I DID IT! After years of experimenting… after multiple fruitless efforts of trial and error… after research and perseverance… failure after failure… I finally did it! What an accomplishment! What joy! What absolute euphoria! I finally discovered the optimal timeframe to… (drum roll please) drive to Florida. Ok, ok… please forgive my melodramatic hyperbole, but that trip to Florida was becoming a Donor Party Trail type of experience for me. Last year, a trip that should have taken 15 hours took 19 1/2 due to traffic jams, construction and accidents. That I-77, I-26, I-95 corridor to the east coast of Florida has become one of the most heavily traveled winter routes in the entire country.
In the past, I had tried leaving at different times to try to beat the traffic. 6 AM, 8 AM, 4 AM and even 12 AM, but no matter what time I left our home in Ohio we were bumper to bumper halfway through South Carolina. Ah… South Carolina… My nemesis! I-26 is a crowded narrow 4 lane highway that should absolutely be a 6 lane one, and the right lane on I-95 in SC is so rough I might have chipped a tooth on a previous trip — which causes everyone to drive in the left lane and block traffic.
So, this year I told Lauri we were going to try one more time, and we pulled out of our home at 6:30 PM with plans to drive all night. We were well provisioned with cans of Arizona sweet tea and more snacks than we could eat in an entire month (that Donor Trail thing and all you know). I had 16 hours of music on my phone playlist and a range of 475 miles in my fuel tank. It was 1007 miles to our destination and we were on a mission. And… Score! The sun was just setting when we left, and when it rose the next day — I had already crossed the Florida state line. 14 hours and 15 minutes, baby!
And other than a rather irritating experience in Virginia at 2 AM where a guy in a pickup truck forced me to pass him 5 times because he kept passing me and then slowing down — come on fella, that cruise control feature in your truck is not just for convenience, it is for the sanity of everyone driving around you — we had clear roads. I didn’t even have to lift MY cruise control for slower traffic until halfway through South Carolina.
Smooth sailing the entire trip, and my vacation began relatively stress free. We actually arrived at our destination early enough to get breakfast at the local MacDonalds! “Uh, why yes, I will take the Big Breakfast please, I just drove all night.”
This week I have been pondering that sometimes my Christian life feels a little like my repeated efforts to find the perfect time to leave for Florida — a bit of trial and error. While I want to reflect Christ in my everyday life in all that I do, I know that sometimes, I fall short. I can allow distractions to effect my ability to hear the prompting of the Holy Spirit. I sometimes let frustrations effect my attitudes toward others. And perhaps the biggest challenge is the busyness of the traffic in my life can cause me to stray off course in my desire to deepen my relationship with Jesus and my time with Him suffers.
So, how do we navigate all that life throws at us? What do we do when it appears like no matter what we try, our life seems to be constantly snarled with the congestion of repeated lessons and even failures? You know, those times where you just feel like you take one step forward, and then two steps back? Do you have those?
I find such encouragement and inspiration in the Apostle Paul’s teaching in Philippians 3. He begins by discussing some of the things in life that people think have value, and then compares those things to the worth of Christ. His challenge is simply to discard those things that distract us in life and to purse Christ above all else. In verse 10 he says, “I want to know Christ!”
And then he writes, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14.
And there it is. What does the Christian do? He or she PRESSES ON. We forget the failures and leave the distractions behind and press on toward the goal of knowing Christ with the assurance that, one day, we will win the prize — the complete fruition of Christ’s work in our life — for eternity. So press on! Don’t lose heart! You aren’t perfect… yet… and the best really is yet to come — Heaven.
But I am still disturbed about one thing… I just don’t know if I will ever beat that last trip to Florida. Hmmm… maybe I will fly next year…
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