*Insert Witty Title Here*

^“ But we are citizens of heaven, and it is from there that we expect a Deliverer, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.” – Philippians 3:20

The summer before I started middle school my mother took me and my two older siblings to New Jersey to visit family. It was a vacation I will never forget. We went to the boardwalk, ate all the best kinds of worst foods, had bicycle races, cookouts, visited the Statue of Liberty,  the works. The thing that sticks out the most, though, is the trips we made out to the ocean.  My oh my how I love the ocean.  Whether it was digging my toes into the sand, playing in the tide, boating, or just sitting on the beach looking out onto that endless horizon, it was beautiful.

To be honest, it is extremely difficult to put into words the feelings that being on that beach stirred in me. The best way I can describe it is that it felt like home. Like, some deeper part of me knew that this is where I belonged. That it was where I was made to be. Everything in the world was right at that moment. The only negative feeling that existed was the thought that this isn’t where I was staying. I had to leave at some point. I knew it, but I shoved it down and took it all in why I was there.

A few years passed and I felt it again. Only this time, it was more intense. It was like my very soul was burning and charging its way outside of me to go home. It seemed like my flesh was a cage that was holding the true me back from going home. It was the night I accepted Yahusha as my Meshiach.  I finally understood at that point that I was not, in fact, made for this world. I knew that the longing in my being was to be with its Creator. I was not designed for this world. I was made for His. That desire inside of me was to go home. 

One of my favorite quotes comes from C.S. Lewis paraphrasing George MacDonald. He said “You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”  I would have to agree one hundred percent with this assessment. As children of The Living Yah, our souls are His very breath. I believe that in times of true, unadulterated worship is when we feel who we really are the most. That burning sensation, the one that is like fire on the tip of your tongue, creeps through your whole body. I believe that is your soul coming to life. Calling out in praise to our Abba and seeking to be one again in His kingdom. 

We are reminded throughout scripture that this is not our home. It is easy to become complacent here. Easy to find what we think is joy and happiness in the things of this world. But we must always be careful not to attach ourselves to this place. Abba’s creation is beautiful, but it is a pale, twisted reflection of what He has waiting for us. The fall separated us from our inheritance only for a short while. Through Yehusha we have been made whole and given the right to reclaim our birthright and to walk in His ways.

“So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s family.” – Ephesians 2:19

From time to time I still feel that yearning whenever I am around a large body of water. I still don’t understand what exactly it means. What I do know is that, whatever YHVH has in store for me here doesn’t compare to what He has set aside for me later. I won’t get what I deserve, and that is what makes my heart take the most joy.

One Love,

Albert C. Coble