From Canada to Budapest:

A Taste of Restoration

Over July 4 my husband and I and Caspian (our golden retriever) escaped to Canada, to avoid the fireworks that terrify our dog. There was a pull as well as a push: a dear Canadian friend invited us and another couple to her cottage. We enjoyed great food and canoeing on a chain of lakes that meander through tall pine forests, and the blessings of friendships renewed.

On the way back from the cottage, my spouse Mark, Caspian, and I listened to “Dweller by a Dark Stream” by Canadian song writer Brooks Williams. For the first time I really heard the hauntingly poetic and hopeful words:

It could have been me put the thorns in your crown
Rooted as I am in a violent ground
How many times have I turned your promise down
Still you pour out your love
Pour out your love

I was a dweller by a dark stream
A crying heart hooked on a dark dream
In my convict soul I saw your love gleam
And you showed me what you've done
Jesus, thank you joyous Son

You entered a life like ours to give us back our own
You wanted us like you, as choosers not clones
You offered up your flesh and death was overthrown
Now salvation is ours
Salvation is ours…

So I'm walking this prison camp world
I long for a glimpse of the new world unfurled
The chrysalis cracking and moisten wings uncurl
Like in the vision John saw
The vision John saw…

Brooks Williams’ words glow with theological insight. Jesus comes to “gleam” God’s love on us, and to give us back what has been stolen from us by sin, death and evil (John 10:10).

The words of Scripture also gleam as they cut right to the heart, mending it back together with a vision of “the chrysalis cracking and moistened wings unfurl like in the vision John saw.” Here Brooks Williams refers to the vision of the new heavens and earth, which will finally be restored when Jesus returns (Revelation 21:1-5 ). At that time, people from all nations, tribes, and tongues will worship before the Lamb (Revelation 7:9).

Here is a link to an audio youtube of “Dweller by a Dark Stream” by Brooks Williams:

It was a whirlwind summer for us. After visiting Canada, we visited our (former) home state of Minnesota, and packed up in Michigan. Then we headed to Hungary. My husband is leading a group of university students in a semester course here, and I am on a leave of absence from my chaplain job.

We had a weather delay as we first flew to Newark, NJ, missed our flight to Germany, and stayed overnight in an airport hotel. We were happy to find a place covered by the United Voucher of $200. Another place we called would have cost $735. (I think a lot of wealthy people from NYC fly through Newark.) When my husband asked “Really?” regarding the price, the other hotel host replied, “And 37 cents.”

The airport motel in Newark, NJ

We flew the following night to Germany. We arrived late and ran through the airport, just making our flight to Budapest. We didn’t have time to stop for German chocolate in an airport shop, and our checked luggage didn’t make the flight. Thankfully, our luggage was delivered to our apartment the next day. When our suitcases full of clean clothes were brought to us after four days of travel, this idea of restoration came to me again.

It felt like such a gift to get a clean change of clothes, plus the shoes, ice skates, and art supplies that I had packed. I know these are small things compared to what many of us have lost, but they are a taste of the good things to come.

God promises to renew and restore all things in Christ (Colossians 1:19, 20). Even in death we look forward to being “further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life (2 Corinthians 5:4).”

Our apartment here in Hungary, with lots of lovely Art Nouveau architecture. Some of the buildings are restored and some are still in decay after a turbulent 20th century. Restoration is a big issue here on many levels.

We have already visited two churches where people from around the world worship together, like in the vision John saw in Revelation. Even now, God is at work, and I am looking forward to seeing his “love gleam” here in Hungary.

I will be posting more thoughts and art and architecture from Hungary soon.

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Where have you seen God’s restoring work?