By 
Just last week I observed God bringing “closure” for my thirteen and sixteen-year-old granddaughters as they said goodbye to a place of special significance to them. We’d sold our family home of 35 years. Moments before I locked the door for the last time, they arrived with their cell phones to film a “This is Where” video of the empty rooms: “This is where we grabbed snacks; this is where we made Christmas cookies; this is where we took bubble baths; this is where we ate Pappa’s pizza...” The video concluded in the top branches of the Maple tree where they proclaimed, “This is where we learned to climb a tree!” Each location prompted memories of what had transpired there—growing-up milestones and family connections.
As I enjoyed sharing their memories, my mind was transported back several years to a place halfway around the world. “What is he talking about?” I wondered as I increased my concentration. I was visiting the English worship service of The First Baptist Arabic Church of Nazareth. The pastor spoke of the theological significance of “place” in the Bible. It intrigued me then; it still does now.
With great skill he wove his way through Scripture, pointing out the implications of biblical events and the places they occurred:
He noted God’s choice of Jerusalem as the place He sent His Son, and that this same Jesus will return there once again. His feet will touch down, not just somewhere but on the Mount of Olives—a specific place.
The disciples gathered for their last meal in the Upper Room. They also waited there for the coming of His Holy Spirit.
Long before, God told Joshua to mark the place the Israelites crossed the Jordan with twelve stones.
Paul was on a specific road traveling to a specific city when Jesus appeared to him in blinding light.
I took copious notes, captivated by this new awareness of how God uses places in His creation, the earth, when relating to mankind.
A few days later Bashara, a church planter among the Arabic people, guided me around the ruins of King Herod’s palace in Caesarea on the Mediterranean shore. When he pointed to a nearby marker, I suddenly realized I was standing in the auditorium containing the judge’s bench. It was here that Paul presented his case and testimony before Governor Felix and Drusilla his wife, Governor Festus, and King Agrippa and his wife Bernice (Acts 24-25). My reaction prompted Bashara to ask a thoughtful question: “I do not understand this. Can you explain it to me? Why do visitors to Israel react like you when they see these places? Why is being here so important to you?” I didn’t have a ready answer, but I believe my reaction was directly related to this concept of the significance of place.
Days later I casually asked my taxi driver how long he had lived in Israel. He stunned me with his response: “This has always been my family’s home. All my ancestors lived here. We’ve never lived anywhere else.” I heard the pride of this identity in his voice. That thought shocked me, an American whose ancestors immigrated from various European countries not so very long ago.
Understanding the significance of “place” answers Bashara’s question of “Why do people react so strongly when they see these biblical places?” For me, the stories morph from ink on pages to dimensional events complete with sights, sounds, wind, hills, trees, buildings, and culture, as well as prophetic fulfillment.
Awareness that God still uses places to mark His interaction with us encourages me in my faith walk. As believers, we recognize and remember those locations where God revealed Himself in a personal way. Many of us can recall the specific moments. These "holy" places matter to us.
My aging father once pointed out the corner on the town square where he accepted Christ during a tent revival. I still drive past my childhood house with the corner bedroom where, as an eight-year-old, I dropped off to sleep, full of God’s presence the night I accepted Christ.
When I pass the parking lot where I watched a “blue” sunset, I remember that grace-filled moment when God’s display of majesty bypassed my depression and warmed my heart. I see the hillside at our family farm where an archeologist discovered a pre-historic dart point. I struggled to envision a hunter/gathering man standing there 3,000 years ago. Each time I see that hill God reminds me that I, too, am only another temporary resident of this world, and I have the opportunity to live each day with purpose.
God sets each of us in a particular community and a particular culture. We sleep and eat within a house from which we move out into the neighborhood, town, state, country, and world. Each place influences us in a specific way, playing an important role in the way we experience and understand God, and live out our lives.
We will continue to busy ourselves collecting memories as we travel through the places in our lives until we find our way to the very location Jesus left to prepare for us. Jesus spoke of it and of His Father to comfort His disciples shortly before His arrest:
“In my Father’s house are many rooms (abodes/dwellings/resting places). If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
—John 14:2-3 ESV
What a reassuring promise, an eternal “place”for me and for all who know God as Father!
Linda Lesniewski
Linda served as Women’s Minister at Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, TX for 24 years. She has authored "A Little Book About Knowing a Big God" for children; "Women at the Cross" and "Connecting Women: A Guide for Leaders in Women’s Ministry", by Revell; as well as "His Story My Story", a digital download available from LifeWay. Linda enjoys spending time with her four young adult children and six granddaughters. She has served on the Womenary Board of Directors for many years.
You can contact Linda at lindalesniewski49@gmail.com. 
