home home.

[5 minutes]

Headed home from the hospital after an 8-day stay. All praise to Jesus! So many miracles happened! As God does.

Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
Galatians 4:25-26, CSB

If you visit Jerusalem today, you will see a people who are the spiritual offspring of Hagar — born of the flesh, after the flesh. The Lord loves them and longs for them to open their eyes (2 Cor 3:14-15), but for now, they choose to wander the spiritual wasteland of blindness and deafness.

BUT THERE IS A HEAVENLY JERUSALEM (v26). That City will one day supplant the present one. It is spiritual and heavenly, populated by people who know and are known by the Lord Jesus Christ — whose names are written in heaven (Heb 12:23). Saved Jews and Gentiles. Every tribe and tongue. Righteous people, made perfect by the sacrifice of the Lamb, worshipping their King in reverence and awe.

the jerusalem above

Followers of Jesus Christ are looking for that City (Heb 11:16), not at all satisfied with this one. We are ascending — up, up, up — climbing ever upward until the day we top that final hill and behold the City of God spread out before our eyes: shining and beautiful, surrounded by a myriad of angels, all dressed out for the festival of the ages.

It took valleys and deserts to cross to get here (Psa 84:6), but there she is — a multi-faceted jewel, the eternal dwelling place of God our Father and Jesus our Brother. The Holy Spirit is its everlasting Light.

When we fix our eyes and affections on this “Jerusalem” instead, we forget that we have been set free and saved for another Country altogether. We turn to graven images and works of the flesh, practicing an artificial religion that promises some attachment to the heavenly — but all it does is detach us from our True Country.

We soon realize that lifeless religion, empty rituals, and sad attempts at tower-building are futile. So we settle. We reach for shiny things on the ground — in the dirt, in the mud — and pretend we are happy. But the heart is deceitful and wicked, and no amount of playing in the dirt will appease our empty souls.

Weren’t we once “children of promise” (v28)? Why are we in the pig sty rooting around for corn cobs when my Father’s House has fatted calves and wide open spaces? Why am I wearing a yoke of slavery when I’m meant for a robe of righteousness (Gal 5:1)? Why am I severing myself from Christ (Gal 5:4) when I’m supposed to be dancing in the House of God (Gal 5:13)?

When did I stop ascending and start descending? I was making progress. Who bewitched me (Gal 3:1)?

There is good news. In the present Jerusalem is a holy spot where the Christ of Glory became the Lamb of sacrifice. He was slain upon a Jerusalem tree by a Jerusalem mob, but was raised to life inside a Jerusalem tomb. He then ascended to the Heavenly Jerusalem and told us He is preparing a place for us.

Don’t forget your true homeland. The present “Jerusalem” is not your home. You are commanded to come out of it (Rev 18:4) and set your sights on the City whose builder and maker is God. Look away to the heavens, Child of God — there is nothing for you here. Your help comes from heaven (Psa 121:1-2). Your birth certificate is in heaven. The census of heaven has your name on it.

C. S. Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory: “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is 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.”

He’s promised us a holiday at the sea. Pack your bags and get hoofing! The journey ahead won’t always be pleasant — at times it will be fraught with scaries and peril — but it is the only journey worth taking. Soon we’ll crest the last rise, and there She will be: the heavenly Jerusalem, spread out wide and wonderful, all dressed up for our arrival.

Just think of stepping on shore
and finding it heaven;
of touching a hand and finding it God’s;
of breathing new air and finding it celestial;
of waking up in Glory and finding it Home.
— “Finally Home,” Don Wyrtzen

taking it home

The hospital doctor came into my room this morning with good news: “I think I can confidently say that you are going home today.” It’s been a comedy of errors getting discharged, but as God does, He has a reason for everything. I’ve enjoyed my time with the doctors, nurses, and techs who have graciously cared for me. I’ve tried to shine Christ to each one — three asked for a copy of my book! — learning all their names and blessing each. For me, hospitalizations have become second business. First business is living Jesus in front of people who face death every day.

I came in with the onset of sepsis and infection spreading through my body. Multiple blood clots in my lower legs were also discovered — hello, Eliquis — contributing to my issues. The bottom line: I have been unwell since October. But I feel I’ve been gone over with a fine-tooth comb, and wherever problems surfaced, they have been addressed, one by one. I am so thankful for the hope of better health. And now I get to go home. Not home home. But home.

