Home! Home at last!

Yesterday morning, we (my wife and I) left our overnight lodging in Dover, and headed for the Ferry Port. Our first stop was the French Passport Control. Our explanation of why we had been in the UK; our passports; and, most importantly, my French driving licence; had us waved through. UK Passport Control also waved us through. The young lady at the P&O Ferries' Check-in put us on to the ferry that left an hour and a half before the one for which we had booked. The ferry was almost devoid of passengers. The crossing was uneventful. All was well!

Or so we thought! We had already booked in a (budget!) hotel in Dreux for one night, in order to break up the journey. However, when we arrived, we discovered that the hotel was closed due to the restrictions that had been put in place by the French Government. We looked around, but were unable to find any alternative. Driving on to Chartres, we were stopped by the Gendarmerie! Thankfully, we had been warned about the need for a Certificate of Attestation, and so I had hand-written one! We also had retained our ferry-crossing documents, and all was accepted. Mind you, as we were about to drive off again, there was a knocking on the window. I lowered the glass, to be asked about the large, helium-filled, balloon in the back of the car! I guess it was, indeed, unusual, but when I explained that we had been enjoying a belated celebration of a special birthday anniversary for my wife, and that the balloon came from that, the two young gendarmes laughed, and waved us on! We then discovered that Chartres, too, was without any available hotels. Having wasted a lot of time in searching, we decided to drive straight home - a distance of some 560 kms (350 miles). We had purchased a couple of salads to eat in the hotel, so we stopped for a half-hour to have "dinner". Then, about midnight, we were able to park in an "Aire de repos", and sleep for about an hour and a half. We arrived home at 0530 - and went straight to bed. We awoke about 1030, but didn't arise immediately! 

So, it was really good to be home - even if we are forbidden to visit for purely social reasons. However, as I lay in bed this morning, my mind running through the journey home, I found myself thinking of a much longer journey - the journey of life. It's a journey that may be long or short. It's a journey that some don't even have the opportunity to commence. It's a journey that is filled with a multitude of different experiences - some enjoyable; others less so.

And it's a journey that, sooner or later, comes to an end! We refer to that end as "death", and it is the lot of each and every one of us. Our financial worth is not sufficient to avoid it (although a very rich person may be able to postpone it for a time!). Our position in society is not sufficient to avoid it (a dictator, monarch, or president will die just as surely as the poorest, and least socially important, person). 'Religious' people die as readily as those who are totally agnostic (I omit "atheists" because there is no such person as a true atheist - or, at least, who is not also arrogantly ignorant!). Children die as well as adults - and I have just received the very sad news that a former pupil who had recently announced that the child she was carrying had been diagnosed with Downs' Syndrome (but that, to her - and her partner's - great credit, she was determined to keep, and care for) has died in the womb. Death is no respecter of persons.

Yet, for some of us, death will come as a welcome experience! Perhaps not the actual experience of dying - that is, for some, incredibly painful - but the "end result"! That is because we believe firmly that physical death is not the end. There is, indeed, life after death! The only variable is "what kind of life will you have?"

For those of us who are disciples of Jesus, the future is secure. We have the promise in His Word that, our physical deaths are not the end, but that our spirits (the real "us") will go to be with Him (II Cor.5:8). Not only that, but He has assured us that He is already preparing a place for us! (Jn.14:2). And all of this is not just for a specified time, but for eternity (read about that in my first book: "Great Words of the Faith". ALL royalties go directly to Release International in support of the persecuted church).

When that happens, although there is much to take place after it (and, of course, if the Rapture takes place during my physical lifetime, then I shall not experience physical death! Read more of this in the relevant chapter in "Great Words"!), I shall be home! It is something to which, every passing day, I look forward with great anticipation. I shall, after the return of the Lord Jesus, and His vanquishing of all evil, spend eternity in His presence on the new earth that He has ready for me!

Then shall I be able to say, with great joy, "Home! I'm home at last!" Hallelujah! Will you be there with me? Will you?! If you are unsure, please feel free to contact me using the e-mail address above. It is not my primary e-mail address, so it isn't checked every day - but as soon as I read your e-mail, I shall respond.