If you’re like most of us, one of the ways you get through the cold winter is by making plans for summer vacation. If you’re in the market for somewhere you’ve probably never been, this New York Times article is for you.
It tells us about the Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort in Chiang Rai, Thailand, where you can stay the night in a transparent bubble while elephants roam nearby.
Closer to home (for Americans), the Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, NY, offers you a tiny house and the chance to mingle with some of the eight hundred farm animals rescued from abuse and mistreatment.
Or you might choose a treehouse in Brazil, where you will sleep in the canopy of the Amazon, high above the Rio Negro river.
If you want even higher accommodations, consider Skylodge Adventure Suites in Peru, where you will arrive either by hiking over 1,300 feet up or by zipping in on a zip line. Your room is a transparent capsule hanging on the side of a mountain.
Underwater options exist as well, like The Manta Resort off the coast of Pemba near Zanzibar, where your butler will boat out to meet you on your private underwater island.
If you’re scuba certified, you can dive down for a stay at Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Florida.
An even more amazing final destination
Wherever you go this summer, know that the most spectacular vistas on earth cannot begin to compare to what is awaiting you one day in your eternal home.
Scripture describes heaven as a place beyond description: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Knowing that your home with God is more astounding than your finite mind can imagine may not help with the cold of February. But it does encourage us to live for the place where we will live forever.
Whatever it costs us to be faithful to Jesus today will be more than repaid by Jesus one day. Our secularized society calls us to choose culture over Christ, but its enticements pale compared to the eternal significance of present faithfulness.
If you were on an arduous journey but knew that your destination is both guaranteed and more glorious than anything in this world, would you be encouraged to continue that journey with hopeful joy?
This is the invitation and the promise of God today.
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