Place Holder

It is funny how something that you only read about can suddenly become so real.
I have seen pictures.
The pictures have always made me laugh.
I just never saw it for myself.

Until now.

It is a situation you will see after a snow storm.
It is staking a claim.
It is marking your territory.
I understand it in theory but living in the country I never saw it for myself.

I was driving down a main street of a town I visit from time to time.
There are storefronts all along the main street.
Then without warning, the main street becomes more residential.
It was in this part of town I witnessed it firsthand.

Usually the parking along this main street is diagonally against the curb.
There are signs are telling you that you must park facing out.
Because of the blizzard we had a week ago, mounds of snow are in the parking spaces.
Now the cars must parallel park next to the snow mounds.

House after house, I saw it.
People were reserving their parking spaces.
Available parking spaces seemed to be at a premium.
Once the people left for work, they wanted a guarantee that their space would still be there.

I saw lawn chairs, dining room chairs, and storage bins being used as a place holder.
I saw yellow CAUTION tape haphazardly hung between two rickety resin chairs.
I saw orange traffic cones, which gave it the appearance of city work being done.
I saw handmade signs that warned of consequences for anyone who stole their spot.

What I had seen in newspapers and on news reports, I now saw with my own eyes.
I understood the plight of these homeowners.
They do not have garages so street parking is all that is available to them.
People were being very creative as they claimed their spot.

I wondered if the threats were real.
I wondered if the consequences would be as dire as the warnings said.
I wondered about the frustration of the homeowner when they returned to find their chair gone.
Or perhaps, their chair moved to the top of the snow mound.

I can’t imagine that everyone would be nasty about it.
I’m sure there is a parking space that some young mother and her children routinely use.
For the entire stretch of about three city blocks, I saw the same thing over and over.
People just became more creative in the way they got their point across.

I went to the store with the bulls-eye logo.
It is not the usual store I go to but this one was in the area where I was driving.
I saw an elderly man sitting in the semi-circle of the red logo near the curb.
He was just resting there with a bag of his purchases in his hand.

As I crossed over from the parking lot to the store, a large bus pulled right in front of me.
I stopped and watched the bus pull up to the curb.
I saw the doors open and heard the hydraulic sound.
The man got up from the uncomfortable semi-circle seat and walked slowly to the bus.

I heard the hydraulic sound again as the doors closed.
The bus pulled away from the curb.
What if someone else was waiting for that bus?
I imagined that the elderly gentleman would have kindly given up his semi-circle seat.

He was keeping a place until the bus came.
He would have kindly given up that place for the sake of another.
I just know he would.
He was sitting in a decorative semi-circle seat that wasn’t even a real seat.

A chair and a storage bin were holding a parking spot until the homeowner returned.
Those items looked strange in that setting.
They looked angry, if an inanimate object could look angry.
They were out of place in order to hold a place.

The man sat in a seat that was not really a seat at all.
The man did not look angry.
The man just looked tired.
Maybe he doesn’t want to drive in the snow; maybe he doesn’t drive at all any more.

Two place holders.
Each had a personality of its own.
Each was creative in its own way.
One invited someone else to join in; the other was designed to keep others away.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God trust also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we don’t know where You are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:1-6)

Jesus is our Place Holder.
We do not need lawn chairs, or dining room chairs, or storage bins to hold our place.
Jesus is doing that for us.
Jesus has gone to prepare that place for us so that we can be with Him.

There is nothing we need to do to hold our place in heaven.
If we are in Christ, our place is safely and securely held by our Lord Jesus.
We are guaranteed a spot if we have trusted in Jesus alone for our salvation.
We sit in this uncomfortable, fallen place until it is time to go and be with Him.

The doors open and we step into eternity.
Either we step into eternity with Jesus, or we step into eternity without Him.
Come to Jesus in faith, trusting in Him alone for your salvation.
Your Place Holder is keeping a place just for you so that you can be with Him forever.