Walking Down the City Streets

He walked down the city streets. Alone. Unaccompanied. On his own.

It was a cold, windy day. A day he would prefer to be inside his apartment. It was much warmer there. His comfortable bed would greet him. He could relish at the relief from the seemingly hostile world. A welcoming thought.

But he felt like walking outside today. Out in the cold city streets.

Loneliness. Such a bitter feeling.

Out in this utterly foreign land, he was lost. Isolated. Rejected. Abandoned.

Looking down to the pathway, he continued on his aimless walk. The chilling wind was beating against his body. He was shivering all over.

Stopping abruptly on the pathway, he lifted his head and looked ahead. An endless sea of hopelessness and despair.

Absolutely meaningless.

A minute of stillness elapsed. He decided to move on. Down the seemingly never-ending road of desolation and dismay.

Ten minutes passed and he reach a park. An unanticipated place of refuge. An unforeseen shelter. He sat down on a bench and pondered.

He missed the security of home. He missed the tenderness and attention from everyone back there. He missed the solace that he found there in times of grief.

All the relief and reassurance seemed to have dissolved away upon his arrival in this unfamiliar land, this distant realm, this faraway country.

He lowered his head, closed his eyes and cupped his face with the palms of his hands.

He began to sob now, lamenting the decision to move to this forsaken place.

He cried out, "O Lord, where are you, Lord! I need you so badly right now."

No answer came.

Disappointed, he tried again. "Lord please, help me get through this."

Still, there was no reply.

God has left him, he decided. It was totally hopeless now. He resigned to his fate.

Just as he was about to get up and leave, he thought he could hear the faintest whisper in the wind. An undertone echoing in the tender summer breeze.

The voice touched his heart and stirred his spirit. He felt a great peace enveloping him. A great joy suffusing his entire self. An inexplicable feeling of being loved.

He knew at that brief moment in time that God was touching him, gently consoling him and reassuring him. A song played in his mind, over and over again as he tried to grasp the fullness of the beautiful lyrics.

I'll sing to you Lord a hymn of love
for your faithfulness to me
I'm carried in everlasting arms
You never let me go
Through it all

As the thought of the loving Father filled him, he was overwhelmed by emotions. He could no longer hold back his tears of joy. He wept, praising God, thanking Him for His faithfulness, expressing gratitude for His everlasting presence with him, encouraging him, strengthening him, guiding him all this while.

The darkness that obscured his vision had been dispersed by the Light. The chaos that ravaged his heart was calmed by the gift of Peace. The bitterness that gripped him had been forced apart by the power of Love. The sorrow that filled him was replaced by unexplained feelings of Joy.

He opened his eyes and looked around him. The veil of gloom and despair has lifted. He saw everything with clarity and everything seemed so...different now. His surroundings were no longer fogged by uncertainty. Brilliant streaks of hope-filled light shot through the sky. Exuberance radiated from everything that was around him - the trees, the grass, the people, the buildings, the streets.

He felt encouraged and uplifted. He felt his spirit soar on wings like the eagle. He felt completely renewed.

Now, he had the strength and the assurance to face the perilous road ahead. Strength and assurance that came from the grace of God, and not anything or anyone else.

He sang songs of praises to the Lord all day long and danced with joy that no one else could understand, except the Lord and himself...

Forget what is behind and press on toward what is ahead. (Philippians 3:13)

Praising the Lord,

Brian Chee