My Passports

My United States passport arrived yesterday. It is my second passport, although it is my first U.S. passport. I entered the United States in September 1954 with a Canadian passport when I enrolled at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Now a United States passport is required to enter Canada, something I expect to do in two or three weeks.

I have two brothers. One lives near Niagara Falls, New York. The other lives near Niagara Falls, Ontario. They live on opposite sides of the Niagara River, but in two different countries. My passport will allow me cross the river and visit my Canadian brother and the area where I grew up.

Life can be complicated. Although I am the middle son, I am the only Scottish-born son. So the United States passport identifies my place of birth as the United Kingdom. My parents left Scotland and settled in Hamilton, Ontario, just before the Great Depression. My older brother was born In Hamilton, and then my parents moved back to Scotland, where I was born. When I was three, they moved to Canada again, this time with my older brother and me in tow. We settled in Ottawa, where my younger brother was born, and then two years later we moved to St. Catharines, Ontario, where my brothers and I grew up. Bill, my older brother moved to the Niagara Falls, New York area when he was 18. I have lived in the United States since 1960 and became a U.S. citizen in 1967.

Now that you have a brief history of the Dyet family, let me draw your attention again to the passport. It was issued July 8, 2009 and carries an expiration date of July 9, 2019. In order to use it, I must attach my signature.

January 18, 1952, by faith I signed my name to a passport that permits me to enter Heaven someday. Its authorization is John 3:16, and it will not expire. Unlike the United States passport, my passport to Heaven required no application fee. Jesus paid for it by dying for my sins on the cross. If you do not have a passport to Heaven, I hope you will believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior. He is the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6).

I am looking forward to crossing the Niagara River and reaching the place I used to call home, but eventually I will cross another river and reach my eternal Home.

“He will keep me till the river
Rolls its water at my feet;
Then He’ll bear me safely over,
Where the loved ones I shall meet.”