Not from here
The Northbound journey is purposefully set up in a way to expose us to so many different aspects of the world. In the past 8 months we have visted nations with dominant religions of Islam, Hinduism, Bhuddism, Catholicism, Orthodox Christians and even atheism. We saw the effect of human governments on nations through failed capitalism and communism. We were confronted by the brutal effects of war, both current and historic. The Syrian refugee crisis followed us from Jordan through Turkey and into Europe. A historic natural disaster was fresh on the face of the nation of Nepal. The strongholds of slavery, addiction, poverty, terrorism and death gripped our hearts.
To say that our world view and our view on humanity have been shaken is a mild understatement.
It shakes you to stare death in the face in Varanasi, India. It shakes you to sit next to parents who lost their children in war a few weeks ago. It shakes you to see fear grip the nation of Greece as a system starts collapsing. It shakes you to see a family squished into a room not much bigger than a closet in the Philippines. It shakes you to hear stories of ISIS roaming the street. It shakes you to hear of lives and houses lost in an earthquake. It shakes you to hold an orphan until she falls asleep. It shakes you to see the empty religion of placing scraps of food outside your house for the gods. It shakes you to be confronted by the hardness of humans as you stare into joyless faces in communist countries. It shakes you when a mother grabs your shoulders and cries hysterically because you remind her of her daugther that is still in Syria. It shakes you to hear a former drug addict share his battle against the monster that lived inside of him. It shakes you to see men fleeing through the mountains in the hope of a better life across the border. It shakes you.
Not from here. Our logo on our t-shirts, idly thought of in sunny South Africa becomes a much bigger reality. Because inside of us a heart is beating to a different drum, and as we journey through this world it is almost like there is a mismatch. A clash between our insides and our outsides. We stick out like a sore thumb. Amidst the shaking, God establishes His unshakeable Kingdom in our hearts and we realise that we are indeed not from here. Somehow – as we are faced with darkness in different shapes – the light that is alive in us become mor vivid. As we journey through these places where people serve a different master the love of our King changes us. Amidst storms that are faced by scores of people our Lighthouse guides us. And a truth resounds deep within my heart. I am not from this world. I belong to a world that is the polar opposite of most of the things I see.
I am not from here.
What a wonder to discover other people like us, making up the body in our journey and realise that we are not alone, that there are others from the same kingdom roaming these lands that we walk in.
And as we allow ourselves to place our focus and our hope in the light and not the darkness, as we meet children of God in every place where we come, a hope rises that is undeniable. The only things that are beautiful in this world are from God, inspired by Him, full of Him. And our Kingdom is indeed unshakeable. It is a kingdom with doors wide open, a king that has done the unthinkable so that we can stand with arms wide open to invite others into the wide open spaces of His grace.
There is a groaning in our spirits, because along with creation we await the children of God to be revealed. There is an eagerness to point people towards the real Kingdom. To give them a glimpse of an imperishable hope, not the hope that has been sucked out of this world through fear and hate and religion and sin.
It is a Kingdom which is ever increasing. And amidst the darkness and shaking that we have experienced it is great to look back on the year and see how the expansion of the light and the steadfast truth was just as part of our journey. In our hearts and the hearts of the people we met something unshakeable started to take shape. Ground was claimed through our love, our service, our sharing, our truth, our prayers, our worship, our reality. Because we are not from here. And that affords us the power to change this world.
Do you hear it? There is a song of hope that is rising. A hope that stands tall and proclaims: this is not it. There is another, greater kingdom of which the fullness is yet to be revealed.
Northbound 2015, what a privilege.
“For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.”
Haggai 2:6-7 ESV