After a year of planning,
accumulating SkyMiles for years and putting savings aside, Peggy and I
celebrated our forty-seventh anniversary by traveling to one of our "bucket
list" places, Ireland. We boarded a plane on Tuesday afternoon, May 13th,
arrived in Shannon, Ireland the next morning, where we picked up our rental car
and set off on our great adventure. For the next eight days, we traveled the
west and south coasts of Ireland, visiting such places as The Cliffs of Moher,
Dingle Peninsula, Ring of Kerry, and Ring of Berre. We also toured Muchross
House outside of Killarney, a sort of "Downton Abbey" experience, and
The Rock Of Cashel, as well as Waterford Crystal Factory, Glendalough, an
eighth century monastery community in the Wicklow Mountains as well as Trinity
College, in Dublin, home of The Book of Kells. We returned home on Friday, May
23rd. The country is so very beautiful, but the real treat was the Irish people.
They, collectively, are the nicest, kindest and most helpful people I have ever
encountered. We, Americans, could learn so much from them. I know I came away
convicted of how poorly I react to situations as compared with the Irish.
Now, driving on the left
side of the road was not real fun. However, I only experienced two or three
"near-death experiences" while behind the wheel. Peggy and I also had
some times of "intense fellowship" (read "discussions of
handling driving matters") during our almost seven hundred miles on the
roads, which were, at time, narrower than my driveway. Imagine the thrill of
encountering a eighteen wheeler or tour bus coming from the opposite direction.
What fun!
One of the most moving
experiences of the trip came from a visit to the Chester Beatty Museum in
Dublin Castle. Sir Chester Beatty was a wealthy Irish philanthropist, who
collected a great deal of Middle Eastern art and artifacts. The most impressive
of the artifacts was a small piece of papyrus from the Egyptian Coptic
Christian community on which a portion of the Gospel of John was printed. It
was carbon dated about 100A.D, which puts it very near the time of John's
writing his Gospel account on the island of Patmos. In addition, this puts it
as being copied within less than 100 years after Christ's life, death and
Resurrection! That is a much closer written account of someone's life than we
have of many other famous historical figures. Yet, there are sceptics that
doubt that Christ was a historical figure!
Well, that is enough of my
travel advebntures. As always when we travel, we love to come back to our
wonderful home and family and sleep in our own bed once again, feeling blessed
to enjoy that special time in our lives. We also realize that, with Christ as
the center of our lives together, he has allowed us to grow more deeply in love
with each other over these forty-seven years as the two of us have grown more
deeply in love with Him.
You know, it occurs to me
that all of us have a deep longing for home within us, a longing for a place of
rest and peace and joy. In Proverbs 3:11, Solomon says, God has set eternity in
the hearts of men." St. Augustine says, "Our hearts are restless
until they rest in Thee." I Peter refers to us believers as "strangers
and foreigners in the land." "For this world is not our home; we are
looking forward to our city in heaven, which is yet to come." Hebrews 13.
We may travel to other lands and have great adventures but at a certain time,
the feeling comes that it is time to go home. I have seen that in the lives of
people who are nearing the time of their departure from this world. They have a
desire and a readiness to "go home."
What a great hope we, as
Christians, have! We can look forward to a time when we can finally arrive at our
true home where we will be reunited with our loved ones who have gone on before
and come home to our Heavenly Father and our Dear Brother, Jesus Christ.
How do you feel about
returning home when you travel? Do you have a sense that there is something more
than these few years we have in this life? Do you have an assurance that God
has something more amazing waiting for you in the next life? You can, you know.
Let's talk.
Blessings to All of You,
my Dear Friends,