Do I really believe in eternity?

I was heading out to a meeting this afternoon and picked up a book that I wanted to share with the person I was meeting with. Out of the book fell an index card with some thoughts I wrote down about 13 years ago, shortly after starting work at the mission. Having recently moved into a new house to accommodate my growing family, I find myself being challenged by my younger self.

My desires for comfort (and luxury, stability, and the material) betray the fact that I don’t have the attitude of a “stranger and foreigner in this world.” If I really knew that my true home was in heaven, why would I spend so much (time, money, and effort) to make myself at home here?

My attitude should be more like that of a man visiting an underdeveloped foreign country looking to help the people there. As far as his own accommodations, he only provides himself with the bare minimum of what he needs so his efforts can be focused outwards.

When I spent a week working in Appalachia during High School, I slept on a concrete floor in a room with 20 other smelly guys, showered in a basement room called “the pit of despair,” and ate low-grade mass-produced casseroles reheated multiple times… and I never complained once. I was even quite grateful for what I had because I had come as an outsider seeking to help the hurting people of that region – my comfort was not a priority (or even much of a thought). Plus, I was only going to be there for a week or so.

One week compared to the rest of my life is actually much greater than my lifetime compared to eternity. Shouldn’t I be just as willing to live “comfortless” while a “stranger in this world” waiting to be called to my eternal home.

-Jack Crowley, Teen Haven Director