Strangely Familiar

 May 6, 2023

“I’ve been here before.” Linda and I were driving from the wedding to the reception on unfamiliar roads when we rounded a bend and I knew what would be just down the road. A beautiful brick house on our left, followed by an antique store in an unusual-looking building with a covered porch around two sides. A short while later, I commented, “I know that place!” 

It’s an odd feeling, being familiar with a place you’ve never before seen, at least to your knowledge. It got me to thinking. 

When the children of Israel entered the Promised Land, Joshua gave them specific instructions, saying, “You haven’t passed this way before.” Much of life is like that, which is why we Christians read our Bibles. It’s like reading a map drawn by people who have been there before us. It’s always good when in unfamiliar territory to have a map to keep us from losing our way. The wedding today was preceded by premarital counseling, given by the pastor who has been down the marital road to a young couple before whom it stretched as unfamiliar territory. The day will come when they are expecting their first child and will be looking to those who have traveled that road for advice and counsel.

There is another side of it though. There are times in my life when what should be foreign to me seems strangely familiar. Like our drive today, every so often in life I get the feeling that I’ve been there before. It’s not an occult thing; it’s the sense that this path leads home; it feels right. I think it’s an internal GPS that God has placed inside me, guiding me even when I’m not aware of it. St. Paul puts it this way: “The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). 

Years ago, John Denver sang of this internal sense of belonging: “Gee, it’s good to be back home again. Sometimes this old farm feels like a long-lost friend. Gee, it’s good to be back home again.” If you feel lost and disoriented, Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Because of our sinfulness, at first, this Way seems foreign and strange, but it doesn’t take long before deep inside you know that there is something familiar about it. It leads us Home, where we belong.