The City With Foundations

As I stand in the doorway of 2016, it's rather thrilling to look forward to the fresh paths ahead. I don't quite know where they'll lead me, but it's another adventure!  It's like getting onto a new rollercoaster ride - there's trepidation and anticipatory adrenaline, because you know there will be ups and downs and loops, but you don't know when they're coming!  What things will I do?  What places will I see?  What people will I meet?  Most intriguingly, who will I be, come this time next year?

Hebrews 11:8-10 says:
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.  By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Life is uncertain.  I try to predict what will happen, and I try to plan for the future.  But I can't control it.  But I can choose this - when God calls, go.  Go where?  I'm not entirely sure about the rest stops in between, but I do know I am only a stranger and pilgrim here, living in the tent of this earthly body and world and its ornaments.  However, I look forward and travel to a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God!  Amazing!

I thank God for the inheritance that I have received from those who have gone before me.  Parents, education, opportunities, and an amazing home country that others built with their hands.  I hope I will leave a suitable legacy for those who come after me - family, colleagues, friends.  That I will be excellent in what I do at home, at work, and in my neighbourhood.  That I will be true, loving, and encouraging.

But as important as all these are, they are, in the end, just rest stops.  The children will grow up.  The career will end.  Friends will come and go.  Yet there is a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God!

Psalm 84:5-7 says:
Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
They make it a spring;
The rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength;
Each one appears before God in Zion.

There is joy and provision in the pilgrim's journey.  He is supplied with what he needs, and he goes from strength to strength as he walks to his destination before God.  But he travels light, because he knows he is merely passing through.  He does not make his final destination a spring in the valley, because his destination is the city of Zion.

In the same way, I want to remember not to hold on so tightly to my baubles that I am weighed down on my journey through 2016 - my possessions, my career, my ambitions, whether for myself or for my kids for example (another PSLE coming up!!! :P).

May all my loved ones, family and friends know joy and provision in the journey through 2016, but even more than that, set their destination on the City with Foundations, whose the Architect and Builder is God!

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