Last night over supper Josh asked if we were packed and ready to go. I smiled and said we were mostly packed, mostly because Marlene does the biggest part of the packing. She’s better at it, and more reliable, so she starts and then I come along and add whatever I want to add.
The biggest difference between us is that I pack way too much. That’s not an opinion, that’s a fact. Marlene would not disagree with me. She often remonstrates with me about this but to no avail. If I’m going to be gone six days, I figure I’ll need at least 12 changes of clothes. Plus some extra socks and such plus my colored t-shirts plus whatever else I can squeeze in. My motto when traveling is, "Why be without anything?” Hers is, "Why take things you’ll never use?”
As with most of life, she’s wiser in this than I am.
We’re on our way to Word of Life Florida for the 23rd consecutive year. There are benefits to going back to the same place repeatedly, one being that you make many friends over the years. We were young (or at least younger) when we started going to Word of Life Florida. Now, not so young. But that’s true of our friends too. We’ve all made the journey together.
When people ask if we enjoy all the traveling we do, I usually give a double answer. The answer is yes in that our schedule takes us to many different places each year. But the answer is no, I don’t particularly enjoy the act of traveling, meaning packing, going to the airport, finding a parking spot, checking in, going through security, waiting for our flight, trying to find overhead space, squeezing into our seats, making it through the flight, deplaning (an ominous-sounding word), finding our bags (which usually but not always arrive with us), meeting the person who will pick us up, traveling by car to wherever we are going, checking in there, finding our room, unpacking, and then finally lying down on the bed to rest.
The last part is fun. Everything else about travel is tedious. I don’t like the act of travel but I do enjoy getting somewhere.
I will check my bag one final time before we leave for the airport this morning. If all goes well, we’ll arrive at Word of Life Florida around 1 PM. I preach at 5 PM and the week gets underway.
We enjoy traveling because it’s part of what God has called us to do, which means the answer to Josh’s question is, yes, we’re packed and ready to go.
You can reach the author at ray@keepbelieving.com. Click here to sign up for the free email sermon.