Bucket List
Although I haven’t seen the movie about the Bucket List and the guys who want to see all these cool places before they “kick the bucket” - it did get me thinking about some places I would love to see… Like Machu Pechu, in Peru and if all goes well this will be the year for the Galapagos… a dream!
However, I was reading today’s Travel section of the Record and several writers wrote their own bucket lists. What thrilled me was to note how absolutely blessed I am to have already been to many of those places and beyond that to have preached and taught in many places as well.
I’ve rode trains across Russia, China and Poland, and ate ungodly stuff in Burkina Faso and Burma. We feasted in Madrid, Buenos Aires and Paraguay, and struggled big time with the food in Turkey. Add in a few bugs, lizards and snakes and I still get skiddish.
What amazes me is that when I graduated from High School, I had only been out of the state of Colorado 3-4 or times… and now God has allowed so much. I also know that at the top of my list for sure is Jerusalem. Nothing does it for me like praying at the Wailing Wall and crying at Gordon’s Calvary. Hopefully next spring (09)we can all go do it again… that’s the plan.
However, I have also loved my climbs up the Great Wall in China, The Great Pyramid’s in Egypt; Chitzanitza, Mexico, the Angkor Wat in Cambodia and the incline to the Acropolis in Greece. I have swam in the Dead Sea, the mineral waters of Turkey, and the crystal waters of the Mediteranean.
Donna and I have kissed on top of the Eifel Tower, on the Gondola ride in Venice, and in the Jeepney in Manila. We have smoldered in Thailand, Korea, and Malaysia. We have wept in Indonesia at the Tsunami, with the orphans in Romania, and at the darkness of Calcutta.
We soared with the thrills of going on safari with 25 friends in Tanzania and the wonder of Nepal and flying over Everest. We laughed with friends and drank coffee in Santorini, Rome, Prague and Bejing, and ate chocolate in Brussels, Berlin and Amsterdam.
I’ve ministered with Jason in Bangladesh, John in China, and Christy in Guatemala… how thrilling is that!
There are so many other places and people - most of all our amazing missionaries - wow, it’s a thrill to recount. Best of all is the blessing of memories. Thank God 35 years ago a dear mentor encouraged us to spend our money on memories more than stuff. Great advise, I must admit.
My bucket runneth over!
