Tent.

Inspired by 2 Corinthians 5:1

I bought a cheap tent from Walmart. It costed $20 at most. When I was living in Colorado, a friend of mine was coming to visit me, and we had plans to do some traveling and car camping for a long weekend. I had been asking around about some cool places to camp, and a friend of mine had recommended camping on a beautiful mountain pass just outside of Idaho Springs, CO. My weather app had predicted beautiful weather for the day and overnight, so we were in the clear to head up into the high elevations for a night under the stars and away from civilization. So, on Thursday of that week, we took my tent and our gear and we headed up into the mountains.

The pass proved to be a challenge to get up, and it was even more challenging in my little Chevy Impala car, but it was so worth it. As we were traveling up into the mountain pass, the scenery was just incredible. We found this beautiful flat spot along a ridge with an overlook and we set up. We spent the evening walking along the pass, exploring the trails, and we even had a close encounter with a moose.

As we were getting ready to call it a day, we noticed the clouds began to look a little bit ominous outside. Sure enough, within a couple of minutes we were stuck in a full blown Rocky Mountain high elevation thunderstorm. The rain, thunder, high winds, and lightning were quite scary. We decided to wait it out in the car because we didn’t feel safe in the tent. Once the thunderstorm stopped, we went out to see the damage and, sure enough, the tent had collapsed and our stuff was absolutely soaked. Long story short, we had driven a couple of hours that day only to pack up and leave at about 10:30pm for a three hour trek back home with our soaked gear. We found out the next day that the storm which went through was producing wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour. Yikes.

Now, I think it’s safe to say that, if we would have had some type of foundation, maybe some walls or an actual roof over our heads, the odds of the structure making it through the storm would have gone up tremendously. I can’t help but compare our situation in our $20 Walmart tent to a verse I had been reading in 2 Corinthians 5:1. 2 Corinthians 5:1 says, “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” The little tent that had no foundation was at the mercy of the wind, while a house would have held strong with a foundation anchored firmly to the ground. The tent which crumbled in the face of a storm would have held strong and would have offered far greater protection from the elements if it were a house. A house would have lasted in that storm.

When looking at this earth, I cannot see a single thing that will last into eternity. All things are breakable, can be lost, burned or bent. Literally every single thing on this earth that I claim ownership to can be taken from me in the blink of an eye. The people in my life, even though I love and care so deeply for them, could be taken from me too. Everything on this earth, my own self included, is like a tent that can be lost, crumbled, tipped over, ripped through, in the matter of an instant. However, with the potential for pain and hurt comes the beauty of the home that awaits a believer when they enter eternity with our good God. This home cannot be taken from us. It has strength beyond what a house on this earth can offer, and it withstands any circumstance thrown at it because it was built by the hands of our good God. I am filled with hope and joy as I think of the home that awaits me in eternity, prepared for me by my Father. What a GIFT. I am thankful for a good God who loved me, pursued me, gave up His son for me, and prepared a home for me to dwell with Him in eternity that will never fail me.

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Scripture References:

2 Corinthians 5:1

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.