May 2 Well, here we are. Off to the airport. Fantastic time visiting my sister and hubby in Atlanta. How wonderful it is to spend time with others who are believers. No awkwardness of conversation. We are loaded up like camels for the journey but it is all good!
First Time on Marta!
Our kids moved to Italy in January of 2016, taking our precious grandson with them (of course). It has been quite the adventure but with the aid of FaceTime (thanks to Apple phones), and a few visits from our daughter-in-law and grandson and son (mostly due to deaths in the family), we have been able to stay in their lives. Thank God for the internet! But it was our hope that we would be able to make a trip to their current home and see the country where our next grandchild will be born a citizen.
The planning started not long after they departed the USA. I was able to find reasonably priced airline tickets to Venice. Next to plan adventures for Ron and me, some with them and some alone (who needs to Rome multiple times?). By January of this year, all the arrangements were made for our great adventure. What follows post by post is our tale of travel.
5/1/17
The tickets are in our hands. American money swapped for Euros. Reservations made for tours and train tickets. AirBNBs and hotels reserved. Suitcases packed and clothes laid out. This bucket trip is going to happen. Hope I can blog as I go. Venice, Rome and Florence here we come! But even more important, Jesse, Paige and Judah – we will see you in a couple of days! Ciao!
As I look over the fields from my office window, spring is blooming everywhere. The redbuds are in full display, their fuchsia petals enhanced by the still brown limbs of trees not fully awakened. Piles of old hay rolls, never claimed to nourish a hungry animal, lie rotting in the middle of the field. Everything that nature reveals, has an underlying story for me. The Bradford pears that bloomed last week in the neighborhood and looked so beautiful, are preparing to cast their deadly spawn which will fill my fields with nasty prickly sprouts that I won’t be able to eradicate. I am in the process of preparing my garden plots for the seeds and plants that will bear fruit in the fall. Grass is already overtaking the sidewalks. Peach flowers are giving way to buds that will form the fruit of summer. Deer and rabbits are looking for the tender plants they know will soon form a feast after winter’s long sleep.
So many stories lie before me, so many analogies.
I retired. Yes, it’s only been 3 months. But a lot has happened in these 3 months. I’ve gone through a couple of viral illnesses, said goodbye to my youngest son who moved overseas, opened a “retirement business,” started a fun job working for a company I believe in, and now dealing with my father’s impending death. Yes, a lot has happened.
I was blessed to be able to leave my job in time to spend some time with my son and his family before they left for Italy for 3 years. I was blessed to have enough savings to carry us through until my retirement funds could kick in. I was blessed to have time to write for my new endeavor – Hope Breastfeeding Support – and learn how to manage my website. I’m learning that, yes, old dogs can learn new tricks. I’ve been blessed to have a couple of clients in that endeavor.
But I’m still not settled in my path. I’m not sure if my “business” will succeed – or that I even want it to. The stress and responsibility of being “it” for my clients is hard. I find it hard to gracefully back out when they still have needs – and I have gone far beyond the limits I set up. And with this continuing vacillation in my soul, it’s hard for me to commit to other opportunities. I hate to say no, but I don’t want to say yes and not be able to keep my promises.
Retirement is both easier and harder than I thought. There are more opportunities than I expected, but I find that aging has taken away some of my stamina. My prayer is that I will stay close to God and listen to His voice wherever He may lead.
A few years ago, I was in a conversation with my dad and asked him a hard question. “If the angels, who knew and enjoyed the wonders of Heaven and life with God, sinned and lost their place in Heaven by rebelling against God, how do we know that a few thousand years after we get to Heaven, that we won’t do the same?”
Angels were created by God to be His messengers and ministers. Some of them serve their purpose by praising God on His throne. Others serve His purposes by interacting with humans – to protect, convey messages, etc. Angels existed before God created the earth and mankind. They have freewill. But they were created as part of God’s plan for the creation and redemption of mankind. God did not send Jesus to redeem angels, only mankind.
The most important reason we rest secure in our salvation for eternity is the simplest and most logical one: the work of Jesus Christ. If Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient, there is nothing more to be done to procure salvation. Period. If we deny this sacrifice, refuse to accept that what he has purchased with his own blood was enough, then we have no other recourse and only fear. The only thing left to “do” after receiving Christ’s gift of salvation is to walk in it. If we are not walking in that gift, then perhaps we haven’t received it. Make it right, then. Can we un-choose Christ’s gift? Perhaps – but there is no other way to eternal life.
I believe that one of the reasons that we can trust in our salvation for eternity is the experiences we go through in this life. We experience the true ugliness of sin and its aftereffects. When we place our faith in Christ, we are turning away from our own sufficiency and turning towards God’s sufficiency. We receive what we can’t understand and what we can’t manufacture – God’s faithfulness. Every choice we make to trust God as we see the reality of sin’s effects in this life, further seals our forever choices to continue to trust in Him. In heaven and later on the new earth, we will be constantly grateful for the freedom from sin’s effects and burdens. Our life’s experiences of suffering and victory will be part of the glorious story in God’s Book of Life.
I may not be doctrinally correct in what I am thinking, but it is an interesting way to look at eternal security.
2 a: belief and trust in and loyalty to God : belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b: firm belief in something for which there is no proof: complete trust
From Dictionary.com
2. belief that is not based on proof:
3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion:
4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.:
