[303 words]
Bill drove into his hometown for one more chore. His mother’s funeral had been a month earlier. His dad had passed away two years ago. Today, he had to sign final papers to sell his childhood home.
He arrived in town a little early, so he decided to take one last look at the house where he’d grown up. Inside, there were memories in every corner. He saw the doorframe where his dad had marked his growth each year. He stood in the kitchen where he had watched his mom bake cookies. He remembered the fun times as he and his parents would sit on the porch, drinking iced tea on a warm summer evening and greeting neighbors as they walked down the street in the front of the house.
After he locked up, Bill stepped off the porch and discovered something he hadn’t thought about for a very long time. It was the little sidewalk that his dad poured. He saw a child’s footprints. He remembered how his dad had lifted him and set him in the wet cement. His bare feet made an impression that had lasted all these years. Beside those prints, his dad had written: “may you never forget where these prints lead you to.”
Bill looked up. When standing in those footprints, he faced his childhood church. Tears filled Bill’s eyes. The only time he had been to church in years, was to attend his parents’ funerals. He remembered walking with his parents to church. Memories of the lessons of the Savior came to mind.
The next Sunday, Bill returned to the Lord. He knew his parents were in heaven and he wanted to join them some day. “The Lord is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
Larry Fitzgerald
Woodlawn church of Christ
Abilene, TX