Many of us have stories of an old-fashioned family trip. I certainly remember a few. My father would arrive home from work, walking the 2 mile one-way trip. We would enjoy a long summer day by heading into the country about 4:30 with our packed picnic.

These were days before satellite radio or FM radio. So we sang songs like, “Little Bunny Foo-Foo” or “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain When She Comes.”   We were maybe an hour from home and my sister and I were just getting into the Alphabet Road Game, where we looked for an object that began with the next letter of the alphabet. But not my dad—for him he was on a mission. He had this habit of pulling the car off the road without warning and announce, “We’re here!” Usually, there was nothing around but a sign on a post. We all got out of the car and walked to the historic marker only to read: “On this spot in 1856 the town of Horseheads was founded.”

“That was interesting,” dad announced as we returned to the car. Putting the vehicle in gear, he would ease back onto the highway and tells us all he had read on the marker. Most of the time my sister and I didn’t care: that was history and we were in a hurry for a picnic. Dad, though, was quite interested to discover who had traveled the road before us and what had happened to them along the way. The longer I travel the pilgrim road, the more I realize that such curiosity is a rare and important gift.

All of us have our own historical markers: The elementary school that was always a home away from home or the spot you got your first skinned knee. Or perhaps it was the place you had your first kiss.  Or maybe even a favorite church! Places in our past seems like holy geography: “On this spot something happened.”

That we should mark such a place for all future generations is instructive. This is what the psalmist does in Psalm 132. But the psalmist also reminds us we also need a vision of the future. If one lives in the past and wants to stay put, one is no better than a statue.

We need roots in the past as well as a vision for the future.

See you in Church,