Waiting To Arrive

Some of the greatest joys and the darkest sorrows are found in the same place. You can see both of these emotions at any airport, anywhere in the world. And as you might know, I have spent lots of time in many different airports.
It’s such fun to sit in the arrival area. Don’t tell my wife, but I like showing up earlier then I need to, just so I can savor in my soul the joy some people exhibit when someone comes through the security door and their eyes meet. I only pray that it could be the same at all of our church doors. Arriving brings joy that wells up in the heart. It can do nothing else but overflows and come out in some form of physical display of love and affection. We see the demonstration of it, be it tears that drench a broad smile, or that special smile and that warm embrace. Lucky for all us, these feelings are not restricted to any age or nationality. No one apologizes for their emotional outburst. It is a genuine outpouring of love and caring. The wonderful part of these experience is I have felt those same feelings. What joy and excitement.
Tampa’s airport is somewhat different then most other airports you may have been to. What you are greeted with there is, they have two arrival gates, one on each side of a single departure gate. If you sit long enough, you will witness two dissimilar emotions, all within a few feet of each other.
Unlike the joy on the outer two gates, some sorrow is felt in between. And maybe in someway that is how life is. I don’t think the airport designers even thought of this as they planned the developing of this airport. Many times I have seen other tears, and experienced first hand the difficulty of saying our adieu. Maybe life with its sorrows needs to be enveloped in the surrounding joy. Life possesses both the tear of a last touch, and many times, a smile of a fresh embrace. Again, no one apologizes for their emotions. It’s part of living and loving.
Most people miss a third emotion. Somewhere and some times, there is the sadness of not being greeted at all. Occasionally someone comes through the door expecting to see someone waiting for them and there is no familiar face to accept their smile. They stand for a moment or two, look around and around and then walk off into the crowd of fair wells and hellos. In many cases, the sullen face changes to joy when the one they love arrives late to pick them up. But sometimes, sometimes, a heavy heart lets us know that someone is lonely and alone in this great big world.
A long time ago I read a cute story about some missionaries coming home after a life time of service only to arrive at the gate with no one there to greet them. The story ends by saying, Don’t worry about arriving home with no one to greet you at the airport, or a shipyard, because, we are not home yet.
We are not home yet, but one day, Jesus will meet us as we finally arrive home. What joy we will experience. What a home coming we will have. What a place our churches can and should be, when they supply to the world a place of arrival and a place to depart from as Christ prepares a place for us all.
Something to think about.
Rob

Some Place To Go

I have places that I love to be. You have them as well. Not necessarily places, like, somewhere to visit or take a vacation to. My special place is in the quiet of an early morning. A morning just like today. It was very quiet when I read those three dim red numbers: four, four, five. All the time I lay there, I could not hear one thing on the street below my bedroom window. After a few short minutes I rose from the warmth of the last few hours and placed my feet on the cool wood floor. It was evident through one of the windows that the night still held its grip. There was no hint of sun light off to the north east. Not even one chirp of some song sparrows somewhere in a distant tree. It was dark and the thick clouds had even blacked out any of the light from the moon that was indeed up there. I love the early morning with its quiet stillness. Back in June, the sun would have been showing itself by now, but not today. Not this late in the summer.
After getting up and dressing, I opened the rest of the blinds to reveal even more of the still, quiet street below. From the street light I could see a hint of the breeze that moved the leaves and branches as they cast their shadows against the windows. I could tell that it was going to be a beautiful morning.
The only noise to brake the silence came from the creaking of the stair treads as I descended them one bare foot at a time. Making my way toward the back door, I walking across the parlor carpet, stopping once just long enough to make the sound of a single click of the tri-light floor lamp. Soon another click broke the silence as I turned the deadbolt and another click from the door lock as I unbolted the door before opening it wide. For what seemed to be a long space of time, I stood there breathing in the morning air and feeling the breeze waft over my face.
It was so quiet. Something inside of me, calling me onward as I stepped outside into the crisp cool air. The movement of the door, turned on the yard light and I saw it was clear to continue on my way. The lights’ beam reassured me that I was not venturing outside to inter up the night scrounging of our neighbourhood nocturnal animals. I moved out and around the corner of the house and down the drive.
It was there that I stood for some time just allowing myself to be enveloped in the quiet stillness of this morning. Looking around at the quiet street, there were no cars, no people, just a line of street lights burning bright in the black early morning. There I stood, in my special place, motionless, gently smiling as I thought I heard the voice of God blowing through the trees saying to me, “Be still and know that I am God.” And I was.
Something to think about on a still, quiet, early morning
Rob

