Today is Ascension Day – the day Christ rose to heaven. It’s a day that can be very deceptive, in distance that is. Hearing the phrase ‘Jesus went to heaven’ can leave us with emptiness – almost a lost ness. Thank God that it’s not true! He is not far removed from us. He is intimately involved with me and you and every person in the world.

The Lord’s Prayer starts with the first phrase: Our Father in Heaven. I always interpreted this as a statement of distance. Dallas Willard opened my eyes to the fact that the heavens consist of every inch around us. When we look, breathe, talk, touch – then we move in the realm of the heavens. That is really good news and make the world a very safe place.

On a total different note. Yesterday Dad and I hit a few golf balls at the driving range. We had a lot of fun. As we drove our balls we heard the frantic screaming of a woman. After a few minutes we distinguished that she screamed “Thief, thief”. Two men ran over the driving range with her stuff, with the loot under their arms they fled – 5 men chasing them! Welcome back in South Africa I thought to myself.

Today I’m reminded that this is the heavens God came to pierce, redeem and change. We have the privilege to pray:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

And then we actively join Him in doing just that!