Killing the Fatted Calf

Tomorrow, my "prodigal son" returns... Well, he is not really a "prodigal".  He is not reckless or extravagant, except with his grace and ability to forgive.  Still, I have already begun to prepare the "fatted calf", in a manner of speaking.  I have bought some of his favorite snack foods.  I am searching the Internet for just the right blackberry cobbler recipe.  We will grill out hamburgers (the fatted calf, indeed!) and his father has painted a sign to welcome him home at the airport (in case he has forgotten our faces in the past three weeks).

Our son, along with two American leaders and thirteen other American youth are flying home tomorrow after spending three weeks in a Partnership Activity with youth and leaders from our partnership congregations in Germany.  This culminates three years of planning and meeting, which included the German Partners spending three weeks with us last summer.  The time together may be ending, but it is clear that the connection will be life-long, and the changes... no-- the TRANSFORMATION in these young lives cannot be measured in financial cost or time commitments.  They are forever changed because of what God has done in and through their lives.

When the planes crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, I was in Germany, having just attending a conference on Overcoming the Decade of Violence.  The first day that the delegates from the US spent in our host homes was the day our world changed forever.  In spite of that, because of the genuine hospitality shown to us, there was never a time that I didn't know I would be fine... no matter what.

So, tomorrow, as my son (who is no prodigal... nor is he a "boy" any longer) boards the plane to come home, he brings with him the prayers and good will of new friends with whom there will be a "forever connection".  And I do not fear his safety, for I know he flies in the palm of God's hand.

Let the welcome home party begin!