I’m sitting in our hotel room as I write this, listening to the traffic whiz by on nearby Highway 99 and thinking, I love California; I hate California. (That’s where we were the past few days when I was offline.)
I love California because my son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons are here. When we are with them we get to do all those things that “near-by” grandparents get to do, things like baseball games, speech meets, plays, and just hanging out. The time flies by and too soon we are heading back to Idaho.
I hate California because there is traffic everywhere, all the time. It never stops. Every place is busy. The gas prices now are through the roof. We paid $4.15/gallon at one point!
Maybe I just don’t feel at home in California anymore, which sounds odd to me since I lived there from 1955 to 1993. I graduated from high school in California and met my husband (of now 52 years) there. Our three children were born and raised there. So, there is much of California with which I am familiar. But…it is evident that California has changed a lot since I left. My conservative views and lifestyle are probably not as welcome as they once were.
I was thinking this morning about how God loves this world. Even though it is not the perfect Garden He created, even though sin and judgment fell upon it with mankind’s rebellion, even though His holiness lifestyle is not often welcomed, He still loves it…and us. Too often we read John 3:16-17 without giving it the attention it deserves. Maybe we should focus on it today as we lead up to Resurrection Sunday.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
I must admit, I still love California, maybe more than I am willing to admit!
