Wednesday, December 10, 2014

COMING HOME

She yearned to get back to her roots - to come home.


As she left England to begin the arduous journey to Lobitos, Peru, her thoughts were dedicated to returning to that small village on the seashore where she was born.

Ann landed in Boston, bought a pop-top Volkswagen camper and drove across America to visit with me, her sister, in California. After a short rest, she continued down to Panama where, unfortunately, her van was totally trashed by local thieves. Determined to continue, she hitch-hiked alone through the very dangerous bandit-ridden territory of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru - until she reached Lobitos.

When Ann arrived, she was horrified to find her beloved birthplace surrounded by walls, wire and fearsome army machine gunners.

"NO. YOU CAN NOT COME IN!"
No amount of pleading would change their minds.

Devastated, she turned and trudged back down the dusty desert road. Seeing what had once been an adobe church, now half-covered with sand, she retreated down the steps into the serenity of the chapel. Looking around the small one-room sanctuary, she was drawn to the light coming from the open shell of a window at the other end of the room. There she could make out the silhouette of a man.

As she drew closer, she could see that he was dressed in a suit - a business man. Filled with anguish, she whimpered to him in Spanish that "They wouldn't let me in! They wouldn't let me come home." He replied that he too was devastated. He had come a long way to re-visit a place where he had worked for a man who was so wonderful in teaching him everything; giving him inspiration to be all that he could be.

She asked, "Who was that man?"
He answered, "Robert Collins."
She gasped in amazement, "That was my father!"

Overcome by the miracle of it all, tears streaming down their faces, they joyfully embraced in that Holy Instant - a divine re-union.
In pure love and gratitude, it was done.
They had finally "Come home."

True story by Janet E. Collins,
Author of the novel "One Path Home."