missing my first, longing for my last...

so i've decided the two homes i have experienced so far in my lifetime are quite different.  today as i was driving down lawrence i looked ahead and was sure i saw mountains... i mean not sure, i haven't completely lost it, i am aware i live in illinois.  but sometimes the clouds just look like mountains and i like to imagine they are... but of course they don't quite cut it and i always end up missing my first home.  AH! the land of the midnight sun!  i wish i could take a drive down the seward highway today, along the beautiful turnigan arm and soak up the mountains... but once again i find myself surrounded by concrete... so in lieu of mountains and oceans and liberating getaways in the car i will post a few pictures of my first home...

We touched down on the sound at the top of the world 
In the land of the midnight sun

Where the frozen river melts away and breaks into a run

Into the sea, into the mighty waves that waited just to see it

From a long way off that river thawed and the tide ran out to meet it

"Welcome home, unfrozen river, welcome home"

See the quiet hearts of the children of the children of this land

They have stayed alive in the day-long night by the fires that warm their hands

There is a wilderness inside them it is dark and thick and deep

And beside the fire at the heart of that wood is a precious missing sheep

So go on in, hold your torch, let it shine

'Cause all shall be well, all shall be well break the chains of the gates of Hell

Still all manner of things will be well

All shall be well, all shall be well

The Word of God will never fail and all manner of things will be well

I saw the sun go down on a frozen ocean as the man in the moon was rising

And he rode the night all full and bright with his face at the far horizon

And the night can be so long, so long you think you'll never get up again

But listen now, it's a mighty cloud of witnesses around you— they say

"Hold on, just hold on hold on to the end and all shall be well" 

-Andrew Peterson

i love the words of this song... i love it because it talks about my first home and yet causes me to long for my final home.  all shall be well... in a world that can feel like a wilderness... redemption will come through our Savior Jesus Christ and all shall be well.