrigue of the wild outdoors in all of us. We all long for something so much bigger than ourselves and life is filled with peril and beauty. In fact, I wonder if all of us have feelings that we are trapped between a mountain top and the prisoners on Alcatraz Island who had attempted to escape numerous times? Things are not the way they are supposed to be, as we toil in this life. The joy and pleasure of our youth is fleeting, and joys are often mixed with the sorrows of sin’s curse, in this age that ends in death. I know this is very dark, right? Yet the apostle Paul gives us a perspective on how to navigate this mixture of the pleasures and sufferings of taking up our cross in this age in his letter to the Romans that can set our hearts on mountain heights of eternal pleasure.
18“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revelation of the sons of God. 20For creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope, 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Romans 8:18-23
While we await the ultimate vacation that God has promised His children, we will pass through many valleys, great trials, while standing in awe of this beautiful life that God has given each of us. It is vital that when one takes a vacation, they leave their work behind and take in the rest that one needs. This is easier said than done in our busy lives, yet all the while when we can’t this makes something very loud and clear: We are too dependent upon our own personal resources and focused too much on our own personal image. Let’s face it, this can be true of all of us at times. The greatness of our God is designed to take our breath away and in this age of suffering we tend to get weighed down with much care. It is so vitally urgent for our very soul that we take the time to reflect not only on who God is, but to get to know Him personally as well. Jesus told us that the way is narrow that leads to life and few find it. He also said that the road that leads to destruction is broad and many walk on it without realizing it. The truth is that the narrow road of obedience and dependence upon God leads to a broad place of beauty in the age to come, described by Paul as the glorious freedom of the children of God that is not even worth comparing to this age and its present suffering. Together as the Body of Christ, may we stir one another up to go up to the mountaintop view and eagerly desire the redemption of our bodies and fullness of joy in Jesus’ presence for endless ages! There is a day coming when we are forever freed from the “Alcatraz” of this body we live in that is destined to die. May we live with our eyes fixed on what is not yet seen with patient endurance and remember the words of C.S. Lewis:
“Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy has been offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
–The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis