Is There A Place For Us? by ‘Brother Bill’
There is a longing woven into the human heart, a melody that rises unbidden in moments of quiet. As one song from west side story expresses it:
There’s a place for us,
Somewhere a place for us.
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us
Somewhere. There’s a time for us,
Some day a time for us,
Time together with time spare,
Time to learn, time to care,
Some day! Somewhere.
We’ll find a new way of living,
We’ll find a way of forgiving
Somewhere…There’s a place for us,
A time and place for us.
Hold my hand and we’re halfway there.
Hold my hand and I’ll take you there
Somehow,
Some day,
Somewhere!
This is no mere dream of earthly escape. It is the echo of a deeper quest for this reality in all of us. The old order of rivalry—where every soul compares, complains, and condemns because all compete—gives way to something better. In that place, souls cooperate, coordinate, and communicate in the harmony of love. No longer do we claw for scraps at the table of self; we sit together at the feast of grace.
The Beatles said a ticket to ride, as their voices once sang. However, it’s not found in regret for the past, doubt of the present or dread of the future, but in hope. This hope begins as head belief and descends into heart belief. It carries us across the rickety bridge that spans the chasm between the old life and the new. When belief ripens into faith—“the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1, NKJV)—we step onto solid ground: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, NKJV)
God’s mercy meets us first on that bridge. It forgives the weight of our past completely for it’s too heavy to cross. Then His grace helps in our time of need. Trust is born in the testing. We lean our weight upon the bridge, and it holds. The gravity of Fear of the world loses its grip. We cease striving to conform to its patterns and instead are transformed: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2, NKJV)
This transformation is no solitary polishing of the rotten apple of self. It is a dying and a rising to an orchard of apple trees. We leave the narrow world of self by dying to it through Jesus. In His death we die; in His life we live. The old competitive nature is crucified with Him, and a new nature emerges—one in which “if they hurt, I hurt; if they do well, I do well,” for we are members of one another: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NKJV)
“For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13, NKJV)
Here the mind of Christ becomes ours. Competition yields to communion. Comparison dissolves in contentment. We no longer need to condemn because we have been forgiven much. In this unity, heaven’s grace is tasted even now: no one compares, no one complains, because all have received from the same endless supply.
The bridge is Christ Himself. He says, “Hold My hand and we’re halfway there.” He does not merely point the way; He is the Way. Mercy forgives the journey behind us. Grace sustains the steps ahead. Trust walks us across. Faith lands us in the place prepared: “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16, NKJV)
“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.” (Hebrews 4:9, NKJV)
Somewhere. Some day. But by faith, the “some day” breaks into today. The place for us is not a distant shore we must reach alone; it is a Person who has already crossed over and now reaches back to carry us. Hold His hand. The rickety bridge becomes a royal road. The world of self fades, and the world of one—with Him and with each other—opens wide.
Peace and quiet and open air wait. Time to learn, time to care. A new way of living. A way of forgiving. All of it, already purchased by Christ Jesus. All of it, offered freely.
Come. The place is ready. The time is now.
Somewhere: A Place Prepared
There is a longing woven into the human heart, a melody that rises unbidden in moments of quiet. As one song expresses it:
There’s a place for us,
Somewhere a place for us.
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us
Somewhere.
There’s a time for us,
Some day a time for us,
Time together with time spare,
Time to learn, time to care,
Some day!
Somewhere.
We’ll find a new way of living,
We’ll find a way of forgiving
Somewhere . . .There’s a place for us.
The place is ready. The time is now. However you can’t carry the weight of vengeance, guilt or fear of the pain of the world. God’s word describes it in Revelation 21: All Things Made New
1 ¶ Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
2 Then I, John,fn saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
4 “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
5 ¶ Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me,fn “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
6 ¶ And He said to me, “It is done!fn I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things,fn and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
So step out with Jesus Christ for he is the way, the truth and life, and no one comes to the father except through him.
It’s a great adventure learning our limits from the unlimited one. Blessed journey “brother bill/dad”
