Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ESVUK

I remember a new teacher arriving during my later years at school. I didn’t know her. She didn’t teach me. But in my sometimes misguided Christian zeal I could be quite self-righteous, and I made certain judgments about her that may have been wrong, at least to some extent. Regardless, fast forward just a few years, and I found out she had become a Christian, and she and her husband were attending my home church. So my family got to know them both, and when mum was terminally ill, this lovely lady and her husband were part of small prayer group who met regularly to pray for her. The first time I saw her after mum’s death, she said to me with shining eyes, ‘We are so jealous of Jessie, because she got there ahead of us.’

It struck me then, and still does today, how close in spirit this new convert was t the apostle Paul, who said elsewhere, ”My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” Phil.1:23: ESVUK.

She got it right!

PRAYER: O Lord, I admit that I can be so earthbound. So fill my heart with the anticipation of meeting you face to face, that I feel about the future as you want me to, and can face all of life with ‘good courage’.