Montana Vocation

But this is precisely what is written: God has prepared things for those who love him that no eye has seen, or ear has heard, or that haven't crossed the mind of any human being. 1 Cor. 2:9  

I need more vacation. Ila and I have been road-tripping more than a week now; cruising God's creation, visiting far-flung loved ones, leveraging every opportunity for new adventure and binge-feasting at every stop...I'm exhausted! But why does this seem so different from work? What makes this feel like I've shrugged off a 60 lb. pack to sit in the shade on a grassy bank bathing my feet in the joyful tumble of a cold mountain stream?

It might be the sense of freedom from deadlines and demands. It could be the pure pleasure of talking, laughing, eating and playing with people I love but hardly ever get to see. Perhaps it is the friendly flexibility of a schedule that answers to a childlike delight in life rather than the tyranny of the urgent. Whatever it is, I need more of it!

Of course it doesn't hurt a thing that I'm sitting in a quiet stand of Ponderosa pines on a hill overlooking the meadow where a family of deer have been playing this last hour for my exclusive enjoyment. The light breeze in the branches carries only birdsong and the occasional lazy hum of a distant airplane. I can see through the trees, quite close really, the sudden steep rise of Montana's Mission range to its craggy peaks 3000 feet above.

Ila's off visiting her cousins for the moment and I'm stretched out on the grassy forest floor "busily packing for the trip home". It's so peaceful I hate to move. This seems "heavenly" according to everything I've read in Scripture; good people, good food, pleasure and enjoyment, but most of all peace. Is that what heaven will be like? "Montana on steroids"? Well...it could be worse. Except that this is fragile and temporary. We'll go home and this little parcel of heaven will be invaded regularly by chainsaws, gun shots and the fury of winter storms.

Jesus, however, hints at a place like this in which our experience of such love, joy, peace and fulfillment will never end. He speaks of a community married in the Spirit...a living Body which will share the ultimate and infinite reality of rebirth, recreation, restoration and renewal. On that day, our best earthly VACATION will become our eternal VOCATION and our enjoyment of true relationship with our loving Creator, and with each other, will eclipse everything else we've ever experienced.

I can almost hear the promise of His smiling whisper in the trees overhead "...so you liked Montana, did you?" Come soon Lord Jesus.

Pastor Matt