Another Story from Abraham's Tent

By living in a tent Abraham gave birth to a spirit of adventure and exploration that has shaped more than a third of the world's population. Whole cultures have come into being because of one man's courageous camping. Christians, very much among the children-of-Abraham crowd, tend to interpret the temporary nature of the Patriarch's accommodation as an Earth vs Heaven paradigm. A temporary sojourner on Earth, Abraham was waiting / anticipating / moving towards the joys of heaven. Which is the opposite of what actually happened. Abraham didn't live under canvas because he was in transition, waiting for a permanent home elsewhere. He lived a campers life because he was waiting to inherit the campsite. Every tent-peg the old man and his family drove into the ground reminded them that this very soil had been promised to them.

If this IS a story about Earth vs Heaven, the punch-line is about inheriting the Earth.

This switches the polarity of Abraham's engagement with his culture. He didn't think 'This is tough but I won't be here for forever" - he actually thought, or muttered under his breath, 'this is tough but YOU won't be here forever."

When an Abrahamic faith confronts addiction and child abuse; pornography, violence and poverty, it doesn't think "It's tough but my days here are numbered". It looks, rather, in the face of evil and says "It's tough now but YOUR days here are numbered".

We are not waiting to escape planet earth, but to inherit it. What a difference it makes to know that you are not promised rescue but redemption.