Welcome Home

I’ve traveled quite a bit.  It’s exciting to begin a new adventure and experience different places.

It’s especially exciting to visit other countries and experience different cultures and sometimes it’s a little intimidating too.

But having the opportunity to experience a different culture for even just a short time allows you to have a different perspective.

When traveling abroad I’ve never visited the same place twice so I pack in as much site seeing as I can.  I plan my days accordingly to get the best possible experience for the short time that I am away.

Planning is important in many aspects of life but especially important when you have a short time to enjoy the experience.

When we traveled to Ireland it was winter and the days only included six hours of daylight!  Imagine how we had to roust everyone out of bed early to take in as many sights as we could, while always traveling back to the place we were staying, in the dark.

I remember when we landed in Ireland there was a robust shout of joy from everyone on board as they landed on their home soil.

They were just as excited to be home, as I was excited to start our new adventure.

Traveling in Italy was a foreign experience until we visited the Vatican. Having been raised Catholic I had a feeling of being home as I walked through St. Peter’s Basilica with the marvelous marble statues of the artistic masters.

I had a few conversations in Italian, one which got us on the wrong bus, but after reading the destination at the front of the bus we quickly disembarked and eventually learned that it was not a bus we needed to take, but a train to our destination.  But the people were friendly, and they made you feel at home even when we were in different cities.

Egypt was the country that challenged me the most.  The customs were so very different and the culture as well.  I wouldn’t say the people were very friendly and one cab driver did try to take us for more money than was owed, but I noticed his deception and following some guidelines I’d read in a guidebook we left what we felt appropriate in payment on the seat of the cab and quickly exited.

On a different occasion while hailing a taxi my husband asked if the driver spoke English and he said, “no.”  My husband started to back away, but I insisted we just get in and hand the driver a card with the address of hotel.  He got us back quickly and was honest in the fare he charged.

When I think of all the sites we visited when traveling abroad I am grateful for the experience and the happy memories.

But one memory that will always be vivid in my mind is when we returned to JFK airport in New York.

As the customs official reviewed my passport, he looked up at me and said these simple words, “Welcome home.”  I don’t know if he saw a look of exhaustion on my face, or if he often said that to returning passengers but it really struck a chord with me.

Home! Home is where they speak your language, home is where they know your name, home is where you feel safe and secure.

And there’s a final homecoming that will be the best homecoming of all.

In November my good neighbor finally got to go home, and in December his wife followed him.

I’m sure there was a wonderful homecoming for both, of them.

How could there not be as they entered, into the presence of their Holy and Glorious Father?

I imagine he looked deeply into their eyes and softly said, “Welcome home.” And that will be the best homecoming of all.

 

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9

 

 

 

 

Denying the Precious Gift

For the past several months my husband and son have been working on wrapping my car.  I wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but the end, product is pretty, amazing.

If you’re unfamiliar with this process it basically is changing the color or look of a car by wrapping the car in a special laminate designed specifically for cars.

My car is eleven years old but when I went car shopping, I found that all the new features on cars is not something that interests me.  As my mother used to say, the more gadgets you have on things the more likely you will have things that will break.

I was basically happy with my car, with the exception, of some imperfections to the paint surface from when my husband had tried to make some repairs.  It seems that matching metallic paint is very difficult.

So, my son said I should just let him wrap my car.

This would be the second car he would wrap because he had wrapped my husband’s historic Datsun Z260, a much smaller car than my Infiniti G35.

What was expected to take about two weeks, actually turned more into a six, week project.  This is because as they worked on the car, they realized they had to disassemble the car.  This was husband’s job, and oh, yes, the car would need to be reassembled as well.

Bless their hearts, they did it, and the car looks amazing!

During the process my husband found some rust that needed to be repaired and some mechanical parts that needed to be replaced.

One such part was to replace the brakes which required removing the fluid.  Unfortunately, the car didn’t seem to recognize that the fluid had been replaced after the procedure resulting in lights galore on my dashboard.

A trip to the auto store revealed that nothing was structurally wrong but that a sensor had gone bad and would need to be replaced.

So, the part was ordered, and we waited.

Two weeks later the part was delivered or so the post office said, but we didn’t receive it.

Very often our mail goes to the same address on a different street in our neighborhood.  I often receive their mail and go and place it in their mailbox and they have brought over a package to me before, so we were reasonable sure that’s where our package ended up.

After waiting 2 days my husband went to inquire about our package, but the resident said he did not have it.

We waited a few more days and then my husband contacted the post office.

The post office confirmed the package had been delivered to our neighbor on the other street.

When my husband explained that he had already checked with them and they did not have it, the postmaster went to their residence.

Again, he was told they did not have it.  Then the postmaster told them something they did not know.

He told them that the postal worker had scanned the package before delivering it and it did indeed go to their house!

I’m sure they were surprised that the post office used this GPS tracking system but still they denied having seen our package.

So, we had to reorder the package and wait another two weeks.

Luckily it arrived yesterday and was delivered to the right house!

All this got me to thinking how we often think if we deny something it means it didn’t happen.

I have had students deny failing to turn in assignments or follow procedures, but the denial does not mean the incident did not occur.  It simply means they don’t want to own up to their mistakes.

I’ve had other students who have immediately taken responsibilities for their actions and rectified the situation.

We believe our neighbor had finally had enough of the postal worker delivering mail to the wrong address and simply pitched our package in the garbage, so when he said he didn’t have it, he didn’t.

And that’s what people do with Christ too, especially at this time of the year.

They deny Christmas to be the Holy day that it is and instead they seek self, gratification through gifting themselves and others, through parties and joyous celebrations of the “season” but not the “reason” for the season.

But denying Christ does not mean he does not exist.

Denying God’s gift to us of Christ does not mean we have a free pass to do whatever we want without consequences.

While people can deny Christ, they cannot deny that they are sinners in a fallen world.

While they can deny their need for a Savior, they cannot deny that God, has provided the Savior in the person of Jesus.

Denial does not change the truth.

For Heaven touched earth through Christ’s birth.

It is up to us whether we choose to accept God’s gift this Christmas.

May the gift of love, peace and joy be yours this Christmas and always!

 

“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.” John 15:9