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"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth" (Hebrews 11:13).

We recently made an order online and are expecting a package to arrive soon. Due to the marvel of delivery tracking we can watch the progress. In regard to our current order I just checked and the package left the airport today at 3:35 AM (although the tracking doesn't specify which airport or time zone!)

Brooksyne recalls the first time she heard of delivery tracking. We were in a Sunday School class about ten years ago in our former church where the Sunday School teacher was talking about the difficulty we experience when we are waiting for something to happen. He asked for volunteers to share how they deal with the wait period.

A young lady named Jen drew an illustration from tracking a package she was expecting. She had ordered a package she was anxious to receive and one of the ways she dealt with the "wait" was by tracking the movement of the package. Though she was unable to see or hold the package in her hands right away she could follow the process it took to finally reach her home, its final destination. She said it removed her anxiety about whether the seller had actually sent the package, whether it was sent to the right place and even built anticipation as the package got closer and closer.

Looking ahead with anticipation is one of the joys of life. Children (and adults) look forward to Christmas and their birthdays. We look forward to events like graduation, marriage, a new house, the birth of a child or grandchild and many other events in life, both large and small. And I am probably not the only one who has been excited in anticipation about getting something I ordered delivered.

Let us consider a far greater source of anticipation all we who have placed our faith in Christ share (or we should!). One is a celebration of fulfillment for us now, the other a promise yet to be fulfilled expressed in a single verse from the Faith Chapter in Hebrews 11.

"All these people were still living by faith when they died". This goes all the way back to the time of Abraham and those before him. That is, they died in a state of trust while believing God for His promises even though they had not yet experienced them.

"They did not receive the things promised". Surely the greatest of these promises was the coming of the Messiah. In our own lives there may promises not fulfilled in our own lifetime but this does not negate the validity of the promises!

"They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance". Their faith allowed them to see what was not yet fulfilled but only "from a distance". In their case the first coming was still some 2000 years away! But now we look back and celebrate the fulfillment of that promise in the first coming of Christ as well as looking forward to His second coming.

Peter, who is  likely looking backward to the first coming and forward to the second coming writes, "Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy" (1 Peter 1:8).

"Admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth". This final phrase expresses an outlook of life all we who have genuine faith should be able to express, we are just pilgrims passing through.

Be encouraged today! Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

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