Visit Every City

Thursday, September 22nd, 2022

Preparation for the autumn festivals has already begun. God’s people are preparing to celebrate together, to worship together, to rejoice together. In just a couple of days we will keep the Feast of Trumpets (this year on September 26th) which looks forward to the return of our Savior to this earth to set up the Kingdom of God, and the resurrection of His saints to eternal life. Soon after will be the Day of Atonement, a day of fasting, a day of repentance, a day of rejoicing over the forgiveness we have received through the death of our Savior, Jesus the Christ. It is also a day which looks forward to healing of the world and the hearts of the people, a time when our adversary the devil will be bound and put away for a thousand years.

What follows is the Feast of Tabernacles. This is an eight day festival which includes the Eighth Day of the Feast. These two feasts look forward to the Kingdom of God on earth and the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ with the saints. The eighth day, although part of the Feast of Tabernacles (often called “the Feast”) has its own special meaning. It looks forward to the final removal of Satan, the second resurrection and the Great White Throne Judgment. This will be a future time of peace and learning, a time of repentance and healing. It will be the beginning of eternity as all death and sin is done away with, there will be a new heaven and new earth, and God the Father at last shall dwell with humanity.

I’ve had the blessing of keeping the Feast of Tabernacles continuously for the past thirty-eight years. What a blessing it has been to travel near and far to be with God’s people, staying in temporary dwellings, eating meals together, rejoicing together, worshiping God together. I have many wonderful memories of childhood road-trips to Washington State, Oregon, British Columbia, California, and probably some places I don’t so clearly recall. In my married life I’ve been blessed to be able to travel to various countries to keep the Feast.

This year Lena and I will be headed to Llandudno, Wales in the United Kingdom to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. We’ve never been to Wales, but we have been to a few nearby places. Some of these places, like Dublin, Ireland and London, England, we will have the opportunity to visit again as we travel to and from Llandudno. In preparation for our upcoming trip I started looking through some of my photos. I’ve also started planning out which sites to take my nephew to and hunting for some local coffee shops to visit each morning.

I hope you’ve enjoyed a handful of photos from past trips. I also hope you are able to keep the Feast of Tabernacles this year and every year. This Feast was kept by our Savior, Jesus Christ, and will continue to be kept in the coming Kingdom of God. “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles” (Zechariah 14:16).

– Lewis VanAusdle