明尼蘇達州以擁有許多美麗湖泊而聞名，我在此成長，所以也特別熱愛在野外露營，享受上帝創造的美好。然而睡在一個搖搖欲墜的帳棚中，卻並非我所好，特別是有時「屋」漏偏逢連夜雨，把睡袋弄得溼答答的。

因此，當我想到有位信心偉人曾以帳棚為家，時間甚至長達一百年時，讓我不得不佩服。亞伯拉罕在75歲那年，聽見上帝呼召他離開故鄉，好使他成為大國（創世記12章1-2節）。亞伯拉罕就順服，相信上帝必持守祂的應許。因此在他人生接下來的歲月裡，直到175歲過世為止（25章7節），他都離鄉背井住在帳棚裡。

或許我們並不像亞伯拉罕那樣，蒙召過逐水草而居的游牧生活。但即使我們愛世上的人，也願意服事他們，但我們仍渴望有一個溫暖的家，能帶給我們安全感。然而，當人生的疾風抽打我們單薄的帳棚、雨水不斷浸透時，我們可以像亞伯拉罕一樣，滿懷信心等候那座將臨的城，「就是上帝所經營、所建造的」（希伯來書11章10節） 。就如亞伯拉罕，我們也心存盼望，知道上帝正在動工，要更新祂所創造的萬物，並為我們預備「一個更美的家鄉，就是在天上的」（16節） 。

Growing up in Minnesota, a place known for its many beautiful lakes, I loved to go camping to enjoy the wonders of God’s creation. But sleeping in a flimsy tent wasn’t my favorite part of the experience—especially when a rainy night and a leaky tent resulted in a soggy sleeping bag.

I marvel to think that one of the heroes of our faith spent a hundred years in tents. When he was seventy-five years old, Abraham heard God’s call to leave his country so the Lord could make him into a new nation (Gen. 12:1–2). Abraham obeyed, trusting that God would follow through on His promise. And for the rest of his life, until he died at 175 (25:7), he lived away from his home country in tents.

We may not have the same call as Abraham did to live nomadically, but even as we love and serve this world and the people in it, we may long for a deeper experience of home, of being rooted here on earth. Like Abraham, when the wind whips our flimsy covering or the rain soaks through, we can look with faith for the city to come, whose “architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10). And like Abraham, we can find hope that God is working to renew His creation, preparing a “better country—a heavenly one” to come (v. 16).