1/16/12

The center of the world







I have never seen this place and have no idea of where it is, but that it is "farm country" is obvious.  By the convergence of roads, I would say that it is DEEP in farm country.  And just seeing this picture brings a flood of memories from my childhood in upstate New York.  Somehow Melrose, New York seemed to be the center of the universe for me then and in May it was a wonderful place to live!!!  Both it and myself have changed over the past 50 years, but the memory of that pastoral beauty still remains.  No matter where I live, where I grew up will always be "home" and yet somehow different, but still HOME.  As you grow up, your world expands and for me that involved living in several states, in all kinds of communities, with a family of my own.  Time went by and each one of those new places feel like a "second home", so "home" has a much wider meaning now, but nothing can replace where I started, because it is my "first" home.  We all have starting places, somewhere we begin and for me, it was not just a place it was a person.  Living is more than just existing in space, it is conceptualizing life and no one has taught me more about living than Jesus.  The apostle Paul puts it this way...
 
WEB: Hebrews Chapter 1
[1] God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, [2] has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds. [3] His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself made purification for our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

As I grew up, I began to understand right from wrong.  Good and bad became more than praise or punishment; they became concepts and I was their interpreter!!!  It was only when I began to know Jesus that I really started to understand these things.  He showed me truth by both concept and example and that was something I had never seen before.  After awhile, I realized that everything really did revolve around him and that is just as God intended it.  It took literally thousands of years to work out the details, but God has made himself known through Jesus in a way that I can understand.  Its like I lived in my little center of the world (the home in the picture) and saw someone standing at the four corners of everything, who knew everything.  All I had to do was go out and meet him and life would change.  I have; it did!!!  Perhaps, if you look closely at the picture, you might see someone too... and imagine the possibilities!!!