Parades and Our People

 

This week is fair week in our county. It’s our fourth summer to live in this general area and go to the 4H fair parade. I remember the first year we went. We sat with Jonathan and Julie (as we do every year), and as the floats floated by, Julie would say hi to kids from the church, and I wondered if I would ever learn all their names.

                Last night we sat in the same yard of friends, with Jonathan and Julie, and I knew the names! I recognized people. I recognized the names of businesses and clubs that went by. It might seem silly for something like a parade to be a marker of home, but for me, it was.

                Starting in 2020, the Lord took us on such a journey that carried us from one home to the next to the next to the next. New towns. New churches. New jobs. New houses. New friends. New, new, new.

                And now the familiar is taking root. The Lord has given us a place to land and stay. He’s given us friends and familiar faces. He’s given us routines and traditions – like 4H fair parades.

                I know parade pictures are probably like fireworks pictures: we’ve all seen them, and unless you’re there and know the people, they probably don’t mean much to you. But these pictures represent home and friendship, and I celebrate that today.