Thank you loyal readers…I want to warn you this one is a more lengthy than normal…I apologize 🙂

The dreadful words no parent likes to hear when they are traveling…”Are we there yet?”.  The first few time we courteously respond saying no buddy, we have quite a ways to go.  After the 100th time, we are less polite and start to threaten to limit activities for them when you get there (not that it really works).  We hear it also on the way home more than we care to. Here’s the overarching theme I’d like to explore: Do we have that same spirit regarding heaven that our children have when we are going or returning to/from somewhere?

As I type this message we are in our 2nd unplanned hotel room on the way back from our “vacation” to the East Coast.  The vacation began with spirits high, looking forward to getting away for a week to gain a fresh perspective on life and seek God’s direction for the future.  I know…I had high expectations 🙂

Six hours into the trip, life was beginning to reshape those expectations.  The van started running rough and was having a harder time pulling the trailer.  We eventually made it to our friends home where we spent 2 full days dumping over $250 and 24hrs of time to “fix” it.  And we were off again.  A couple hours into the trip, we were back at less than square one.  We babied it all the way to our vacation destination.

After arriving it took a turn for the worse and we were confined to the condo most of the week.  We had some great experiences meeting new people, but our plans for activities had gone right out the window.  After repeated attempts to resolve issues, it was clear we needed to part with our current van.  By this point I was longing for home!

We were able to find a replacement van online and made a one hour journey with our existing van to a used car dealership down in Virginia Beach.  When we arrived, the van was running rough, it had 10K more miles that what was posted, and the A/C and heat were not blowing.  Really?  Can’t I just be home now?  We gave the ultimatum that if the van was fixed by the time we came back from the beach, we would take it.  It was fixed so we were off and running to enjoy our “vacation” again.

I wish that were the end of the trials on this trip, but unfortunately the next day the van’s computer decided it didn’t like me being stopped at a traffic light and decided the rev the engine up to the point that it pulled me (with brake to the floor) right into the intersection on a red light.  I made it back to our condo and communicated verbally, “I just want to be home”

The problem seemed to subside and we continued on our trek to enjoy our “vacation”  When we tried to find a place to put on a hitch, we discovered it was more difficult that what was first thought.  After much work, we found a place that was willing to do the hitch and the lights for $463 so we conceded, only to find out in Maryland that they wired the trailer lights wrong so the running lights weren’t working.  Again I verbalized, louder this time, “I just want to be home”.

After a few minutes with an awesome hero at Jim Donnie’s (trailer repair place), we were able to fix the trailer and again be on our way.  It was a smooth day of travel until 1:45am when six wheel studs tore off the wheel on the back side of the van going 70 down I90W.  After all these days and dollars, my flesh cries out with my whole body “Are we there yet?  I want to be home”

Stay tuned this week to the reflection on God’s work during this journey.  Hopefully our van will be fixed later today and we’ll be back on the road to home…