Karen and I travel the back roads. We avoid the Interstates, because they all tend to look the same and on this journey we're not really in any 75 mile per hour hurry to get where we are going. God has blessed us with the freedom to go at a slower pace, a mission of seeing more of His Creation, His creatures and trying to be the first to say hello and flash the first smile. It may sound easy, but old habits and years of rush-rush living are hard to change.
As we travel through small towns and rural country, we see a lot of old, falling-down buildings, abandoned businesses, peaceful cemetaries, and many reminders of a different time. We wonder what memories these places hold and the people who lived "in the day", the legacies passed on to future generations and where those people are today. Names of cities, street signs, historical markers, a host of things evoke questions of "what happened here" or stir memories from our past and what ever happened to "old so and so" and wishing we had stayed in closer touch with them. Travel has a way of feeding our curiosity, making our Google searches more focused and making us more awestruck by our God, Who holds all this together and makes sense of it. We are in a State Park in northern Alabama which for many years was one of the most beautiful parks, according to our neighbor across the way, until April, 2011 when two tornadoes came through from two directions and decimated the area, destroying thousands of mature trees and personal property, and changing lives in an instant. Yet the area was cleaned up, new trees were planted and people have returned to enjoy the "new" park once again. How similar the story is to so many others in the places we travel through and only see the vestiges in the falling-down buildings, abandoned businesses and peaceful cemetaries. What it must have been like when these places were brand new, the future was still ahead and the cemetaries weren't occupied yet. But "new" life goes on. Each day holds a host of experiences to be lived and be thankful for. Soak it in, enjoy it, thank God for each moment and remember to give Him the glory for all we have, all He did for us, the place we are now, and the time He gives us. This journey and this ministry is humbling me more than my pride cares to admit, but admit it I do, awaiting the next "on-my knees" moment, which is right now. THANK YOU, LORD. I look forward to the next hello. I'm smiling already.
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