By Pastor Leah Fintel Krotz, Trinity Lutheran Church, Bruning
I'm writing this as I am somewhat frantically trying to finish preparing for an out-of-town trip to Indiana to visit our son and his family, and especially our new little granddaughter, Eleanor Joan, who will be baptized on Sunday. I’m trying to think of everything that needs to be done at the church and also at home, where a neighbor will be taking care of chores and watering the gardens while we’re gone.
Traveling is always an adventure, and it seems like there is so much to do before going and after you get back that you are exhausted just thinking about it. There's packing all the clothes everyone might need and a few extras just in case, so that you're prepared for church and going out but also hanging around the house and even working out in the yard, if need be!
Then there's preparing produce from the garden to share, frozen meals to help out, a couple of things that relatives forgot at our house the last time they were with us, snacks and drinks for the ten-and-a-half hour drive, and on it goes. Of course, all of this is nothing compared to the involved packing we did for our trip to Uganda a few years ago.
It makes me thankful that I don't need to pack anything for the most important journey I'll take in my life. As the old saying goes, you never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul! When I journey home to be with my Savior, whenever that may be, I don't need to do a thing or bring a thing. He has already done everything for me and asks nothing of me in return except to cling to him with all my heart. What a joyous blessing to know that I am not responsible for saving myself. And neither are you!
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” -Ephesians 2:8-9
