Wandering thoughts on Separation

At first the separation was difficult. I was clearly outside of my comfort zone. At age 58 I was learning a new trade, one for which I was poorly prepared. I was no longer using my education, gifts, or abilities. I was washing dishes, prepping food for the cooks, and cooking on the line when no one else was around. The stress of the kitchen is continual; orders to meet, food to prep, dishes to clean, and last, but certainly not least, the customers to please. But it was missing the fellowship at church that proved to be the most trying. For five months now, I have worked most Sundays. I tried to make up for it with personal study, sharpening my Greek skills once again; but that too fell to the side as rising at 4:30 to open for the 6:30 breakfast shift leaves me too tired at night to do anything but sleep. Then life started to settle into a routine, and as much as I missed the fellowship, the ebb and flow of life as a hermit began to make sense, and I began to value the time of separation.

Life is changing, the tide has turned. We have leased a house until August of 2008. We have purchased our first vehicle in almost 20 years. God has taken me as far from my comfort zone as is possible, I am learning new stuff every day, and it seems that life cannot get better. I still miss the fellowship, but the Christian music that plays on the TV, on the radio, through the CD player in the new van, has taken a new, deep, and rich meaning. God is in the house. I am sensing that something is on the horizon. I don't quite yet have the whole picture, but it is becoming clearer day by day. Whatever it is, God is in the picture. What began as scary and difficult is becoming warm and fuzzy. There is a joy unspeakable, full of glory. I now know what the pillar saints of old saw in a ascetic life, lived alone.

Holiness is another translation for both the Hebrew and the Greek words that have until now been translated as separation. I know that I have been set apart for something, and excitement fills the air, and I am looking through the glass darkly at what God has in store. "Now I see as a dim reflection, as if I were looking into a mirror...Now I know only a part, but then I will know fully, as God has known me" (1 Cor. 13:12 NCV).

"I speak a wisdom to those who are mature. But this widsod is not from this world or from the rulers of this world, who are losing their power. I speak God's secret wisdom, which he has kept hidden. Before the world began, God planned this wisdom for our glory...It is written in the scriptures: No one has ever seen this, and no one has ever heard about it. No one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. But God has shown us these things through the Spirit. The Spirit searches out all things, even the deep secrets of God. Who knows the thoughts that another person has? Only a person's spirit that lives within him knows his thoughts. It is the same with God. No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we did not receive the spirit of the world, but we received the Spirit that is from God so that we can know all that God has given us" (1 Cor. 2:6-12 NCV).

"I want you to know how hard I work for you, those in Laodicia, and others who have never seen me. I want them to be strengthened and joined together with love so that they may be rich in their understanding. This leads to their knowing fully God's secret, that is, Christ himself. In him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are safely kept" (Col. 2:1-3 NCV).

"I am happy in my sufferings...There are things that Christ must still suffer through his body, the church. I am accepting, in my body, my part of these things that must be suffered. I became a servant of the church because God gave me a special work to do...and that work is to tell fully the message of God...Christ himself...our hope for glory" (Col. 1:24-27 NCV).

How and under what circumstances is yet to be revealed. Like the adventurers of old, I am exploring new lands, setting my eyes on new vistas that to now have been unseen. And, I wake each morning to say with my native friend, "I thank the Creator that he opened my eyes once more, to look upon the Son."