569 Vacancy Sign Is Lit

I grew up in a tiny town in Missouri that no one had ever heard of. Every third year our family had enough money to go on vacation. Our vacation was a single overnight stay in a town 45 minutes away. A town that had a water park, a rollercoaster, go carts, a live show, a lake, and a few motels on a road that everything was built on called “the strip.” This town grew as I grew and now it is a tourist destination for the world. Branson, Missouri. Maybe you’ve heard of it, or maybe you’ve even visited. That was our family vacation spot for one night every third year. I have many memories there. We would roll into town in our metallic forest green 1972 Monte Carlo, drive down the strip and read the motel signs. We were searching for a motel with a vacancy sign. Remember those signs? In the high season, the signs would turn away visitors advertising NO VACANCY. There’s no room available for you here. Keep looking. Then you finally find one that says VACANCY and you know, there’s room for you there. On one particular year our much anticipated overnight stay in Branson landed us in Ben’s Wishing Well Hotel because it was the only vacancy. There was more smoke in the air than there was oxygen, and quarters that operated the bed’s massaging system. There were much more desirable motels in town, but there was no vacancy. Ben’s Wishing Well was available, so it’s where we went. I wonder what the sign outside of your life has said? NO VACANCY. There isn’t room for more. I’m too busy. I’m overwhelmed. There’s no space here. I’m at max capacity. And what if Jesus was the one looking for space? What if he was the one looking for an opening to come and dwell? A place to bring his supernatural. An opening for his power. An availability for his presence. But you had no vacancy. You were all filled up with places to go and things to do. So much noise, so much busy, so much distraction and overwhelm. There couldn’t possibly be room for something more. So Jesus with all his power, Jesus with all his provision, Jesus with all his goodness that far outweighs anything you could have possibly had going on, continued down the strip in search of another place to enter. Another life with a vacancy for him. He wanted your life. He choose you. But your NO VACANCY sign has been lit up for years. … until it wasn’t … Now, we find ourselves with vacancy. What we had just a month ago is suddenly gone. Much that kept us so busy and preoccupied is now shut-down. The noise and the chaos has slowed to a pace we’re not familiar with. Lives that were once over capacity are now empty with no where to go and nothing to do. Uncertainty and fear are our only occupants and they aren’t paying customers, they just take. There was once no time here in this life. There was once no space here in my days. But now … I’ve got time. Maybe you could say the same. Now, I’ve got space. I have a VACANCY where there was once a job. I have a VACANCY where there were once plans. I have a VACANCY where I used to feel certain. I have a VACANCY in places I’ve never known in a capacity other than filled. And Jesus says … NOW SHE’S AVAILABLE! Now I can come in! This vacancy means there is space for me. And honey when Jesus shows up on the scene, when he dwells in the openings of your life, THINGS CHANGE. When Jesus sees a VACANCY his response is “I CAN FILL THAT!” What did you have a month ago that you no longer have today? That open space is now a vacancy. You can view it as a setback and misfortune. And maybe right now that’s how it feels because that’s exactly what it represents at this moment. I’m so sorry for every single thing you’ve lost.