SO FAST

We had been married for about three years.  We were on the road, traveling from church to church presenting our burden and God’s call on our lives for the country of Bulgaria.

Deputation is a blessing, but it is no walk in the park.  It can be as mentally draining as it is physically.  Preaching, singing, answering questions; driving, finding hotels, lugging luggage; anticipating a move to a foreign country while simultaneously being uprooted from everything you have known.

And we were 23 and 21 with two little ones – 18 months and a newborn.

It was a typical Tuesday morning or something.  We were on the road, far from home, foraging for grub at a Bob Evans or something.

We talked about our future.  About the church we had just been at.  About the church we were about to go to.  All the while feeding the open mouths of our two little boys.  We talked about friends.  We talked about family.  We talked about Bob’s BLT.

Nothing spectacular.  We were simply recooperating from being in the limelight and charging up for our next meeting where we would meet a totally new pastor in a totally new church.  I am not complaining.  It was fun, but it was also taxing.  That’s fine.

As we sat there, we noticed an older couple in their eighties shuffling toward us.  Gray hair.  Drooped shoulders.  Wrinkled skin.  Two people who were coming down the home stretch of their life, successfully it appeared.  They greeted us with smiles and the lady gave us a line of advice that we have referenced on an almost weekly basis since then:

“Enjoy them because before you know it, they will be gone!”

Santino turns 16 this year.  Rocco just turned 14.  That was yesterday when we sat at that little Bob Evans.  Wasn’t it yesterday?

Time marches on.  We have two little new ones.  Sonny will be two next week.  He lights up our lives.  Michael will be four months old.  Today an old specter from the past walked up to my table where I’m drinking a tea:

“Enjoy them because before you know it, they will be gone!”

We have passed that advice on as much as any other advice we have ever given.  I am going to enjoy them today…