13. Day-by-Day Praise

iv. Travel - Customs and Immigration

I had a bad run through the airport terminal today, Lord.

Four jumbos in twenty minutes.

Queues were long and frustration was high,

But everyone needed to be checked individually.

We were all nonentities, and all were anonymous.

When I get to heaven, it won't be like that.

I don't know how you'll run immigration there,

But you know each one of us personally and intimately now,

And my name is already written in the book of life.

Or do you have a giant user-friendly computerised data base,

With instant access, digital imaging, and voice activation?

I'm sure you've got much better systems than that,

Although outside of time, queues will be meaningless.

Lord I praise you for the absolute confidence

We can have in your "immigration procedures",

That I am already a member of your kingdom,

And that my visa is "sealed" with no time restrictions. 1,2

1. Philippians 4: 3

2. Revelation. 21: 27

In my business life, I have had to travel extensively from Australia and New Zealand to Europe and North America, and occasionally to Asia. Travel brings a wealth of experiences that are literally horizon-expanding. But the word "travel" has special meaning to a Christian, because you and I are "Travellers on the WAY".

I have found it very important to take our Lord with me when travelling. In hindsight he has contributed to safety and well being, but the important things are meeting the variety of people from many cultures, of fellowshipping with Christian brothers and sisters in many places, and for me, seeing the symbolic pictures of faith and practice in many different places and experiences.

Here for your enjoyment, and inspiration is one written in a hotel room after arriving at my destination. I believe it was London, England, after a 7.00 am arrival.

Conversational prayer means that we can talk to the Lord about anything - in this case, standing in a queue in an airport arrivals hall. It also implies a faith that the Lord is listening, and by inference, the absolute certainty (rather than secular hope) that we are on a trip that is going somewhere. On this occasion my mind wandered through the logistics of immigration and the modern electronic support systems we have all seen operating.

Hence the question: - "How are you going to run immigration in heaven, Lord?"

The answer is, I don't know, and perhaps it is such an eccentric question that I didn't get an answer. More likely, I didn't stop to wait for it.

But the answer was there. "You know each of us personally and intimately now, and my name is already written in the book of life." In a sense, this too is the response from our Lord, but on this occasion it had come out as a statement of my own awareness. It was also an encouragement about the kind of relationship the Lord is seeking to have with each of us. It's kind of natural to want to walk and talk with a person whom you know personally and intimately. I believe that is the purpose of our Lord, and it is an expression of his remarkable love for us.

Copyright Howard Smith 2002. All Rights reserved.

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