Tomorrow is a big day.  Yes, Denver is coming to town for a big playoff football game against the New England Patriots. I’ll have my jersey on, but that’s not what I’m talking about.  (In fact, it will be cold tomorrow…  I must layer…I plan to wear my Patriots garb over an orange and blue championship shirt from when Florida won the NCAA championship guided by Tim Tebow’s arm.  I hope that’s okay!)

But more importantly, my husband is flying through Denver, Colorado, to pick up our new puppy, Denver.  Look at that face!  He just makes you want to hug him, doesn’t he? After getting over my episode of sheer terror at the thought of raising a new puppy again, I’m really quite excited.  I sort of feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. I can’t wait to meet the little guy.  I am sure he has no idea what is about to happen to him.  He will leave his familiar place….his mom and his siblings.  (Now I feel like I want to cry.)  He will be transferred to the hands of a man he hasn’t met and go on a long airplane ride in a soft crate under my husband’s seat.  It may be a bit traumatic.  It’s sort of like a “new birth”.  He will likely wonder what new world he is entering into -and he must entrust himself to his new owner.

However, what he doesn’t know is what is waiting for him on the “other side”.  I’ve been “preparing a place for him”.  He’s got a “Cadillac crate”, new toys, a new collar, puppy treats, some big brothers, a family of adults and children who can’t wait to shower their love on him, and a promise of care, training, and lots and lots of love.  It’s going to be a good life.  We can’t wait for him to get here.

I thought of this “transition to a new place” when my grandchildren were born.  There they were, in a safe, warm and snuggly womb.  However, little did they know that on the “other side” were parents and grandparents, and aunts and uncles who already loved them.  And there were hugs, kisses, and even (as I had with three of my grandchildren tonight) pizza, brownies and ice cream awaiting their futures as well.  That’s got to be way tastier than anything the umbilical cord offers.

I can’t help but wonder if this is something of what God feels as He awaits His children’s arrival – from their “new birth” all the way until heaven.  He must shake his head at how attached we can get to the world, scared to let go, and sometimes have fear of trusting Him…when we have no idea that “amazing awaits” – on the other side.

1 Cor. 2:9
[9] However, as it is written:

    “No eye has seen,
        no ear has heard,
    no mind has conceived
        what God has prepared for those who love him”–

John 14:1-7
  “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. [2] In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. [4] You know the way to the place where I am going.”
    [5] Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
    [6] Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [7] If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”