Jeremiah’s Journey – Epilogue: "Meeting Papa"

“Papà!” Adelina waved to the man hunched under the vines, meticulously pruning. The call of his daughter, his angel of love, life, and joy sparked his heart. Dropping his clippers, he looked down the vineyard row. Adelina ran to him. Then, as sudden as the excitement to greet her father, she stopped and turned to me as I, in surprise to her excitement, caught up with her. She took my hand, and the feelings of our walk down the cobblestone alley to the river Arno rushed through my senses. I am Jeremiah on a quest to find what I am searching.

“Papà, per favore accolga favorevolmente il mio amico, Geremia.” Dad, please welcome my friend, Jeremiah.

Perspiration peppered his brow underneath the wide-brimmed hat that shielded the Mediterranean sun. Pulling a kerchief from his pocket, he wiped his eyes of the salty streams.

“Tu sei americano, ma il tuo nome è quello di un profeta,” Papa announced.

Adelina replied, “Sì, un profeta di parole che parlano di amore e compassion. Egli sta cercando il padre perduto di un amico.”

She turned to me and explained. “He says you have the name of a prophet. I told him you have a heart of love and compassion searching for the lost father of your friend.”

I had not thought of Christina, the friend whose father I was seeking to find since I met Adelina. Where do two lanes of love cross? I was at that crossroad.

I extended my hand and gripped one that toils in the land of wine and olive oil.

“My pleasure to meet you, Signore Poggio.”

“Benvenuti nella nostra vigna.”

“Papà welcomes you to our vineyard.”

“Vieni , ti faccio vedere quello che sto facendo.”

“Follow him. He will show you how he prunes the branches.”

From the branch of last year’s growth, he pruned to the nearest bud to the spur. Two new branches would grow, one from the bud and new growth from the spur.

“Growth from last year, and new growth this season.”

“You’ve got it, Jeremiah. This is how we live. We learn from last year’s growth leaving only that which is alive on the vine. The fire burns the dead branches.

My mind flashed to an image of Christina dancing. She was dancing with her imaginary father, the father she did not know. Yet, what she imagined became real. She was dancing in the Spirit, and Father God danced with her in place of her lost father.

I was searching for Christina’s earthly father, yet I found Adelina’s, the vinedresser. I discovered what was missing in my life, a father that prunes dead branches so that new life can grow. I found Papa, Abba, Father. I met him in the vineyard of life, fruit of the new wine.

As dead branches are pruned away, so are old wineskins discarded. The new wine - God’s Spirit poured in me - would be wasted if poured into the vessel of my past, dry and cracked, without life in the Spirit - life in Jesus. Finding my Father, the vinedresser that pruned me of my past, made my vessel as a new wineskin, flexible to expand with the new, fermenting wine - my spiritual growth as a child of God abiding in Jesus as He abides in me.

Jeremiah's Journey – Epilogue: "Meeting Papa” Copyright © 2016 by Jeff Cambridge

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The series of episodes of Jeremiah’s Journey begins with “Roses Are For Lovers” published on this blog. Follow me on Facebook @ Jeff Cambridge and join the fans of Jeremiah by subscribing to my blog.