Places we love...

I just finished a wall project I've been working on for several months. I had the great idea to find vintage maps of our favorite places and frame them in a wall collage. Little did I know that finding maps from decades ago is not a task for the fainthearted.  I scoured thrift stores and antique stores. I searched EBay, Etsy and Pinterest.  Any Google map search was thoroughly exhausted.

Finally, a dealer at a local antique shop came through. He told me paper products do not make good booth products. Once handled, they tear and ruin. We talked about what I was trying to find and he promised to look through his home collection. I was excited when he called me back that same afternoon. I scored a 1911 vintage map atlas and a 1960 Upper Peninsula county road map for a reasonable price, given I was buying two books for only one page from each.

In the end, my hunt turned up an assortment of new and vintage maps, along with new and vintage frames and accessories. I am thrilled with the way our family room map collage looks.

 Reflecting on my family's favorite places made me realize the memories and vacation planning are almost as important as the actual places themselves.

Millecoquins Lake.

Negril.

Hilton Head Island.

Ocho Rios.

Wolverine.


All these places hold sweet memories.






But another place of distinction is simply, "HOME,"

Home. A place of love and acceptance. A place to feel safe and secure. The place we long to be after we've visited our favorite places. "Home" left me wondering. After we graduate from this world and leave our favorite place on earth, for which place will we long? We seldom talk about this place.

Heaven. Scripture tells us that this world is only our temporary home. So if this is my temporary home, am I planning for graduation day? Have I made the necessary arrangements for the place I long to be some day? My answer is a resounding, "Yes."

What about you? Jesus tells us the simplicity of following the road map and the way to make the arrangements in John 14, here from The Message:

14 1-4 “Don’t let this throw you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking.”
5 Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?”
6-7 Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”