Just One More Play

Have you ever been around someone who is so excited about something, and it wears off on you? I have. Many times. But this last week I had opportunity to discover it again. My granddaughter is attending day camp for two weeks. I know what your saying. Who wouldn’t be excited about camp. Let me just say, it’s not your ordinary every day camp. There is no sun and sand. No boats or water, archery or ponies anywhere.
Are you ready sports fans? It’s Shakespeare Camp. Yes, you are reading it right. She goes every day for two weeks to a warm old office building right down town Hamilton with the restored Lister Block just steps away, to learn about Shakespeare and to be involved in one of his plays. This is her third year and she is excited. A few days this week I volunteered to pick her up and I could feel the excitement. It’s not my thing but it’s hers.
The most exciting four o’clock pick up was the day she received her lines for the play she is going to be in this coming Friday. Her eyes were lit up and you saw the enthusiasm in the way she danced out of the building and jumped in the back seat. She was eager and ready to get down to it.
After letting us know the play, she asked if I would help her learn her lines. Really? And being the most awesome grandfather a child could ever have, I agreed to help. We were no sooner in the house then we started. I could not hold my smile in as we sat and went through the lines and she began the process of taking those words and committing them to memory. And in the process, I know some of them as well. “We begin in Athens, in a time before . . . ”
The whole process took me back to a time long ago, when I too was in stage plays at school. There were the Mikado, Bye Bye Birdie, Calamity Jane and the like. And I smiled some more and became excited with her.
After we went to bed that night, I lay there thinking about learning lines, and thought about the bible verses I learned as well so many years ago. I thought of the sword drills at young peoples, and read scripture in church. Together we can all recite John 3:16. “For God . . . “ But unlike the words of a play, they are words that changed our heart forever. It goes beyond a nice story. It’s learning the lines that change our lives forever. As I lay there, my last thought before drifting off to sleep was, -Are we still as excited about the lines in our bibles that once captured our hearts and lives? and do we desire to live the lines rather then just learning them and act?
Something to think about.
Rob

Before Time Slips Away

Did you plan ahead this summer? Just think, we are half way threw our Ontario summer. We have gone through five weeks of summer so far and it was one hot time. And just like every other time period, we have half the people praising it and half the people complaining. I sometimes wonder if you can please everyone. Did Abraham Lincoln say something about not being able to “please all the people all the time?” Just this morning my neighbour said to me at 9:30, “This is perfect weather.” He meant at 9:30 not three hours later when the sun was high as the humidity.
I did some planning this spring. I started planning a grass cutting schedule and then it stopped raining. One thing I don’t need to do. We also planned the planting of annuals. Well, we finally got them in a couple of weeks late, just after the last rainfall if I remember correctly. Now, some have made it and some didn’t. Second thing I don’t have to do anymore, water.
Now for the really scary part about our Ontario summer. Lots of people, who, way back in April, started planning for the summer vacation and all the wonderful things they could do. Today, they are still working the plan. These individuals are no doubt, in full swing, preparing for school. I know! One person I know, who will go nameless, has finished her Sept. school shopping. As I walked around some stores last week I discovered to my horror, that many of the stores had already cleared out the summer stuff and were starting to stock the shelves with, ready for it, “Back to School” items. Just the words every child in Ontario wants to hear. Well, almost every parent wants to hear. Maybe my friend is in a hurry? ? ?
All kidding aside. To some degree, we are all a bunch of planners, aren’t we? For the most part, it’s a good thing. Nothing can sneak up on us without us being aware. In the past we had day planners and wall calendars. Our computers now tell us what is coming up and what we have to prepare for. My computer also tells me a day ahead when birthdays are. And that is something indispensable for men who are prone to forget anniversaries.
Planning ahead can also keep us focused on what is important. I remember a long time ago when I didn’t. In school I seldom planned ahead for the inevitable exam. So I suffered the consequences. Either I had little sleep the night before or low grades. And sometimes both. I think the same is true in our faith. We all plan to grow in our faith and spend time with Jesus, but time gets away and “stuff” gets in the way. We really did plan for time with God. To read our Bibles and think about what we just read. We might also think that the summer is just slipping away on us. We can change all this. It’s not too late. There might just be a little time tonight to work the plan. After all, God had lots of time to meet with us whenever we can and wherever we are. That is, before time slips away. Don’t let it happen again today.
Something to think about.
Rob