We had the gracious opportunity in June of 2011 to take a vacation in Switzerland. Interestingly enough, that is one place that never occurred to me as a destination of interest. The only thing I ever thought about it (which wasn't often) was it was the place of Heidi and yodeling...neither of which was at the top of my
Bucket List (or on it, for that matter).
But I've never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth. So I went eagerly and without expectation (for a change). To my amazement, Switzerland is one of the most beautiful places on earth...at least the earth as I know it from limited experience. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there.
We spent a week in a chalet on a mountain in the Alps somewhere southeast of Lake Geneva. The women, with a little input from the men, made the choice of location. And, as far as I can tell, no one had a real good idea of where we would end up. But it was fabulous.
I won't go into the awe inspiring details now, but suffice it to say, there can't be too many places on this planet like it. But that brings me to the point of this page.
Each day, we would jump in a vehicle and venture off the mountain to take various kinds of excursions. On our last full day there, we were headed back up the mountain in our rented car. I was riding behind the driver, pensively staring out the window at nothing in particular.
Then, as if it jumped off the side of the road and slapped me in the face, I spotted a simple wooden sign. I'm not exactly sure why I hadn't seen it before. We'd gone up and down that mountain several times, but for the first time, there it was. As that fleeting second rushed by, it hit me that the sign said, "L'Abri." That word stirred something in the back of my mind that I hadn't thought of in years.
When we arrived at our rented chalet, I pulled out my laptop and searched for L'Abri. I only did it to prove to myself it couldn't be the same place my mind was echoing. But lo and behold, it was one and the same.
Just so I'm not leaving you in the dark, you need to know a little history here. When I was a young Christian, I was introduced to the writings of one Francis Schaeffer. For several years, I devoured his books and was deeply influenced by his thinking. L'Abri was his home and place of ministry.
He passed away some years ago now, and it had never even crossed my mind that Switzerland was his home when we planned our trip. Now I had a chance to stop as we made our final trek down the mountainside. It was almost like a pilgrimage for me.
I couldn't believe I was standing there as I took a few photos that sunny Sunday morning. When I got back in the car, I marveled at how we picked the same mountain in all of Switzerland that Francis Schaeffer and his wife Edith had picked and that I had almost missed knowing about it.
I made the mistake of proclaiming what a coincidence it was. My wife, Denise, quickly responded, "There are no coincidences." Of course she was right as usual (man, I hate that).
The reason I'm making such a big deal of this is not simply that I stumbled across what I look upon as a historic site. The really big deal in all of this is that I had almost forgotten about the impact of his work upon my life. It has renewed an interest in going back and reviewing those books I've read and picking up the ones I hadn't.
At the time of this writing, I am reading one of the biographies of his and Edith's life together. I figured it would be a good place to start. I was right for once. It has caused a type of revival in me that we all need from time to time.
I've ordered his complete works. The ones I used to own are all gone from my shelves. I expect this renewal to be an important one in my life...not because Schaeffer was some kind of god or something, but because he pointed me (and many others) to the God of this universe.
What an amazing coincidence...oh, sorry Denise.
