2 Corinthians 5:8 “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
God’s people are on a journey. Unexpected trials are often encountered along the way. Multiplied thousands have comforted themselves in times of trial by thinking of the glory that awaits them at the end of the journey. The songwriter, Charles D. Tillman, put it well when he wrote, “And the toils of the road will see nothing, when I get to the end of the way.”
A missionary served in Africa for many years. While there he buried his wife and children. When he was an old man he returned to America on board a ship. When the ship docked in New York he saw a great crowd on the shore and thought they had come to welcome him home.
He was not allowed to disembark right away, and, while he waited he saw President Theodore Roosevelt, who had been in Africa hunting lions, get off the ship with his party while the crowd on shore shouted their welcome.
After the president and his party were gone, the old missionary got off the ship. There was no one to welcome him. Sadly, he got a cab to the hotel and checked in. Soon he heard a commotion outside and went to the window to see what was happening. The president was going past in a ticker-tape parade. The old missionary felt very lonely and very discouraged. Just then the Lord seemed to say to him, “Son, don’t be discouraged. You’re not home yet.”
Evangelist Louis Arnold (1914-2015)
Founder of CMRBC
An excerpt from his daily devotional book: Day Starters
