Reminiscing

We are visiting my wife’s parents for Christmas. This also happens to be the city (Springfield, IL) that I grew up in. One of the days, I decided to drive out to my parent’s grave marker and reminisce.

I know my parents aren’t in the grave but it does give me a focus to remember them. The best part of this story, both on their part and mine, is that I believe they are with Jesus now. Both parents, and especially my mom, were a positive influence in my own faith walk.

After I was done in the cemetery, I drove a leisurely path to check out some of the neighborhood (this is a misnomer because I grew up in the country so what I’m calling the neighborhood is likely 20 or so miles). I saw childhood friend’s houses and wondered what happened to them.  I saw the grade school that I went to (I would not have recognized it without the sign). I saw the house that a girl I dated grew up in. 

I saw the place where my Dad’s truck crashed when he had his heart attack. I saw the farm that hired many teenagers to detassle corn.  I saw the house where a baby sitter my parents used lived and was rumored to be a stop on the Underground Railroad.

While those memories were mostly pleasant, I started driving through areas closer to where I grew up and saw trees that had fallen and destroyed farm garages and other signs of lack of upkeep. As I drove past the house I grew up in, I saw brush growth that my Dad wouldn’t have tolerated. A little further down the road, I saw the mobile home park that my wife and I lived when we first got married that only had 4 mobile homes left out of spaces for a hundred. Further still, I saw the place where I rolled my truck going to work one morning. The overpass that a friend of mine blocked with a tree log and got arrested (I wasn’t involved, I promise). I saw where new roads were and old roads weren’t. I saw the insurance company where I started my actuarial career.

“The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot. The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin. Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.” - Proverbs 10:7-9 ESV

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” - Philippians 1:3-11

Change is constantly occurring whether we recognize it or not.  That is neither good nor bad just a fact.  The real question is whether you are a participant in that change and are you the light that God requires of us?

“…for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” - Ephesians 5:8-21