A few years back (actually, several years back) in the summer of 2002, my then girlfriend (now wife) and I took a road trip to the small town in south central Tennessee where I spent a few of my formative years. We moved back from being out West in Farmington, New Mexico for a year, closer to our Kentucky home. We spent five years in Tullahoma, and for some reason these are the years I find myself traveling back to in my mind. It's where I learned to ride a bike, play baseball, started soccer, spent a brief stint in gymnastics (while Mom took her Jazzercize class...it was the late 80's)...you get the picture. We moved away from this town back "home" to Kentucky when I was 8 years old, and although I'm sure my parents explained everything to me, I felt blindsided by our move as a child.
When Leslie & I got a chance to travel back, it was like unlocking a box of my childhood. It's funny how things change and yet stay the same. I drove by our old house, which hadn't seen the care and attention we'd given it. I saw the remnants of the giant magnolia tree in which I climbed all the way to the top, several times, before Mom had the wits scared out of her and had it cut down. The little Baptist church where I was baptized...which had grown to a much larger church, was still in the same location. I loved the opportunity to catch a peek into the life of one of my childhood friends while I was there. I guess everyone has these points where their life takes a turn, and you go back later to think "I wonder what my life would be like if..."
I heard a country song today by Miranda Lambert called "The House that Built Me," in which one of the lyrics says:
"I thought if I could touch this place or feel it,
this brokenness inside me might start healing.
Out here it's like I'm someone else,
I thought maybe I could find myself."
this brokenness inside me might start healing.
Out here it's like I'm someone else,
I thought maybe I could find myself."
I guess this is what I was hoping from that trip as well, like maybe if I could get back to that place I could course correct. Truth is, there wasn't a correction that needed to take place. I realized that day that things happen in our lives beyond our control, and some things hurt like you think you'll never heal...but the truth of the matter is this: He works all things together for the good of those that love Him, for those that are called according to His purpose. Today that verse seems ever more real, and yet ever more difficult to accept.
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