Never Alone

         Families are important especially to someone that is young. I would play outside as a child as long as I knew my parents were inside the house, or the garage of somewhere close by. I can't say that I ever enjoyed being left alone. I would have the opportunity to spend a week at my grandparents home near Mill Creek, Indiana. Mom and Dad would drive away and I was left under the care of an old man with a shotgun over his lap and an old lady who reminded me of Mammy Yocum in Little Abner. She was short and petite but her voice was law even to the man with the shotgun. There was that time when two geese landed in an open field and grandpa told us to circle around the geese and scare them up into the air. We did as we were told. The geese sprang up and flew over Grandpa and one of them became our dinner that evening. It landed about ten feet from Grandpa's rocking chair.   I seemed to count the days until Mom and Dad would return to take me home to my comfortable surroundings. It was tolerable in that I knew that at the end of the week, they wold come back to get me. John 14:18 says, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” 

          The Lord Jesus Christ was at this point, giving the disciples some final instructions about what was going to be happening in just a few days. John 12 through 17 records the final week in His earthly ministry. He was heading for the cross and He knew it would be a blow to the Disciples. The Disciples had been following Him around for almost three years but change was coming and they were not prepared for it. John 14 and 16 speak of the coming of the Holy Spirit Who would be providing the comfort to the disciples after Christ would ascend into heaven. They had the information in their heads, but they still didn't get the picture and they would not get it all together until Pentecost. Even after the resurrection, the disciples thought that Christ was going to remain with them until the land of Israel was going to be restored and the Romans kicked out. In His explanation of upcoming events, He promised that there would be “another Comforter.” They would eventually understand when the Other Comforter would arrive on the scene. I would long for being home after being away for a spell. I would long for the voices of Mom and Dad and my Sister. I would long for the fragrance of home and sense of safety that it provided. In the same way, we long for being in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the assurance that He is coming back to get us. It just won't be in a 1938 Pontiac. There will be that upcoming meeting in the air when in the twinkling of an eyes, we shall be behold Him. You might be feeling a bit left out of things but be assured that God has not forgotten you or me or anyone else and that He is coming back simply because He promised to do so and God has never broken a promise. Praise God today that you are still under the protection of the Almighty God in heaven. As I often remark at the close of these devotions, Keep looking up.