We are back at home. We arrived on Wednesday morning. According to American Airlines flight tracker, traveled 11, 285 miles but that doesn’t even begin to cover it.
There were 4 additional local Greek airline flights, 8 bus trips, 9 taxi rides, 4 ferry rides and 100+ miles walked. It was, in a word, amazing!
We ate foods we had never eaten before, had bucket list items fulfilled, talked with countless people from at least 10 to 12 different countries and experienced a month of adventures that we had been dreaming of.
And there wasn’t one day or one experience that we didn’t stop and thank the Lord for providing – it was time of basking in His love. It was also a time of recognizing that every day of life should be just as adventurous as we look to the Lord and His leading.
This morning, I’ve been thinking about Jacob. You know the guy – Abraham’s shifty grandson. He had duped his father with his mother’s help, stolen his brother’s birthright and been sent off to his uncle’s to find a wife.
Not your typical “dream filled” vacation.
On the way, Jacob’s caravan stops for the night and devoid of the comforts of home, he uses a stone as a pillow. Until this time, Jacob had been self-absorbed. He had no time for a relationship with God – oh yes, he knew the stories of the Lord making promises to his grandfather and his father but he hadn’t experienced anything personally.
“Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and stayed the night there, because the sun had gone down. He took one of the stones there and put it under his head for a pillow. 12 And he had a dream. He saw steps going up from the earth to heaven. He saw the angels of God going up and down these steps. 13 And he saw the Lord standing above them. He said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham, and the God of Isaac. I will give to you and your children after you the land where you are lying…15 See, I am with you. I will care for you everywhere you go. And I will bring you again to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done all the things I promised you.’ 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘For sure the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.’” Genesis 28:10-16 NLV
How many times have we experienced that same mindset? “For sure the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.”
For Jacob it was just a routine day. A night on the road but he came face-to-face with God’s presence.
It’s easy to see God’s provision when it’s something like a “dream vacation” but it’s also easy to overlook the miraculous when we are in our daily routine.
“For You have been my help. And I sing for joy in the shadow of Your wings. 8 My soul holds on to You. Your right hand holds me up.” Psalm 63:7-8 NLV
My prayer for you and for me is this, “Father, open my eyes to see that ‘you, Lord, are in this place’. Let me recognize the miracle of my daily walk with you. May Your presence be as real while I’m doing the laundry as it is while I’m living out a dream come true. Your presence, each day is what I long for”. Amen.
