On The Road Again

Yup, on the road again. We did that so often, that my very non-musical mom eventually developed alternative lyrics to that song. 😉 Living on the road constantly isn’t easy: emotionally, physically, or mentally. Especially when you are homeless and living on the road. With a family. I know we had is pretty well off, since my dad was able to work while we traveled, since he works online. Also, all members of the family were able to care for themselves for the most part (except for those with joint pain that prevented shoe-tying or food-cooking). But it was still hard. I remember one week that we moved four times. Not like, we were driving day after day in different place each night (though we certainly did that), but like, we fully and completely packed and unpack everything four times in four different houses that we thought we would be staying in long-term. At least, longer than a day or two. Before I launch further into this post, I want you to know that I get you if you are living in a sate of chaos, and home seems to have disappeared.. I truly do. 🙂

My siblings and I joke that we are now experts at packing everything: kitchen, clothes, etc. Everything, in thirty minutes flat without explanation. Just the words “Pack up”, or “We’re moving again” is all it takes and the three of us can have everything in the car in half an hour. Literally. I’m not exaggerating. Come time us sometime! 😀 Granted, we did not have many possessions at that point having gotten rid of everything, but still. We came up with this great bumper sticker for ‘moldy people’: ‘My other car is a U-Haul’. :D. I even spent three weeks literally living in our car, only going inside to use the bathroom when absolutely necessary. At that point we were in the middle of no where in Montana. It could get pretty cold in the care, or pretty hot. Not to mention the fear of bears! (Sadly I never actually saw any in our six weeks there). Funny story, at the place that we were, they had guinea fowl. The first night I stayed outside my dad came and talked to me first and told me that I shouldn’t worry, if there was anything out there the guinea fowl would raise the alarm. Of course, that’s the night they went nuts. 😀 We never did find out what set them off, but thankfully it didn’t bother us.

Anyways, moving on! (That was for you, Dylan).

As I was saying, constant travel sounds like fun! It sounds adventuresome! It sounds so cool! But it isn’t. Maybe it would be cool without all the stress of not having a home to return to, or having to deal with mold, Lyme, and MCS, but as it is…. not so fun. As Bilbo Baggins says:

“We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!” -Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

I always laughed at this quote, because it fit us in many ways! Our ‘adventure’ literally did make us late for dinner even. You see, in Montana in the summer it never gets completely dark until like 10 o’clock. And when you are spend your time outdoors you lose track of time. 🙂

However, I do disagree somewhat with the first line of Bilbo’s quote: “no use for adventures”. Yes, adventures are hard, but I think they surely have a use. God never promised us a life without adventure, rather he assured us that we could not escape adventure if we were to live our lives with Him at the helm. Switch the word ‘adventure’ for hardship and nobody can escape a life of adventure. The difference is, when you face a hardship with God it is still really hard, but it gets to be something beyond just a ‘hardship’ and in the long run can be counted as an ‘adventure’. In God, there is a purpose for everything. We may not be able to see it right now, and we may never be able to see it clearly , but there is a purpose. God isn’t just sitting up in Heaven, delighting in our suffering, laughing evilly. First of all he isn’t evil, there is nothing evil about Him. and Secondly,. he is God! Not W.I.C.K.E.D. from the Maze Runner series (note: even in that book, W.I.C.K.E.D. had a purpose). God loves us so dearly, and that is why he allows us to go through trials, He trusts that in Him we are strong enough to not only survive, but to thrive.

 “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied.  “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

John 16:31-33 (NIV) (Emphasis mine)