Traveling

As we are in the mix and the mess of what December can bring. Let me ask you a question. Where are you traveling?

As we continue on our year-long journey, Joan and I find ourselves in Arlington Texas. Mainly because there is no snow here and I have followed the star in the east just like the wise men of years past. (Yes, we are about 4 miles west of Cowboys Stadium) Since I last posted we have been to several different places and done several different things. Some we planned and some we did not. We started in our last place of residence, Madison SD, and finished putting the last of the touches on our home before selling it in late October. This event was met with a lot of different thoughts and feelings. We sold a house we put a lot of ourselves into and were able to have a lot of great people be a part of. We departed a town we had put our lives into for over four years and leave behind some great people and a great church. From there we spent time between Sioux Falls and Rapid City visiting family and friends and getting to relax in the Black Hills.

For the last month, we parked the RV at the farm by Avon. While there, Joan and I were able to help out on the farm. I was allowed to help harvest by spending several days sitting in the combine watching it chew up some corn. I thank God that the harvest seemed to be good and glad we were able to help as the weather did not cooperate as well as it could have with rain, snow, and even warm weather. You may be asking yourself how warm weather can be a problem? Well, without it freezing, at times it was too muddy for the trucks to get in. Along the way, I was able to experience food poisoning for the very first time. Wow, that’s fun…..not. One morning we woke up to the camper being rather colder than we were used to. With a little brilliant investigating on my part I deduced that with it 18 degrees outside and only 55 degrees inside the furnace went out. While the most common reason for this in the RV world is that you are out of propane. Well, this was not the case and the furnace would not light. Now, this might not be a huge inconvenience in most cases, for us, however, this meant that all of our tanks were going to freeze. So we spent a three day weekend in the shop of an RV dealer where we thawed out and they replaced the furnace. Hey, life is good.

After a month at the farm getting to hang out with family and help out, we hooked up and headed for Chillicothe MO. It was about 15 years since we had seen some old friends and enjoyed getting to hang out with them for the weekend. When the weekend was over we shuffled down to the Kansas City area where I had the great joy and privilege to meet with a pastor at Cornerstone Church. This is a church I have been working with over the past few months in helping them develop who they are as a church and what their purpose is. The basis for this is helping their pastor find her purpose and develop her ETHOS. That is what truly makes my heart beat. But it was much too cold to stay there and with the threat of more cold weather and possibly even some freezing rain, we decided it was time to see where we might go to avoid having to use the furnace so much. Texas seems to be a good place to start.

So here we are Texas. We are going to spend the next month or two seeing some of the places we have only heard about in the winter. We will start in the Dallas area and then make our way south toward San Antonio, Galveston, and maybe even see what Brownsville looks like. 

That is a brief glimpse into what we are up to. What are you up to this month? The month of great anticipation of family, friends, parties, and Christmas. The month of great exhaustion, planning for parties, family, friends, and Christmas. But also it is the season of Advent. The expectant coming of the Messiah. No one (except a few) knew who or when this event might take place but there was none the less an excitement of when this might take place. Did Mary know that traveling would take place? In the Bible, Luke chapter 2 it says this “He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.” (Luke 2:4 NLT) They traveled, they left one place for another if even just for a short time.

I wonder if we could be in the same position as this young couple? They have a lot going on with a baby on the way. Do you suppose they were thinking, why do we have to do this now? Why does this have to happen to me now? In the midst of knowing who his pregnant wife was carrying inside her and not only not knowing how to be a father let alone the father of the creator of the universe and all that is in it. Joseph found out what it was going to be like to juggle all the things in his life all at once. What pressure were they feeling to keep family, friends, and work all in balance during this time? What are you feeling or going through?

I’m sure you have heard this from more than one person but let me add to it. Slow down, take a breath, see who is around you in your life and take just a moment each day to thank God for them. Take just a moment, just five minutes, to see how you can organize your crazy schedule so some of the unneeded stress can be minimized so we can see and feel the anticipation of what Advent truly means. For us, part of our anticipation is awaiting our children to join us in just a few days for a couple of weeks.

God is good. Blessings to you and your family during this Christmas Season!