In One Day

On a single day, at one point in time, a lifetime of schooling comes to a sudden halt. Just like that, it is finished. Assignments, lessons, and exams are all completed. Juries, finals, and recitals are done and gone, and the coveted degree has been earned and received. The rented apartment room that was for so long a cozy home now lies empty, somewhat cleaned and ready for the next talented sojourner.

So we close the book on all that comes and goes with classrooms: the studying, the all-nighters, the activities, the great concerts, and all those cherished memories that go with us forever. They are now already part of the past, still painfully vivid and fresh.

We thought this day would never really arrive. Almost 23 years ago life was not anything about closure. Today was way out there in the future somewhere, even a bit burdensome, as college costs were growing ever larger. But the Lord provided as we had always heard. The money found its way to the school one way or another, and it was absolutely worth it all.

The final drive home today was a loud one, not just for the down pouring rain outside, but for the internal echoes that will not be silent of all the great music, people and close friends of the last four years. Graduation has come and gone.

The page turns quickly however, for in just five days the scene changes once more. Home which for so long was Cincinnati, and then Cleveland, will now become Atlanta. The classroom will be replaced by the concert stage, as that's where it was headed after all. It will be life in a much different lane, and the first page in a completely new book. But adjusting will happen as it always does.

We look back with enormous gratefulness at God's hand of blessings at every turn. Certainly a favorite Bible verse has proven true. "For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11)

Welcome home, Wes. Well done! May God continue to direct you all the days of your life.