Redemption Road

 Lord I'd love to see my mom and daddy

And what I'd give to hold that boy of mine

I'd get down on my knees and say I'm sorry

If I could only go back one more time

~When you leave that way, Confederate Railroad~ 

Is there someone in your life who you long to make amends with?  Maybe someone close to you who you've had a difficult relationship with?  I can give you the standard answer which was given to me by a few friends of mine some time ago, just call the person.  Well, the trouble with that is sometimes fear and regret go hand in hand and, before we know it, time has stolen the opportunity from us.  I think of my situation with my dad, which was not the best to say the least.  I have a few cherished memories of my father during those times when alcohol was not in control of his life.  It is during these times that I remember a man who, despite his own troubled upbringing, took the time to hang out with his two boys.  This is how I would rather remember him honestly.  I don't want to recall that man any longer who left his family when his sons were still quite young.  That wasn't the man I knew as my dad.  The trouble is, he didn't know the man he was either.  I thought about this a lot as I traveled my own redemption road over the past few years.  I wonder if my dad ever regretted what he had done.  I like to think that he did.  My father passed away in 2018, two years after my mom did.  From the obituary and a few comments I believe that he lived a quiet life in his later years, working on his cabinetry hobby and walking his dog.  I wonder if there were days he thought of me.  I believe there were.  I also believe that he was traveling his own redemption road as I was mine.  The redemption road is never a easy one to travel.  All too often it is filled with regrets and dreams of what we could have done better.  Yet, God never brings us to a place where pain and regret are the only result.  I think of the apostle Paul and his own torrid history.  A man who once persecuted the early church.  Yet, God chose that moment to reveal in Saul His only Son {Galatians 1:15-16}.  I would think that if anyone had a excuse to walk that redemption road it would be Paul.  However, it is Paul who reveals to us the truth of Christ Jesus in us {Galatians 2:20}.  What was revealed to Paul will also be revealed to us in Gods timing.  

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.  Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3: 13 - 14 NKJV 

Did Paul ever think of that redemption road?  Maybe, but he also makes it clear in Philippians that he is now focused on forgetting things of old and pressing forward for those things which are ahead of him {Philippians 3:13}.  Paul knew that focusing on that which he did in his younger days was useless and unproductive.  What Paul was zeroing in on was his own future in Christ Jesus.  Good thing, too, because as he does this he provides us with invaluable insights into our own life in Christ.  A life where that redemption road is simply something I pass along the way to something far greater in my life.  For those who walk the redemption road there is ample time for regrets and sorrow over what might have been.  I don't have time for such things.  There is a oft used quote which states that "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."  I agree.  What have I learned from my own redemption road history?  Well, I learned that my father, as rough as he tried to portray himself, was simply a man who loved his kids.  These are the memories I hang on to.  I long to be like Paul, pushing aside the mistakes of the past to strive for what lies ahead in Jesus.  Far greater is my reward in Christ than what this world has to offer.  If you find yourself on the redemption road, keep in mind that pain goes hand in hand with it.  That is not the best which God has planned for us.  

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8: 1

~Scott~