A white cap I bought several years ago at a Cracker Barrel restaurant hangs in my home office. Splashed in bright red colors on its flabby brim are the words: Been There, Done That, Cant Remember! That always begets a smilebecause I can remember! I can reminisce about childhood experiences. I can relive the excitement of teenage years. I can look back and reflect on gratifying school memories that stretch out for nearly a lifetime! I can recollect the-not-so-pleasant events that left behind some not-to-be-forgotten lessons. Even bygone faces and places still flicker on and off like loose electric light bulbs, awakening passions that lay just beneath the surface of my soul.

Though scarred by time, memories have an uncanny knack of holding on to their nostalgic spice. Nostalgia comes from the Greek nostosto return home and algiato survive. It is a word coined by a Swiss physician in the late seventeenth century to designate a disease of extreme homesickness experienced by soldiers. Not until the 1880s did nostalgia disappear as a listed disease in the Oxford English Dictionary. Though Webster still defines nostalgia as being homesick, the word has taken on a more positive meaninga strong yearning for past moments that cannot be repeated, only fondly remembered.

I think of Moses who, when he left Egypt, took the bones of Joseph with him (Exodus 13:19). Moses did not depart without taking his past along. Those bones were a symbol of his peoples history, prompting Israel in their struggle to remember, equipping them in their war against forgetting. That is an important lesson for us. In a digital culture that erases memories so quickly, remembering the past becomes one of our most prized possessions.

I have heard it said that a person who forgets the past is like a tree without roots. After all, you are what you remember. But how you remember is just as important. To get the most mileage out of your memories, view them through the eyes of faith. It sharpens your focus, transforms your vision, and helps you to see in all directions. In other words, it lengthens, widens, deepens, and heightens your perspective. It enables you to see Gods fingerprints in your past, despite the worlds attempt to erase the evidence. This work is often carried out by worldly-wise ideologies like secular humanism and evolution. Their philosophy is quite simple: If you dont want God in the present, abolish Him from the past.

But the opposite of this is equally true. The Christian faith has historical roots. At its very heart is a commitment to an historical Person. Gods self-revelation is rooted in real events that occur at a definite time and place. It effectively points us to His work of creation and redemption. It continually bids us to remember Gods acts of deliverance, His goodness and trustworthiness that go back to the very beginning. Such a view of the past is the basis for believing Hes with us in the present and will be there for us in the future. How true the words: We need not fear tomorrow. God is already there!

Faith in Gods abiding presence is especially comforting when we walk through dark valleys and baffling shadows haunt us. But on the flip side, the Bible declares that faith is frequently nurtured in the soil of tough times. Its been rightfully observed that we can see farther through a tear than a telescope. This implies that God often works more effectively through our failures than our successes. In fact, failure is often a virtual road map to successin reverse. Look back at the course youve taken and then go in the opposite direction. The way we respond to lifes Ds and Fsdifficulty and failure, discouragement and feardetermines the kind of life story you and I are writing.