Searching for Sanctuary

October 9, 2006

Joel Akin

It began in a dream of the night. It wasn’t due to crumbly old cheese or moldy bread or thick dish pizza. It wasn’t due to an over active imagination or a cry in the dark or just a war of despair. It came about by decree and a decree is like an act and an act is the first part of an agreement. Now I speak of Sanctuary and I speak of the agreement I chose to heed Gods voice and to listen to the plan that He had for the future. If in the depths of time there are moments when I doubt or struggle or fail to rise higher on the rung of hope I cannot blame God but only myself. I struggle with this vision because its difficult to grasp.

 In 1988 I was given an assignment. Find a way to write a book on how to find jobs for the mentally and physically disabled. When I asked what and how and who I wasn’t given an answer. When I asked “How long” I was told “three months” because that was the government grant allotted. So I worked and I traveled and I interviewed experts and talked to them and none of them had a vision on the subject. They struggled like me to see where it should go so I, a neophyte, had to take those steps myself and decide what was and was not in the best interests of the book. I can’t say I saw it published and I suspect the work went on to being filed in some obscure place. But I know that I did my best and searched out the answers that didn’t seem answerable at the time.

So if in the past 8 plus years I searched out an answer for God I realized something profound. Something that is part of the family business if you will. I put my hand to the task of finding a perfect way of protecting people in case of war. And I researched out the Earth Sheltered home. I found there were dozens of companies who had gone into it and some of them quite deeply. And they had good to average to poor sites. Some were made up of one person and others of larger design. They all had a vision and the size of it varied.

Yet the vision God gave me, as He put it, wasn’t just for a handful of employees. Not just for a hundred or a thousand people. But for a future of war and a future of peace. And I wondered why I fought so hard to get peoples attention. And I realized because I wanted to Please my heavenly father. It was only recently that I realized that when Jesus comes back to earth scripture says he will rule with a rod of iron. A rod of iron can be seen as rod of measurement. A tri-pod perhaps based on building homes and surveying land. You see scripture says that Jesus was a carpenter. His earthly father must have helped build and design homes which made him an architect. And if there is another part to this it is that God is an architect. Jesus himself said “In my fathers house are many mansions.” He God made, created the Universe. Heaven was a design for his throne and earth was designed to be his footstool. And a footstool is what is made when you can put your feet up to rest. Lets be honest. If there is one thing I realized in this vision God gave me it is that He was asking if I wanted to be part of the family. For if I wanted to be part of the family business I had better learn something new that maybe they hadn’t gone into. So I was sent on a quest, the best kind, to put together a plan.

What is really marvelous about this story is that a few years back God gave me a wonderful dream. He said “I’m going to find you a place where the sun shines upon you in the morning.” And in the meantime he sent the Holy Spirit to work with me on my plans. Now this was all part of the dream and part of the vision that God gave me. Being part of the great family calling. This was something God showed me recently and to say that I was excited was to put it mildly.

So I’ve been in prayer asking God “What direction do I take next.” For I saw that Sanctuary, whatever it turns out to be, needs visionaries who see the broader scope. Lets be honest. If you see through binoculars the wrong way the world will seem like a tiny dream and an irritating problem. But focus correctly and suddenly that which is distant comes into view. And if you want to understand then you have to ask God for understanding of what you are looking at.

I know that Sanctuary is part of the overall vision God gave me. Where Sanctuary will be located is yet to be determined. How it will be built is yet to be determined. How the finances will come in is still a mystery. Yet I have the biggest financier in the known universe backing up this project. And even if you struggle in your walk or talk I refuse to simply because I know this is Gods calling for me. I am searching not for a man to save me or a man to finance me or a man to take it from me. This is the vision God gave me and I’m not going to give it up to anyone until I know they are called by God to be part of the family. And that isn’t an easy calling. It requires trust, insight, vision, and right seeing. And if you fail in the small things of vision you’ll fail in the big things of vision as well.

Sometimes there has to be a choice made as to the path you will chose. I know that God is in this. I know He will find a way to bankroll it and put it together the way He desires. I know that it will become a means and method of construction for the future. I know that Earth Homes will be places of refuge. When and how are in Gods time. But I will not relent, by Gods grace, until I have a clear picture of what direction I’m meant to go and then I want a path to follow. And someday God will share with me whether I heard and saw correctly or not. I pray that I have. And I pray that this vision will be clear to others.

Until then I must trust that there is a road I cannot see coming this way. And it is being built through a wilderness of struggle. But there are days when the builder wants to throw down the hammer. There are also days when you want to look by stepping back and seeing things from a new perspective. Maybe then you can see if the path you’re on is right and if all things are falling into place just as they should. For then, when the time is right, and all the angles and corners fit perfectly, you can say, “I fought the fight and finished the course” and in that is hope and in that is a desire to pick up where you left off. Even if the whole world goes the other way.

earthhouse@gmail.com