This Place, This Time 

   I will soon be 72 years old; there is no question that most of my years are behind me.  I have no problem with that, but I pray fervently that I am ready whenever my Lord comes to take me.

   Looking back over the years I can’t help but wonder what brought me to this place and time.  I have made so many decisions in my life that, had I chosen differently, could have taken me other places.  I joined the Navy at 18 and left my hometown.  I married my childhood sweetheart and we shared a love that could have only come from God.  But what if I had chosen differently?

   Suppose I not decided to make the Navy a career, instead taking a different path?  Would I have remained in my hometown?  Would my wife and I have had our two daughters, but never have known the twin sons we adopted while stationed in the Philippines?

   I believe I was created for a purpose even though I may not be sure what that purpose is.  I believe that my life has been guided in many ways by God to help me realize and fulfill that purpose.  I have no doubt He could have done so in a different time and place, in a life far different from the one I’ve known, but I’m confident that I am where I am at this time in my life because He has led me here.  

   How else does someone from small town Kentucky end up in Ocala, Florida?  How does a person who didn’t know God in my youth find Him, join the Catholic Church, come to love Him, wanting more than anything to follow Him.  How does a heathen who did not know Him, desire above all else to spend eternity in His heavenly kingdom?

   I am at this place at this time because this is where I am intended to be.  In faith I believe God has led me here to serve the purpose for which He created me.