In May of 1967 I left my hometown on a bus headed to Memphis. My mom had driven me to the bus station and when we arrived there weren’t any close parking places. I asked mom to let me out because the bus was about to leave. I told her I loved her and would see her soon.
This was a time when I was leaving home for good but it had not registered to me that this was happening. On the other hand my mom realized what was happening and hurriedly found a parking spot and walked back to insure that she hugged my neck. She could see the future much more than I could and realized that I wasn’t going to be gone just a few days.
On this date I was reporting for active duty in the Air Force. Being much younger and less focused on what was going on I thought I would be gone six weeks and then back home. I had never been gone from home that long in my entire life.
J. Oswald Sanders once said, “Eyes that look are common; eyes that see are rare.” I was 21 years old and still a kid even though I had been away to college but only for a few days at a time. It is not hard to go away when you realize that you can go home at any time you want to.
The prophet Jeremiah reminds us every day about what tomorrow will bring. He tells us in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Even though I was a Christian I knew the Lord was guiding me in everything that I was doing I still did not see that I was leaving the home of my mother and father and going into the world on my own.
My mother knew this having seen her three oldest children leave home. My sister left when she married and my older two brothers left when they joined the military. One was gone for a few weeks and then back to my hometown. He joined the Army National Guard. My other brother joined the Navy and, as I was doing, left home for good. Mom knew that I was leaving for good and she could see it and I couldn’t.
She relied on the Lord to take care of us. She and my dad raised us in a Christian home and taught us to be self-sufficient. They taught us right from wrong in the ways of the world and taught us that Jesus was our Lord and Savior and we should always look to Him for guidance no matter where we were or what we were doing. My mom knew that I had accepted Christ as my Savior at a young age and loved going to church.
On this bright sunny day in May my mom could see that I was leaving home for good and would eventually find my way into the world. She saw this and I didn’t even though I had a four year commitment. She was right. I was looking at the situation and she was seeing it as it was.
GARY ANDREWS' devotional appears each week on the Church Pages of your Clarksdale Press Register. You can contact him at GARY@gadevotionals.com
