Midway

The midway point.  That’s what it was called on our map.  My wife and I were celebrating our tenth anniversary with a trip to Lake Tahoe in the winter.  That was fifteen ago but seems nearer.  This particular day we spent on a snowmobile tour.  We couldn't really afford for each of us to drive our own snowmobile so we shared.  The trip was almost an afterthought for us, but turned out to be the highlight of our trip. 

After a couple of hours of riding across open fields, in and out of forest, and over hills with majestic viewpoints, we reached the midway point.  Our journey was halfway finished.  They had an outdoor kitchen with a few healthy snacks and several pots of hot water for hot chocolate or cider.  It was a great place to rest a bit before the final leg, warm up our insides… and reflect on the journey up to that point. 

On the edge of our outdoor kitchen was an observation area that looked down into the valley from which we had emerged.  We saw the open fields, the forests that provided natural tunnels, the brooks and streams that kept moving despite the cold.  And though we enjoyed each spot with its varied terrain and took full advantage of each special moment, it looked a little different from this vantage.  Like pieces of a puzzle that when put together simply pictured one terrific journey. 

My life recently passed the midway point.  I remember thinking that this point was a long ways away.  My oldest son Ryan just celebrated senior night as a member of the varsity football team and my wife and I ran onto the field with him before the last regular season home game.  When I was a senior in high school playing my last home football game we had a senior night.  We ran out onto the field as our names were individually announced alongside the name of our fathers who were our escorts.  As my dad and I jogged to the middle of the field I tried to really enjoy the moment.  I looked at my dad in his goose down jacket and his cowboy boots, sporting a few extra pounds and a receding hairline, and I distinctly remember thinking --- dad’s getting old! 

He was seven years younger than I am now. 

So here I am, in a reflective phase of my life.  It is very likely that there is now less of a trail ahead of me than behind.  And while the final leg of my journey promises to be exciting I can’t help viewing life in my rear view mirror.  When I do I notice that each part of this terrific trip has simply been one piece of the puzzle that when looked at together reveals the work of an artist.  Not that my life has been anything that some would call extraordinary, but it has been graced with these undeniably divinely shaped moments that I recognize so much better as I look back from my midway point.    

GOD

I am not sure when I first became aware of God.  I guess that would be like trying to remember when you began to eat solid food.  It just seems that God has always been distinctly present in my life even before I could articulate a belief or sing “Jesus Loves Me.”    I just don’t remember a time when I was not aware of him.

There is a story told about Helen Keller, about the first time her teacher told her about Jesus.  According to the story Helen Keller got very excited and communicated these words to her teacher; “I have always known him.”  Maybe we are born with some kind of innate understanding of our maker and with each passing day begin to know him personally. 

No, I can’t recall a moment when I first became aware of God.  But he has always been aware of me.  Even before I was born he seems to have been aware of me.  When God spoke to the prophet Jeremiah he said,  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…” (Jer. 1:5).  

What a profound thought!  That even before you were a gleam in your daddy’s eye, you were a gleam in the eye of your heavenly Father!  He exists in a way that is not restricted by the dimension of time and space he created, so his knowledge of you and I is beyond a concept of beginning and end.  The philosophy and science of this engages my mind in wonder.  But the spiritual reality of being that important to the maker of this vast universe touches my heart. 

King David sat out on the veranda of his palace and gazed up into to heavens.  He saw the moon and the stars, and gazed onto the infinite black recesses between the stars, and suddenly felt small.  David said, “What is man that you are mindful of him?”  (Psalm 8:4)  He is asking, “Among all of this majestic heavenly grandeur, who am I to you?” 

That question might be even more profound today.  Our science teaches us something that David did not know --- that there are billions of galaxies in what appears to be an ever-expanding universe.   There are exponentially more people on this tiny orb floating in space.  So, we keep getting smaller and smaller in this vast universe.  And yet, it is still proven true by what we learn and what we experience, that God knows us each so well that, according to Jesus, even the hairs on our heads are numbered.  Not that difficult to keep track of my hairs, but when I think about someone like Troy Polamalu, I am impressed. (Google him)  

And as I stand at this midway point of my life and look back down the trail I see some places where God surely must have been with me.  I will use the next few entries to share…