Like Cedars

"How fair are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel!  Like valleys that stretch out, like gardens beside the river, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters."  Numbers 24:5-6

This afternoon as we set our faces homeward on our journey from BC to Saskatchewan we prayed that God would go before us and give us clear guidance and provision on where and when to stop for the night.  The forecast was not in our favor with heavy snowfall and potential avalanche conditions ahead of us.  Only an hour and a half into our journey we were brought to a halt by a tucking accident just east of Sicamous where a logging truck had lost part of its load on the road.  After waiting till nearly dark we again prayed for discernment on how to proceed.

We were texting with various concerned family members and as we discussed options, expressing our hope to make it to Revelstoke for night, my aunt was able to check online and see there were no vacancies in Revelstoke.  As we turned back toward Sicamous she started texting me numbers of potential hotels. I hit dial on the first number without even scrolling the list or reading the names and was told they had two adjoining rooms with three queen beds and two single beds. My heart just about reached my mouth when I realized the name of the motel was The Cedars Motel.

Flashback. When our farm sold back in October we happily imagined ourselves on our way to Italy the day after possession. When we realized that wouldn't be possible our hearts sank. What were we to do in the interim?  Where were we supposed to live?  There are no rental houses in our town and we needed to be near Waldheim for many reasons.  That very day the telephone rang and a sweet retired couple from our church told us that they were packing up and clearing out of their house for however long it took us to get to the field, that we had a home until departure.  Their home, a beautiful, new, spacious dwelling at 214 Cedar Place.

Skip forward. It is December and we are planning our farewell trip to BC to connect with family, friends and supporters.  We planned to spend one week in my home town, over two Sundays, and being over Christmas of course houses were full of extended family.  One day about three weeks before our trip we get an email with an offer to house sit a big house out in the country just a hop, skip and a jump from the cabin where I lived as a child, and also just up the road from the friends we were there to visit with.  This family was going to be away the exact dates we were visiting and since they had animals and a wood boiler they really needed to find someone who could take care of their place over the holidays. Their house is built right on the curve of Cedar Creek.

God has been precious to show without a shadow of a doubt that our lodgings are not our concern. That when we seek to obey and move in the path He opens before us, He is intricately concerned with providing for our practical needs in extravagant and intricate ways that only He can. When I look at Cedars in the bible they are indicative of dwelling places, that of Solomon, the tabernacle, people finding a nesting place and dwelling place among the cedars and their tents being compared to Cedars.  For us it has become a beautiful image of God's provision for us as we leave the security of our own dwelling behind and follow Him where He leads.