Hope.

Ok, I have a new goal. Something to look forward to today. Something I can set my heart on and work each day towards it. It is not as big a goal as the end of my contract but it is similar. It is my arrival in Albany on February 18th at 0934 for my next R&R.

I can see it in my mind already, like last time, as I rounded the corner and walked down Albany Airports single exit point from the Terminal there is my wife sitting there waiting for me. I recall, as they are right now, my eyes welling with tears. She stood and immediately cried as I approached her. I stopped crying because of it. Oh the smell of her perfume and hair. To hold her in my arms for what seemed like forever. That is the goal, that is the picture in my mind again.

I made the arrangements the day before yesterday and had everything signed and approved. God willing now, in eighty four and a half days I will be home again. It ended up being a little more than three months between the last one and this one but with others R&R's and then trying to plan to make the most of it this is the time that I ended up with.

The goal will help me press on through this. The next month will probably the toughest for us both, Catherine and I. Christmas coming and then New Years are just two times that are very difficult to be away from one another. We see it now, how each is becoming emotional over this and thinking of what will be missed.

As we spoke about things yesterday, me again thinking of home, we determined that for now we would press on using February 18th as our goal, what we would put our hope towards. If I can make it to there then it is just a brief hop over to the end. My work here will help me move towards this hope.

The promise that The Lord gives us is like the Parable of the of the Workers in the Vineyard, Matthew 20, which happens to be one of my favorites. The vineyard owner goes out and hires men to work the field for Him. He hires men throughout different times of the day and promises them all fare wage for their work. They all toil and work in the hope of that end, some for several hours and otehrs for only a few. At the end of the day each man is paid the same from the Vineyard owner, one denarious.

You may say what does your R&R have to do with this Parable. Well, maybe not much, to tell you the truth, but each man that worked that day worked for a goal. Each man expected something and that is what motivated them. If they had no hope the work would have been excrutiating, it would have just dragged on and on without end. That is what it is for me.

Not only do I have the ultimate hope in the Glory of God, the Hope of my Salvation, but here and now I have the hope in a brief return to my home. Hope in the time I can spend with my loved ones. The Hope in seeing my Brothers and Sisters in the Lord. This hope will see me one step further to the end.

Lord, place in my heart first the Hope in the Treasures in Heaven, the Hope of my Salvation. Allow me to see this goal and work each day for that day in which I can return Home.