It's that time of the year--you dream and drool over the tempting travel ads on TV; wouldn't a trip to Hawaii or the Holy Land--or ANYWHERE--be wonderful! We all love a vacation; we all need one--and now have I got an idea for you!
First you sign up, then you visit NASA for 8 months of intensive training, then you put on a space suit, join the astronauts in a journey to space and your final destination? The International Space Station! You won't be the FIRST...Tito has beat you to it! Read the newspapers, watch TV news and hear all about this adventurous millionaire, paying something like 20 million to make his dream of a lifetime come true.
Now Tito says it's not a "vacation" - it IS his dream of a lifetime - and well, it IS coming true, much to the concern of the NASA officials...and probably his MOM! Yikes, there are days I'd like to send MY kids up there...but first, I don't have 20 million, and second, I'd worry too much about what they'd be eating, the mess they'd be making, and how they'd get back! I'd make a genuine pest of myself at NASA helping them monitor my kids' well-being and getting them back home in one piece!
Need a vacation from earth? I've found a place that's out of this world--even got a manual for us to follow on the way! Try "The Secret Place" in Psalm 91 and "abide in the shadow of the Almighty"; or go to "The Shepherd's Place" in Psalm 23 and lie down in the "green pastures"; or, if you're needing "quiet," try "The Silent Place" in Psalm 46:10, where you can "be still and know that He is God." His Word will restore us, revive us, renew us--and isn't that what vacations are all about?!!
And so, Tito, have a good time, send us postcards, and arrive home safely--but know there's a better adventure out there that beats a trip to the International Space Station! It's a free trip to a land called heaven--the "Space Place"--reserved for those who love the Lord--where no space suits, space food, or space controls will ever be needed. It's the ultimate adventure at the end of a lifetime served for God...the "vacation station" I plan to visit, tour and reside forever and ever....I've made my reservation, how about you!
Delight in a Word from the Well--a refreshing in the Water of His Word
"For the Lord himself shall descent from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
Draw from the Well--a prayer for renewing strength for this day
"Lord, there are days when I need a vacation from the things of this earth; help me to know I can find it in You and in Your Word. I can have heaven in my soul in the midst of whatever "hell" I'm going through here--and there ARE those times when all hell breaks loose against me. Help me to rise above this world, to find peace, rest and refreshment in You, until that day when I arrive at my eternal destination, In Jesus' Name, Amen."
