We are back in the airport after a week of traveling together. A week ago, we left Georgia and flew to Chicago. After picking up our rental car we headed north with no schedule or exact plan for our travels except that we were going to start in Chicago and end up here again when we were done.
We did have some ideas that guided our route such as visiting a few homes of RuthAnn’s youth both in Chicago and in the Milwaukee area. Then to visit Lambeau Field in Green Bay Wisconsin, as any loyal Packer fan should. Heading to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan catching glimpses of my past in and near Ishpeming, Michigan. Seeing and traveling over the Mackinaw Bridge and spending time on Mackinaw Island. From there heading south along Lake Michigan and visiting as many light houses as we could.
Our days were full as we did all these things. But some way or another we were able to squeeze even more into this week. An amazing Sabbath Saturday sharing worship with the Battle Creek, Michigan Tabernacle SDA Church and visiting the Pioneer Heritage Center, where we could absorb early Adventist history and so much more. With Sunday dawning we still had two more days to wander.
Ever meandering southward, we visited more lighthouses and spent time at the Indiana dunes. Back in Chicago yesterday. I had an urge to find my seminary high school and was amazed to find it no longer existed and an entire housing complex in it’s place. The only trace of it was a street named St Vincent’s, which was the name of the seminary. Finally, we searched for RuthAnn’s grandparents house, which we think we found but are not completely sure.
It feels like we have seen so much we are both on overload. We certainly have slept in enough strange beds and spent enough time eating bad breakfasts at motel complimentary breakfast bars. We like most of you loved to be on vacation but are longing to be home.
As I sit here with another hour before our flight leaves I am left with one thought that has struck me repeatedly on this journey, you can never go back. Here is what I mean. At almost every stop along my nostalgic path either everything I once knew over forty years ago was completely gone or was so altered that I could not recognize it. I searched for the first home I ever owned. RuthAnn and I traveled up and down this short road in Champion, Michigan. But no matter how hard I tried I could not find the home I lived in for over four years.
Later that day I stood in an empty lot that was once our family restaurant. Not a clue that it was a vibrant lively business in my youth. It continued place after place. Culminating in the missing high school I spent four years living and learning in. As I said, you can never go back.
As I get older I think I have spent more time reminiscing over the years gone by. Most of it these days, is seeing all the times God worked in my life and I didn’t have a clue. And, I see all the times I hurt or damaged another person with my addictions and self-absorbed life and I wish I could go back and fix them. In most cases, like my recent vacation there is no way to go back to that time. Or ways to reach out to that person who was hurt or damaged.
For sure Jesus told us we have a duty to try, “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.” (Matthew 5:23-24) Yet we also cannot live in the past knowing our sins our forgiven at the cross. So, we might not be able to go back and correct everything, but we can take the lesson we learned and share God’s grace with others.
The Apostle Peter says it this way, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4:10) In my case that means never forgetting what and how I was saved, but also to remember not to live in the past but live with the hope only Jesus gives.
As we head home today, I am blessed. RuthAnn sits next to me and I have once again been reminded that going home is nothing to do with this world. The places where I once lived, worked, and struggled, might now be gone but all this will soon be gone only to be replaced by the kingdom of God. That is my real home and I do not need to wait in an airport to get there, just believe in He who saved me. I pray today that you are on this journey with me. If not, why not join? Your past might not be changed but your eternal future will be.
Blessings John,
7/17/18
