Often our lives take us in a different direction than we wanted, a worse direction it seems, until we grow to see our situation with the eyes of God.  This is not the work of one sermon, this is the work of a lifetime. To guide us in this spiritual re-orientation, I want to use a great illustration from a book called, Welcome to Holland; a book about one mother’s struggle and blessing in raising a special needs child.  The author gives us this metaphor. When you are going to have a baby it is like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy.  You buy guide books and plan out your visit, you even learn a couple of phrases of Italian; all very exciting. Finally, the day for your trip arrives, you board the plane and after 8 hours the stewardship announces, ‘Welcome to Holland.’ Holland you say, what do you mean Holland, all my life I dreamed of going to Italy!  They say there has been a change in plans, we landed in Holland and here you must stay.  The author goes on to say, the important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible place, it is just a different place.  You will have to get new guide books and learn a new language. Its slower paced than Italy, less flashy, but when you catch your breath and lean on your faith, you begin to see that Holland has windmills, and tulips, it even has Rembrandt.   Sure you can live your life regretting that you never got to Italy, but if you do, you will never be free to enjoy the very special blessings of Holland. Welcome to Holland is about the surprising trials and grace involved in raising a special needs child, but it may as well be a life phrase for all of us whose lives aren’t what we dreamed or expected, but whose lives nevertheless can be re-imagined with God’s grace.