Adventures in Cross Country Moving

            As most of you know, my family and I have had a very intense and adventurous few days.  Moving across the country will do that.  My girls were already in Ohio.  My husband, dog and I left Orlando in the rain.  Only a few hours into our trip an oil light came on with a wrench.  My husband (who was rockin’ the U-Haul and drove the whole way) felt that the beast of a vehicle was pulling to the right, so we pulled off to the side of the road on I-75.   While semi’s sped past us rocking the cab of the U-Haul, and my dog started to freak out, I called the road side assistance just to make sure it was ok.  The first call got disconnected.  The second time I spoke with them the woman on the other end of the phone started to panic.  She told me to hang up and call 911.  So I did.  911 just got annoyed with me for calling them even after I tried to explain to them that I was told to.  She transferred me to the highway patrol, who in turn also got annoyed with me.  When I called U-Haul back this person on the other end just told us to keep driving.  So we did.  The hotel we ended up staying at for the night was less than ideal.  There were a few drunken guys that kept being loud outside our door, my dog barked the entire night, and the front desk didn’t really care they were loud.  We took a wrong turn in Columbus.  The straps to the tow on the back of the U-Haul kept falling off the tires and it may have been a partial miracle our SUV didn’t fall off.  But eventually we made it. 

 Life can be full of funny moments.  I think you can either allow them to make you laugh or spend your moments being grumpy that everything doesn’t always go as planned.  Either way, life is full of these kinds of moments.  It doesn’t matter who you are or what you are doing.  We all face challenges.  We have a choice on how we handle them. 

I was reflecting as we were traveling that there had been so many small things that I had worried about regarding this move.  It seems so silly now that I wasted so much time thinking and mulling over these small things because when I got to the time it all worked out.   I worried about getting someone to clean my carpets in the rental, how we were going to fit all our stuff in the place we had to hold it here, how the dog would do on the trip, and the list when on and on.  As we walk out our life, do what we have to do in order to get these things done, it’s amazing how everything works out. 

I think the word of God says it best. 

Matthew 6:25-34 (ESV)

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^[b] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

³⁴ “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

           

          In the words of the old Bobby McFerrin song, “Don’t Worry.  Be Happy!”  You have to choose to be happy in life.  You have to choose to go through life and not to let these things get you down.  Don’t let the small things spoil the bigger picture.  God is good, and somehow He always works things together for those that love the Lord!

            Remember God has awesome plans for your life.  Get excited.