Thursday, August 20, 2009

Do I Remember?

Camping in the rain may build character, but it’s not exactly fun. Especially when it happens to be cold outside … and you don’t have a tent.

Just about every year for vacation, we’d pile up in the station wagon or pickup and drive from Miami to New York. Non-stop. 1,300 miles in 24 hours. My dad would be the lone driver for these jaunts; He didn’t trust us to drive. Maybe his lack of trust had something to do with one of my older sisters (who shall remain nameless) who took over driving duties and sub-sequentially drove off the road and decapitated a mile marker off of I-95. Or maybe it was from his youngest son not being able to handle changing gears and chewing gum at the same time.

Sheesh, I was only 12 … or something …

We’d finally get up to the Big Apple, and my dad would collapse on my godparent’s sofa … recharging his batteries for the trip to New Hampshire the following day.
So my cousin Ricky and I (being the youngest guys and having to earn our “Indian feathers” as my godfather Adolfo put it) were under a tarp that was strung between some trees.

I secretly believe that Uncle Adolfo rigged it so we’d get soaked.

There was a patch of dry ground, but it was about the size of a watermelon, and needless to say, we didn’t get to sleep very well that night.

Regardless, we survived to tell the tale about our “happy” childhood.

Sometimes we look back at our lives with nostalgia. We remember laughter and tears. Struggles, failures, and triumphs join the parade. Painful memories will at times creep up as well. We remember how others have impacted our lives. We look at our relationships and marvel how over time they’ve blossomed or withered away.

There are still people I know from college and high school who I could call up and it’d be like we never left.

On the last night that Jesus spent with his disciples, He shared with them (again) that soon He would be joining His Father in heaven. And He told them that they and all those who would follow Him should remember what He was going to accomplish.

Reconnecting the human race with God.

This weekend, as The River gathers by the shore of Lake Pelham, we will take some time to remember what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

What does His death and resurrection mean to me?

Related Verses
Luke 22:14-20

When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table. Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”

Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”

He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.”

After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.


Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

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