Go Beyond

Carlsbad en route to Santa Fe, New Mexico

Dad and I have traveled more than 1,200 miles since we embarked on our road trip this past Tuesday. I have not only enjoyed every mile that we have traveled together, I have also enjoyed much-needed windshield-time on several long stretches of highway. Windshield-time is my way of detoxing from the almost 200,000 air-miles I travel in any given year. When Dad and I reviewed our route last night, we knew that today would be another day of travel across a vast stretch of New Mexico. We got up early enough but had a late start because of two nails in one front tire. And then, after having the tire repaired, we stopped to get my truck washed by a group of church kids trying to raise money for a trip. It was the best and worst twenty bucks I have spent. The kids managed to rearrange the dirt and bugs on my truck making it look worse after the wash than before. We had a good laugh about it and concluded that God really wanted us to invest in their trip.

After traveling through Roswell, we knew that we had almost four-hours of nothing but highway before us. Since there was nothing really interesting to see I encouraged Dad to take a nap. As Dad rested, I had lots of time to reflect on some things and to pray about others. That’s one of the benefits of windshield-time. Looking at the highway stretch as far as the horizon in front of and behind us, it felt like we were North of Nowhere and South of Somewhere — in an in-between kind of place. Life is full of the kinds of stretches where we find ourselves between here and there, between what was and what may be. These can easily become some of the most discouraging times on our journey or some of the very best times. What we do in those times and with those times is largely up to us. I personally like in-between times because they offer us the opportunity to consider or reconsider so many of the things that have a bearing on our lives.

Today has been a bittersweet day of reflection because it is my late mother’s birthday. Dad and I talked a lot about Mom today as we traveled those long miles between Carlsbad and Santa Fe. My sisters called to tell us that they had placed fresh roses at Mom’s grave. My brother also called to chat about Mom. We all still deeply miss her but are thankful for her influence in our lives. I personally thought a lot about Mom today on that long stretch of road South of Somewhere. I could not help but think of how pleased she would be that Dad and I are spending time together on this road trip. I also thought about something else today — about the fact that the in-between times will come, and when they do it’s always better to have someone with you. It makes the journey a whole lot better.