THE TRIP OF ALL TRIPS

I have been on some amazing trips and have seen some incredible sights, but nothing compares to where I went and what I saw at the age of eleven, nothing. I’ve stood at the White House and day dreamed for hours. My feet have rested on the same steps of the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the famous “I Have A Dream” speech. I have been to the Washington Monument and traced my fingers over the names on the Vietnam Memorial. I have walked the halls of all the Smithsonians. My knees have felt the ground next to the grave of John F. Kennedy and I’ve stood by the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. But none of that compares to where I went and what I saw at the age of eleven, nothing. I have looked down on the Grand Canyon and up to the snow covered peaks of volcanic Mount Rainier. On a clear day I’ve gazed upon the Cascades and marveled at the Olympus Mountains. I’ve stood over Niagara Falls as well us under it; deafened by its roar and soaked by its mist. I’ve stood on our old war ships and toured our new ones. I’ve walked the sacred grounds of the Civil War. I have floated in the Pacific and waded in the Atlantic. But nothing compares to a trip I took when I was eleven, nothing.  At the age of eleven I walked down a church isle and knelt at Mount Calvary. I looked up and saw an old rugged cross. To my horror and shame all my sins - past, present, and future, were nailed. There I experienced forgiveness and release of all my sins, gone. The Man who created the tree upon which He would be crucified, with outstretched arms,  asked for my life. I gave it to him. My destiny was changed for eternity. I was eleven years old that day. Nothing compares to that trip, nothing.