Set Your Mind Above

S2 E56 - Getting Things Ready

August 17, 2022 Season 2 Episode 56
Set Your Mind Above
S2 E56 - Getting Things Ready
Show Notes Transcript

We are about three weeks away from baby time, and we have been working hard to get things ready. Some things aren't as fun to get ready like all the laundry, cleaning, etc. But getting her room ready? That has been a joy. We've been working hard to get a place ready for her, and even though she won't understand what's waiting for her or appreciate what we've done, we do it because we love her and this will be her home. Well...isn't that the journey ahead for all of us Christians? Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. We cannot begin to imagine what heaven will be like, or appreciate all that Jesus is currently doing. But what I can know is that Jesus can't wait to bring us home, and I don't know about you, but I can't wait to get home either. 

#SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Hey everybody, and welcome back to the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! I’m your host BJ Sipe – I’m a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. In this podcast we take everyday, ordinary events and explore how they can teach us extraordinary, eternal truths. I’m so glad that you joined me for this episode. Now, let’s open up our minds, our hearts, and our Bible’s together. 

 

Well, we have found ourselves in crunch time over the past few days. We are only about three weeks out from baby time, and we are nowhere close to ready. Last night Kylie and I finally were able to sit down and make out a list of everything that we still needed to get done before Finley gets here. Of course, there are the not so fun things like packing our hospital bags, deep cleaning the house, cycling all of the old newborn clothes through the laundry, installing the infant car seat, and all that kind of prep that needs to be done. Then there is just the routine stuff that needs done anyway in the next few weeks before we have a baby around the house and we won’t have time: the dog needs groomed, Dane needs a haircut, the grass needs mowed at least once more, bills need paid…you get the picture. But then there are the really fun things, like getting her room ready to go. We’ve been working hard on her nursery, which is just about done at this point. Kylie has got the room just about painted and is putting on the finishing touches, and I spent the evening putting up board & batten across the back wall. I actually had to venture all the way to Lexington to get the wood & cuts that I needed, because both Danville’s & Nicholasville’s saws are broken at those Lowe’s locations. I’ve got a table saw at home but was not going to get nearly as strait of cuts ripping an 8 x 4-foot sheet of sanded lumber that way. Anyhow, we’ve just got a few more things to get organized after all this is finished for her nursery. Her new rocker just shipped out today, which is wonderful news because originally it was going to get here right around the time she is supposed to arrive. By the end of the week, with just enough time to spare, I think we are finally going to have everything ready to go for Finely. As I was sitting on the ground tonight hammering finishing nails into the boards on the wall, I started to chuckle, and Kylie asked me what I was thinking about. I told her, “You know – this baby has no idea the kind of effort that you or I have put into getting things ready for her to get here. In fact, she can’t even begin to appreciate it or even fathom what is waiting for her. But that’s not why we’re doing it, we’re doing it because we love her, and this is her home.” We smiled and I got back to working on wrapping up the board & batten. All Finley knows is the womb. She has heard muffled sounds that she does not recognize or comprehend, but she could not begin to imagine what is waiting for her on the other side. We cannot wait to bring her home, to the place that we have labored with love to prepare special just for her. 

 

All of this got me thinking about how my daughter’s journey from the womb into this world and then into our home is not all that different from the journey that lies ahead for each of us as Christians. In the gospel of John and in chapter 14, we are given this intimate dialogue from Jesus to his disciples. Beginning in verse 1 we read the following, “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also. You know the way to where I am going.” I struggle to find more comforting words in all of Scripture than these words that we have just read here. This world is not our true home, our true, eternal home is waiting for us in the life to come. Being a student and teacher of the Word, I have been asked many times throughout my life if I can describe what heaven is going to be like. To be quite honest, I’m never sure exactly how to answer that question. I feel like the very small glimpses of what heaven is like that have been given to us in Scripture can be likened to trying to explain to a baby in the womb what the world is like. Whatever ideas we think we have are probably not even close to understanding how magnificent and wonderful heaven will truly be. We read in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “But as it is written, what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived— God has prepared these things for those who love him.” What will heaven be like? I cannot fully know, for Paul says no human heart can conceive it now. But here is something I do know – Jesus is currently getting things ready for us to be there. We cannot begin to imagine what lies ahead of us, or even truly appreciate what Jesus is doing or what living in the presence of God in our eternal home will be like. And yet, Jesus is working because he loves us, and he cannot wait to bring us home. The closer I come to know God and draw near to him, the more I own these words of David as my own from Psalm 27:4, “I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking him in his temple.” I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to get home either.

 

Thank you for tuning in for this week’s episode, and I would invite you back every Tuesday for a brand-new episode each week. If you haven’t already, be sure to find us on Facebook for occasional announcements and special video sessions. If you have benefited from this podcast, please if you’re able to be sure to share it with someone else that you think could benefit from it as well. Until next time, know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each & every day set our minds above.