Lessons from an island
This year's mission trip was catalysed, a little ironically, by my family's hunt for a nice house for ourselves earlier in the year. We had come across a beautiful place, and I really liked it. But when I was seeking God's counsel in prayer, I suddenly noticed that the house was set up like the Biblical tabernacle. There was the living area, which led to a dining area, within which there was a slightly raised and spotlit dais, encased in glass, for the dining table, making it the centerpiece of the entire living area. So - the equivalent of the courtyard, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies of the Old Testament tabernacle, where God's presence was enthroned. God asked me a very direct question - when you are sitting in this beautiful home, eating at this table, who is God of this home? Who is enthroned? You? Or me? And I remembered that in Haggai 1:3, when the people tell themselves, oh, we know it's good to rebuild God's house...