Our guide called Tarangire National Park the “Garden of Eden” for elephants. Rashid told us these elephants never leave their “Garden of Eden”. They don’t have to. Everything they want and need is right there.
As we rambled through the “Garden of Eden”, we saw elephants gathering under sprawling acacia trees, finding shelter from scorching sun under nature’s umbrellas.
I took this photo a few weeks ago while unplugged from news of the viral pandemic charging full-speed at the world, seizing many, trying to drain us of the True Life God wants us to have in the midst of these times. Here, the sun was setting on the elephants’ Eden.
Don’t you wish you had a sure protection from all that can harm? Especially during an invisible threat where death numbers soar daily and we don’t know if even our family might infect us?
Me too.
Trouble is, we don’t live in Eden anymore. When we left God, we lost Eden.
Sadly, our world didn’t have to break. There didn’t have to be pandemics and suffering and death.
But we wanted to be like God. Some things never change. And the fall-out is deadly. Yet this:
On that fateful day when Eden broke, God’s heart broke too. When we thought our ways were better than God’s ways, something God never intended to happen, happened.
Death.
And something we never thought could happen, happened.
Resurrection.
Right then and there, in broken Eden, God came calling. Calling us back. Inviting the guilty to come close. To shower with love and provision, not shame and destruction.
So God set it up, even before He breathed Eden into existence.
An exchange.
A ransom paid.
Jesus, One and Only beloved Son of God, agreed to take on flesh in the midst of our brokenness—to feel what we feel, to suffer what we suffer, to die as we die. In our place. The One and Only who never knew brokenness, who never turned from God, came to buy us back. To be The Way back to Eden. Like it used to be. God and us. No dis-ease. No death. Just bliss.
Only His death and resurrection could set us in a different direction—a turning toward His forgiving heart—toward our Maker who longs to hold and heal all our broken hearts. No matter how far we’ve wandered away. He’s still calling your name.
Once we turn to Jesus from wherever we are, He transfuses us with His peace that passes all understanding. And that peace will circulate through our souls, healing of the most deadly dis-ease on our planet—DESPAIR.
Is there any better news than this? That HOPE can be ours? Today? No matter what?
The hope and peace of Jesus is always there for those who will receive.
No waiting in lines.
No shortages.
Forever free.
For you and me.
Because Someone ahead of you paid your entire amount due. Someone ahead of you delivered you. Receive anew and go give.
Psalm 91:1-2
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”