Coming Home

It was time to go home.

We boarded the plane in Gatwick International Airport which is located right outside of London. We had said our goodbyes to Oxford already, and now we were saying our goodbyes to London and England. I was ready. I had a great time in England, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world, but I was ready to get back to Wofford. I was ready to see my other friends again; I had about nine of them with me in England and made many others.

As I sat in my seat on the plane, I began to talk to my neighbor. Her name is Hazel, and she is an African-American woman who was raised in New York but spent most of her life in London. Hazel and I were talking about many different things when I noticed that she had a New Testament with her. I was pleasantly surprised considering how we had learned how few believers there are in England. I told her at once how I came to be in England and how we were studying C.S. Lewis in Oxford. She was very excited and we began to talk about a great number of things about Christianity in detail. We had a very long and good conversation.

As soon as our plane touched down, I began to bounce in my seat with excitement. I couldn’t wait to get off of the plane and drive back to Wofford. I said goodbye to Hazel and told her that I hoped she enjoyed her time in the states. She, in turn, told me to always carry The Message, that that should be my highest goal. I agree with her. That should be the highest goal of all Christians.

Hayes and I drove down the road from Charlotte to Spartanburg having an upbeat jam session to Dave Matthews and contemporary Christian tunes. We made it to Wild Wings for our friend Daniel West’s graduation/man party since he’s graduating after interim. We excitedly and joyously embraced our friends that we hadn’t seen in nearly two weeks, or for those who were abroad for interim, nearly two months. The chatter and swapping of stories went on for quite a long time, and it continued to Wofford when we ran into more people.

Finally I was back in my room, and I began to think of how I could stay awake long enough so that I could adjust to the time here. I realized that I didn’t want to stop seeing people, so I gathered up the gifts that I had bought and set out from Marsh, my dorm, to find the people to give to them. It didn’t take my long to find one of them because Matt Watts was standing right outside of the dorm talking to Drew Bryan when I walked out. Matt was on the trip as well, but I found a 1899 Bible in a secondhand book store and thought of no one who would appreciate it more than him. Of course he would not accept it at first, but after I talked him into taking it, I could tell that he really enjoyed getting it. This, of course, just made me enjoy giving it all the more. I got a much more enthused reaction from Mark Reynolds. Markitos, my nickname for him, is one of my best friends at Wofford, and I got him a keychain that had his family crest on the front and a short history of his surname, its meaning, and motto on the back. Mark immediately started bouncing around shouting, “It’s my keychain with my name on it! Check this out! ‘God-favoring.’ Heck yes I am!” Of course it made me all the happier that he enjoyed his gift. “Come here you!” he said to me, and as I embraced my friend I realized that C.S. Lewis was quite correct to value friendship so highly. Positive human relationships are one of the greatest things in this world and friendships are of the best of those.

I thanked God for giving me the opportunity to travel overseas, for the opportunity to deepen my faith by learning more about His servant C.S. Lewis, for getting me home safely, for the many and good friendships that he has given me at Wofford, for cleansing me of my sin through His son’s salvation that I could have friendships, and for ensuring me a place in His kingdom through that salvation. If I tried listing everything that I should be thanking God for, then I don’t know if this blog would ever end.

-Posted by Will Prosser