Congratulations to my hometown of Abilene, Kansas, being named “Best Small Town to Visit in the U.S.” by TravelAwaits.
Just this morning, I was just telling my walking buddy, Lorena, who is from Mexico City, how Abilene was such a nice place to grow up. I appreciate that it was very safe and I could play outside and go exploring for hours without supervision. I liked that I could talk to “strangers” anywhere, anytime, without being told to stay away or be afraid. I feel like being raised in Abilene helps make me the carefree, trusting, friendly and outgoing person I am today.
Within his last few years before meeting me, Anthony told the Lord that he was done with California girls and needed a small-town girl from the Midwest. God delivered!
I am grateful to be from the hometown of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, where we have not only presidential history but also exhibits and events honoring the cattle drive of the Wild West. And it’s where C.L. Brown started the telephone company that became Sprint!
Regarding the low crime rate and good schools, I believe Abilene has a definite “halo effect” from the churches and Godly families who are currently there and who have lived there and built legacies for generations.
Its name even shows up in the Bible! Luke 3:1-3 —
“Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins…”
Abilene is translated as “land of meadows.” And I like that it is mentioned leading into the preaching of baptism and repentance. That’s where the wide-open meadows and refreshing freedom are found — upon repentance. (And baptism is an excellent way to outwardly express your commitment to Christ.)
I was first baptized in Abilene at age 12 or 13, and I was re-baptized — when the commitment “stuck” in a more powerful way — at age 21 in Manhattan, Kansas. But the Godly foundation found in my heritage and hometown will always stick with me!
Abilene is a place of good morals, good families, and good churches.
God bless Abilene! 🇺🇸
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