Ups, Downs, and All Arounds: Part 2

Family is truly an amazing thing. It's spectacular to think that we are placed with people to grow up with, people whom we have literally known our entire lives. We're given parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins to love and serve throughout our lives. We're given the opportunity to watch them grow and develop, to watch them change and mature. The family is a good that God has given us so that we might see what it's like when persons truly know and love each other. And we must come to know what this is like, so that we might come to know the Triune God.

In today's modern world, though, it has become the norm for families to live thousands of miles apart. In the past, it was more traditional for marriages to occur between a man and a woman of a local community. By "marrying local," as it were, the large majority of people continued to live around their family. However, modern means of transportation have largely changed that. Today, people move around very easily and often end up far from families. Don't get me wrong, without modern transportation I couldn't have gone to Christendom, and a small town boy from Illinois might not have met the woman of his dreams from Michigan! I simply wish to point out that while modern transportation has made life easier in some ways, it has also made it harder.

Thus, on the one hand, our trip up to New Hampshire was only made possible by modern transportation. On the other hand, though, the trip was also made necessary by the willingness to live far apart that modern transportation tends to engender.  It's interesting how the same thing can bring so many blessings and yet also so many difficulties.

In the end, though, the trip up to New Hampshire was an incredible blessing. We were able to spend 3 full days with Freddie, Nicole, and the kids, even after the fiasco of the ride up. Much of this time was spent in conversation - in beautiful reflections, jokes, stories and even a few debates. Most mornings we were able to sit around leisurely in the kitchen and just talk. The afternoons were spent visiting other family, friends in the area, and even traveling to Liz's childhood home. This hour long trip out to Tilton and Hill, NH was particularly fun. When your married, it's an incredible blessing to be able to glimpse a part of your spouse's life that occurred years before the two of you had ever met. You hear stories, of course, about those places. As you become a member of your spouse's family you're bound to hear a large number of stories. So, for me to actually see where these stories happened was a great blessing.

The whole time we were up there, it really struck me what beautiful families God has placed in Liz and I's life. Many families have serious divisions in them, and I pray for these families with my whole heart. It was not meant to be so. But in Liz and I's case, we realized that though we may be far from some of our family, they are still truly family. We don't stop being a family because of distance. We're too close to them. And it fills me with joy to think that, God-willing, one day we'll all be present together in from of Him Who Is, and we'll know each other in a more true light. Until then, trips to New Hampshire, Michigan, Illinois and just down the road in Virginia remain glimpses of the life to come.