October 24th of 50 Years Ago

Lord God of Israel, thank you for this new day of life you have given to Kie and me.

This week a certain day in my personal history comes to mind, which is this day, because on October 24, 1973, I left home for Vancouver with the intention of making my own way in the world. Today, of course, marks 50 years since that day which forever altered the course of my life

 

As I reflect upon this particular date of 50 years earlier, I realize that while I began my journey on a train and travelled alone across Canada, I never went alone, because God never abandoned me nor forsook me. This I know now with certainty, but I wasn't sure then.

 

On that Wednesday when Mom was driving me from Pierrefonds to CP Rail’s Windsor Station in downtown Montreal, she handed me a pocket-sized 1974 calendar about the size of a credit card. On one side of course is 1974 in miniature, but on the other side is Isaiah 41:10. 

 

“Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; 

I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”

 

These 50 years later I still possess the card, and while the 1974 calendar became useless, and the world around me changed to become almost unrecognizable, and my grandparents, parents and loved ones were taken away, God’s word remains and has never changed. True to his words, God has always been with me. Even through the darkest days of my life, God has been with me, and likewise on the best days of my life, He has been with me.

 

Again, and now as an old man reflecting upon these 50 years gone, I have come to realize that I am a man who has been richly blessed by God, and yet so often lived as one griping about disappointments of unrealized aspirations; only because I failed on many days to recognize and acknowledge God’s goodness and favour upon me.

 

I have no idea what’s to come between now and Life's finish line, but I do know that the words of Isaiah 41:10 shall not change, nor shall all the other words from “In the beginning God…” through to “…Amen.”

With gratitude,

INJC

The Oddblock Station Agent