Of Change and constancy

I took a walk down memory lane yesterday.

After working with Jonathan and Adam, Jonathan and I drove through Saginaw.

It's only been two and a half years since the move, but at first glance, it felt as if I'd never lived 16 years of my life there at all.

The local grocery store has been converted into a school "Development Center," there's a Recreational Facility in what used to be a field, the lone evergreen tree that anonymous personas would decorate for Christmas and Easter is no longer standing in that field, there's a large church in the pasture I used to do "trail rides" in, and there's a school, apartments, and housing developments along the road that used to be over-shadowed by tall, majestic, and beautiful trees.



First house on the right....

We drove by our house, and realized that much hadn't changed. Our trees were a bit bigger, but it looked as though we could still be living there.



Turn left by the green caboose...

The green caboose in the park is still the same, looking a bit older, perhaps, but still serving as a landmark to those who give directions the same way I do.

And the library. Because it was Easter weekend, they were closed, so I couldn't go in and look around...but judging from the limited view through the front doors, there had been some minor changes, but overall, nothing that would make me wonder if I were in the right place.

Heh. I even tried to pull out of the parking lot through the entrance in the face of the "DO NOT ENTER" signs. *sheepish grin*

Much like seeing old and dear friends after a long absence.

You never step in the same river twice

As we turned to go home, though, I was struck with the feeling that well, you never step in the same river twice, basically.

Things like that often seem the same, but there were definitely signs of age painted all over the old caboose, our old house was beginning to blend in with the houses that were thirty years old, and the new "development center", despite a new facing, used the old rock exterior on the store, and it gave it a strange old, yet new look.

I guess the idea is that the river might be in the same bed, but trying to find that same niche you once fit in is impossible.

And I just realized this sounds very sad and depressive, almost. Melancholic, at the very least.

Yet, I find a kind of comfort in knowing that there's no going back. It forces me to look ahead to the future.

My first pastor used to say that a farmer can't plow straight while looking back over his shoulder, and a driver can't stay on the road by looking in the rearview mirror. There's nothing to be done about the past; tis best to find the good, learn from the mistakes, and always press on.

I take heart from Paul. You know, it must have been a dizzying switch for him to at one moment be the most ardent persecutor of the church, and then in the next, to be standing in front of the Pharisees, condemned for the same crimes he had persecuted others for.

Yet, his attitude is one that I admire...he kept a forward focus, and never let his circumstances, or his past pull him down.

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.