Welcome back! We are on an “Advent Adventure” traveling into the rainforests of Mexico.
Upon arriving in the town of Las Casas, there were a lot of “lasts” before I flew into our campsite in la selva: writing a last note to my parents, enjoying a final hot shower, flushing a toilet, and sipping one more glass of ice-cold Coke.
Plenty of “firsts” lay ahead: learning to butcher a cow, soldering a pipe joint, making a wooden stool, and giving injections in first aid class, to name a few.
Before Jesus left Heaven, did he feel the same way? Did he take one final look around at all the glory of God’s throne? Did he say goodbye to Michael and Gabriel and other angels? Did he take one last bite of manna before he left to enter the darkness of Mary’s womb?
He too faced lots of firsts: the first time he saw Mary’s face, the first time he tasted challah bread or gefilte fish, the first time he hammered a nail in Joseph’s shop.
St. Paul understood transitions. In Phil. 3, he left behind all his past status symbols and then wrote, “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.”
Any time we travel to a foreign place, there are things we leave behind and new “firsts” to experience. What is one thing you have “left behind” and what is one new experience you found in Christ?
