The sign at Memorial Park in Waterville tells passers-by the park will be closed for 850 days, from June 11, 2018 to September 30, 2020!

            This park is situated along the Maumee River and is part of the ‘staging area’ for the building of the new bridge. I can’t wait to go to the newly opened park in only 28 months.

            So I started to think about what else may happen in 850 days. Three summers will come and go, school kids will advance to new grade levels, the Browns may win the Super Bowl (or, at least, a conference game), and many babies will be born.

            On one hand, the announcement of a re-opening in September of 2020 seems so far in the future that it is hardly worth considering. On the other hand, I have lived more than thirty rounds of 850 days. Changes and continuity seem to go hand in hand.

            Like many others I will joyfully watch the building of the new bridge. And I will patiently wait for the reopening of a park that I have never visited. I hope it is worth the wait.

“Wait for the LORD, take courage;

be stouthearted, wait for the LORD!”

Psalm 27:14