“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
I’ve been having a wild ride down memory lane recently and perhaps it began when I learned that a man who worked with me in Kimball, NE nearly 50 years ago while constructing Interstate 80 in the Nebraska panhandle, had passed away. Mitch and I had lost touch since 1975 and last year he somehow had seen one of my devotions posted on FaceBook and asked if I was the same person that he had worked with…back in the day.
Mitch’s journey is over and my ride is still going down the highway and it’s becoming harder to keep my car between the lines some days. Some days it is just better to stay in the garage and put the keys on the dresser. A while ago, again, probably back in the day, there was a poem by Amy Grant that came up in one of my internet searches. I’ve been thinking about that a lot recently and found it again and want to share it with you today.
“It occurred to me this morning as I washed this face of mine; how quickly come the changes with a little passing time. A wrinkle here, a hair turned gray, a not so lilting step. I see me growing older, but i don't quite feel it yet. At times I nearly feel my age, at others I'm, sixteen, so full am I of all the thoughts and feelings in between. Who would have thought the road of life would twist and turn so much? The journey makes me strong and weak and tender to the touch. And so this day I face the choice that I have faced each day. Will I be open? Teachable? Unafraid of change? Yes. I will embrace this moment. Forgive my past mistakes. and remember that just showing up is sometimes all it takes. I'll seek the kind of beauty that time cannot erase; wisdom and experience resting on my face.”
The photo of me was taken one evening in 2003 at Hotel Kinam in Petionville. Five of us were sitting around a white plastic table on a quiet dark night; three Haitians and two North Americans. The female doctor was from Oklahoma City, don’t recall her name, and this was her last day in Haiti and heading back home in the morning and the three Haitians began to softly sing what I would call Haitian Gospel songs in Creole; it was such a wonderful blessing. It brought me a glimpse of what Heaven must be like. Brothers and sisters from different parts of this world, praising Jesus.
Over the years, I’ve personally provided many meals for children attending Christian schools in Haiti and I know full well that one day, they will join me in Heaven and we’ll be singing songs to our Lord Jesus in one common language…and Mitch will be there too.
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay