“We all feel it. Often, in one form or another, we all experience it. Longing. Ever gotten that feeling when something is so beautiful or amazing that it completely takes your breath away? Perhaps a stunning rainbow? Or an incredible snow fall that leaves the world blanketed in a frosty layer? Something so amazing and breathtaking that you want… more. What you’re seeing is not enough. You want more. You are overcome by pangs of longing. You never want that snow to go away. You never want that rainbow to disappear. So you grab your camera. Snap a few pictures. But you know that they won’t turn out. This is something that must be experienced only in the moment.
This happened to me this past summer on my trip to Michigan. My family and I stayed with some friends on the East arm of Grand Traverse Bay. We lodged in a cabin on the lake-side for a week. On the final day of our trip, my sister, a good friend, and I woke up at five in the morning. We lugged our three kayaks to the beach, and launched into the bay. After paddling in silence out into the middle of the water, we stopped and held on to one another’s’ kayaks. All was quiet. The world was dark. The only sound was that of the small lake waves gently lapping at the hulls of our vessels. Then, suddenly, the world was filled with light. The sun was rising. It peeked over the pine trees, casting a gentle orange glow over the beach. As we watched, the silence snapped like a twig, and nature came alive. Immediately, the birds began singing. We heard frogs from the shore. We sat there awhile, and then slowly paddled back to shore.
I have never seen anything as beautiful as that sunrise. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of beautiful things, but this one was different to me. It reminded me of Genesis 1. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was void, and without form, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light.’ And it was so.”
And guess what? The light was good.
The image of the sun coming over the trees and radiating the soft glow of the dawn is an image forever ingrained in my mind. As I watched the sunrise unfold, I was overcome with that longing. Later, I would ask myself: ‘For what was I longing?’
I was longing for my home. In other words, I was homesick. Homesick for my house here in Indiana? No. I was homesick for my REAL home… not any place here on earth. See, my real home is in heaven.
When we see something truly spectacular, I believe that we may be glimpsing the tiniest portion of what heaven is going to be like. And when we see this tiny portion, we have a moment of realization: this earth is not our home. Sure, the world has some ‘nifty’ things to offer, but these will all pass away. We are far from our true home, our final destination. You know when you’re on vacation for a long time, and you find yourself missing your bed? It’s like that. We’re away from home. We’ve been away for a while, and we still may be for a time. But the amazing thing is that Jesus Christ has given us the opportunity to eventually go home. By dying on the cross, Jesus provides us with the passage, the ‘passport’ as it were, to our home… in heaven
Are you going home?” Sam Parker-Peacherino Monthly
Bill–Bloomfield Twp, MI
Please email your God sightings to dan@seegodtoday.com.
Bill,
That’s as good as an entry as has ever been posted. Needed to read that today.