Many of you are going on vacation or have come back from Father’s Day weekend trips. Car trips with children are a more enjoyable experience now than when I was a child! In my family, there were four children. Seven and a half years separated the youngest from the oldest. The car my parents had was a sedan, either a Buick or a Chevy, with no air conditioning. The windows were the air conditioner! RIGHT! We didn’t have many vacations, but traveling in a car with my parents, four children and luggage in the summer was not for the faint of heart. We would travel from Charleston to Brunswick, Georgia, a trip of over four tortuous hours on Highway 17. A few times we foolishly went to Florida, and several other times we went to the mountains to Deep Creek Campground. We had a great time when we got there, but getting there was agony. The litany from the back seat where the three oldest of us were squeezed in was “Are we there yet?”, followed by “How much longer??”
It is a wonder my parents did not “accidentally” leave a few of us at a gas station along the route, because another inevitable phrase was “He (she) is touching me!”, usually repeated at an angrier tone followed by kicking and poking and one of my parents saying, “Cut it out or I will stop this car and you will be sorry!” I remember this phrase being uttered once as we were going over the incredible arched bridge going over the Savannah River. There was something about the tone in my parent’s voice that made me convinced they may stop the car right on top of the Savannah Bridge and who knows what would transpire.
I hope vacation travel is as pleasant for you as the vacation itself.
John Wesley had a phrase familiar to all long-time Methodists. The expression describes the growth of Christian character and our relationship with God.
The expression is “We are moving to perfection”. The perfect is how God sees us as our best self in relationship with our Creator. Rather than our spiritual journey being agony, it is a blessing because the Holy Spirit travels with us and the body of Christ supports us. Sometimes the travel can be exciting and a joy.
Enjoy your vacation, but remember to look for ways to enjoy the trip. No matter how challenging vacation travel is, be grateful you do not have the children versions of me, my brothers and sister in your back seat!
Pastor Pam