Home home is the one on my radar. This lower Jerusalem, for all its hardships and unpleasantries, has also afforded me quick gulps of Glory and glimpses of the land of our inheritance — if you squint hard enough.

On earth as it is in heaven…

Soon, Shahd will be here for my bed bath. Sandy will arrive and get me dressed and ready for the short trip home. Not home home. But for now, just home is good enough.

Selah, beloved.

more than a hobby

[726 words, 4 minutes]

Now for something a little different. Some of you know I have a thing for bird photography—nature photography in general, really. It may be a hobby, but I cannot overstate what it’s done for my soul. I have discovered a healing in it that’s hard to put into words.

It started with a simple bird feeder in our backyard years ago (circa 2015). Over time that feeder attracted as many as fifteen different varieties of colorful songbirds to our yard. At its zenith our backyard not only became a sanctuary for birds but a quiet sanctuary for my soul.

Still grieving the loss of our only child, and respiting from massive health issues that required years of rehabilitation, I sought refuge in the backyard by watching (and listening) to “my” birds. It may have only been my imagination, but I was certain the trees came alive with the sounds of chatting songbirds every time I rolled out onto our back patio. Birds are very smart, you know. Undoubtedly they chittered on about the old guy and their supper.

Early on, when it seemed like birdwatching was becoming more than just a hobby of mine, I asked Sandy what she thought about my buying a camera to photograph and post “my” birds on social media. Sandy’s first reaction was a good natured laugh.

“Are you sure? I mean, I’ve seen some of the photos you’ve taken with the phone,” she chortled playfully. “More than a few have our heads cut off.”
“Ha. Ha. Very funny. Anyway, I could learn. Oh, and it so happens Amazon is having a sale on cameras this week…”

That conversation sparked my journey through a range of cameras, from an entry-level Nikon to Canon, then an upgraded Canon, and finally back to Nikon. I’d love to own a mirrorless someday, but that’s not financially feasible.

While I don’t get out with my camera quite as often as I used to — or as often as I’d like — I still can’t help myself from mentally framing a shot when I spot a bird out in the wild of suburbia.

Here are a few shots that I’m pretty happy to have in my camera roll, some new, some taken quite early on. If you’ll indulge me, I’ll just leave these with you for now.

Great Egret, Venice Audubon Rookery, Venice, FL

Brown Thrasher, Douglasville, GA, early photo

One of my favorite (early) healing trails: Florence Rd Trailhead, Hiram, GA

Red-shouldered Hawk, Silver Comet Trail, Powder Springs, GA

Tri-colored Heron, Kapok Park, Clearwater. FL

Silver Comet Trail in Autumn, Floyd Rd Trailhead, Mableton, GA

Osprey, Weedon Island Preserve, St. Pete, FL (with Hurricane Helene just offshore)

One of my favorite theologians, John Stott, was an avowed birder. Of the estimated 9,000 species of birds in the world today, Stott claims to have spotted 2,500 in his 87 years. He first developed a love for birdwatching by taking long walks with his dad. “Close your mouth and open your eyes and your ears, son,” his father instructed him.

He found “the highest possible authority” for his hobby in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus tells us to “look at the birds of the air” (Matthew 6:26). He says that, in basic English, Jesus is telling us to “watch birds” and he points out that the Greek verb used means “to fix the eyes on or take a good look at.”

I believe I’ll keep on doing that until the day I die, with or without a camera. I’ve already asked the Lord for a thriving bird sanctuary in the new heavens and new earth, and I have little doubt my Father will oblige. I know I won’t get bored.

Selah, beloved.

little things

Gracious Father…I praise you for the wet crunch of celery, the soothing texture of ice cream, the alluring aroma of baking bread. I praise you for my wife’s gentle kisses and my grandson’s infectious giggle. I praise you for the relaxing sound of ocean waves, the memory-connecting music of the 60s, the well-timed greeting of a friend, and how good it feels to finish a job and start a new book. I praise you for the permanent smile on the face of a dolphin, the never-the-same array of sunrises and sunsets, the precise ways you show up when I need you the most…

Scotty Smith, Everyday Prayers

What little things can you list in your praise-book?