There's Something Familiar About This Place!

The descent into Billings was not suppose to be familiar after 26 years, but that's exactly what it was, familiar. Pushed up against the ridged cliffs that towered over the north side of Billings, the city lay sprawled out as one long line of commerce and community. It was much longer than I had remembered and yet there was something very familiar to me. Sarah and I had not spent a great amount of time in the city during our Montana mission years ago, but having held several meetings here, revivals and passing through from time to time made the site of the city seem like getting acquainted with an old friend once again. I couldn't help but revisit old memories and the faces of people that filled our days here so very long ago. Wonder where Steve Phillips is now? And, where did Clark Henderson and his pastor, Don Jones wind up? I do know where Rusty and Mary Lou Hicks landed; we had just visited them in Blanco, Texas not that long ago. But let me think just a moment, did those sermons and visits so very long ago here in Billings really make an eternal difference back then. Was God and His kingdom much better off because we passed through here? I guess what I am really asking is if our time here and now will make an eternal difference in the lives of the people we encounter this time on our return trip to Montana. I guess the most familiar part of our return has nothing to do with landscapes and mountain scenery after all, it is in fact, the renewed burden for the people who have made this great state their home. It's good to be back.