Road Trips

With so many relatives now living in distant places, traveling seems to be a normal part of our monthly calander. Driving the highways can be a dread or dream depending on the mental state you enter the vehicle in.

My favorite part of our family vacation time was always those incidental moments that took place in the car. Those conversations you couldn't avoid. The doors were locked and the kids belted in, the auto speeding at 65 mph into what everyone thought would be a slice of heaven! Everyone but me! I kind of knew that the trip ahead was not the reward, but the treasure lay in the interaction and revelation of our togetherness. The car was our real nest.

This kind of togetherness meant that we would "let it all hang out". We would all have to give something up in our space to make each other comfortable. We would have to take turns at music choices as well as listening and speaking. Bathroom stops and hunger pains would bring about breaks in the miles traveled. These stops provided us with fuel and a good stretch before we got going again.

We were no longer able to pursue seperate endeavors, we needed to be of one vision. The final destination! That was our hope, that we all arrive intact to the destination! But the reality was, we had to work out all the petty stuff that was bound up in each one of us to make the trip a successful one.

Being in close proximity for 2-18 hours ( depending on the location) gave us a birds eye view of important adjustments to our thinking and relating. At the onset, we all seem excited for the promise of adventure,somewhere along the way the grumbleing begins(often because a touchy subject is exposed). And then the family magic happens ! We laugh at ourselves, the way families tend to do immortalizing the ridiculous behaviors we have been caught at.

We relearn how to get over ourselves! We create lasting landmarks with regard to our own discomfort. We see who we've become in the eyes of those we love most and whom we know love us. And we change in split seconds , to adapt to whatever comes our way.

I'm so reminded that our faith journey is not much different then this. We set out with a destination, To be with God. We recognize that Jesus is the vehicle we take to reach him. But the Holy Spirit is driving the car! The car is filled with all the people in our life that God loves, and we have to get real about how we relate with one another! Some of us refuse to ride together because we can't share our space, some believe to many stops will throw us off the schedule, others might need rest stops because they become stiff without a stretch. And there is usually one or two who know a shortcut and harp on the best route. At any rate we are still all in the same vehicle!

It may be cramped, it may be noisey, it may even be emotionally draining and physically demanding, but when you love God with all your heart & might & soul, it is still a trip worth taking. " Are we there yet!!!"