A Lodge on the New Earth

I've had trouble sleeping off and on for the past year; there's been a lot going that's made me restless. Part of it was a lot of chaos in life. In the midst of that, I started thinking a whole lot about the New Earth, trying to imagine what it would be like. The more I thought about, the more comfort came into my soul and even some hope to face the chaos.

Thinking about the New Earth really all started on a trip to the Seattle area in August. I love going up there because it's beautiful, and it's a beauty unlike Alabama. The trees are what get me. They're just so huge! If you've never been there, they're not as big as redwoods, but the red cedars there can have a circumference of 30, 40, or even 50 feet. When I was around the cedars again on my trip, for some reason I got to thinking about a cedar forest on the New Earth.

I think we'll live in an actual City of God on the New Earth, but I also think that we'll go out on amazing adventures to the rest of the earth. I pictured going walking through a cedar forest like the ones in the Pacific Northwest with dear friends and seeing up ahead a lodge. It's an amazing lodge, built up in the trees with many levels and rooms. (There are shades of Swiss Family Robinson here, but better, so much better.) It's truly beautiful, but in a rustic, earthy way.

We go in and there's no one there. But, it's ready for us. There are hand-woven blankets to take the chill off, soft beds, and a den with a huge fireplace. It has this ancient feel to it, but nothing is old or dusty. It's ancient, of course, because we've been on the New Earth in the new order of things for centuries, and this was one of the first things built. So, we're not the first group there by far. It's an amazing outpost in a solitary, beautiful glade.

As we unpack and get settled in for the night, we start putting together the story of how the lodge was built. We've all heard different bits and pieces, some directly from one of the builders, but mostly through word of mouth back at home in Zion. Long ago, a group left Zion on one of the first adventures after the world was made new, and they came to this glade. There was no lodge then, but they were struck by its beauty. And they stayed. They stayed in the glade for a long time. It may have been 5 years that they stayed there. It may have been 5 months. It could have been 50 years. It's hard to remember, and it's hard to tell time in a place where no one dies. There are no clocks on the New Earth, kind of like when you're arrive on vacation and time is pointless.

And they began to dream together. They began to dream about building this lodge, a place to come back to and enjoy the glade forever, both for them and for all of their brothers and sisters back home in Zion. So, they began work. They knew it would take time, but they knew that they had eternity to finish the lodge. They also knew that the work would be hard and good. It would be work with their hands. (There's no heavy machinery on the New Earth. In a land without time, you don't need to go fast. Besides, who would really want to work in factory making Catepillar products when you could be out building lodges with your bare hands.) Some tools they would have to make, and others would need to be fetched from Zion. They had to think and plan. They made mistakes and had to tear out and rebuild. But everyday was filled with the joy of the work, the beauty of the glade, and the companionship of brothers and sisters who had know each other for centuries. Ever build a fort with a few buddies when you were a kid? It was like that, but much, much better. They were building for eternity.

And so they worked. They worked for what we now would call years. It may have been decades. It's hard to remember, especially since how long it took was irrelevant. Sometimes, they wondered what was going on back in Zion, but they weren't sad. They knew that once they got back, they would catch up on everything that had happened, and it would be like the really they had never been gone. Also, other groups of adventures came through occasionally, bringing word from Zion and staying to help for awhile.

Eventually, it was done. It was a lodge fitting the glade. The two played off of each other. They realized that the glade had needed a lodge all along and was just waiting for them to come and build it. And they worshipped. After staying for many nights, they moved on with their adventure, knowing they had an eternity of coming back to the lodge whenever they wanted to.

(Of course, by now in the new world, there are places like the lodge all over: villas at the beach, A-frames in mountain snow, pueblos in the desert, and simple bamboo huts on remote islands accessible only by ship. Have I mentioned the ships yet? They're hand-made too, but that's another adventure!)

[Picture provided by Air Ninja]