Spring Break: Paradise Lost and Found and Lost but Can be Found

Alan has faithfully taken the kids & me to Florida with him this winter when he’s had to go down for conferences. The first time it was 02°F, which was intensely cold even for Michiganders, but it was rainy, sleety, and still miserably cold the night we left last week to fly down for a medical meeting that happily coincided   with both Steve and Joel’s spring breaks. What a contrast! Snowbanks to snowy white irises after a simple 2.5 hour flight…from the inhospitable cold of the North to the warmth and light of grand Floridian elegance and beauty.While Alan toughed it out at the meetings all day, Stephen, Joel, and I soaked up  the sunshine and ambiance of our paradisal retreat. Thankfully,after the conference ended, Alan was able to kick back and relax too! We headed over to delight in the soothing surf of the Atlantic shoreline,hike along the beaches with the birds, play in the sand, and sit around sunning ourselves like lazy birds having the time of our lives! And, did I mention food? I cooked most of our meals at home, but the food in “paradise” is absolutely delicious! The whole week I kept thinking about the contrast between the warm beauty of  Florida & the cold, barren North during the winter…how mankind has lost the  original paradisal home on earth that God designed for us. Of course, I dearly love my home, and I’m not voting to leave anytime soon, but won’t it be glorious  when we “cast off this mortal coil” and set sail for our heavenly home?Probably most of you who read this already know the path to heaven, but just in  case you haven’t heard yet, there’s no pixie dust or magic involved. Jesus states clearly in the Bible: “My Father’s house has many rooms…I am going to prepare a place for you…I will come back and take you to be with me…I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:2-4,6) “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). I hope we’re all heading for paradise with Jesus. “Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established.”         (Proverbs 4:26).