We spent the last week and a half driving to Southern California and back, stopping here and there, visiting friends, spending time as a family, solidifying old friendships, rekindling, reconnecting. It was good for our hearts as we deepened laugh lines, tuned our ears and hearts toward one another and God, and allowed our eyes to see with faith rather than certainty.
The road from here to there was just under 1100 miles, and though that may seem long and arduous to some, I loved every mile of the trek, on the way there. The return trip was equally as beautiful, but stopping at every Rest Area from Zion National Park to the western slope of Colorado so our sweet girl could deal with food poisoning kind of wasn’t so beautiful. Her bit of silver lining: she was grateful the rest of us didn’t eat what she ate…
One ocean side drive in particular was marked with signs stating unstable ground, constant shifting, ground movement for the next 0.8 miles. It was a stretch out on the Palos Verdes peninsula with a slow speed limit and constant road patches. I did a little research and learned it’s a geological site that’s been shifting for years with shifts up to 10cm a day. In terms of measurement, that may not seem much to our eye, but as far as a road and mountainside go, well, it’s mucho. And I as drove the loopy, lopsided road, having the warning signs in the back of my mind, I thought about how life is the same. How one slight change might not seem like a big deal, but it can change the course entirely, like for the homeowners whose foundations were broken up by the soil shift.
Photo credit: http://dailyphotofromranchopalosverdes.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html
We are in a time of transition, with big bumps and 10cm shifts, all adding up to change. We know from our time away what things we value, those being: relationships and our trust in God. We revel in the beauty of creation and are thankful for the time we had ocean side, but when it comes down to it, no matter where we are, if we are together, we’ll be home. We know bumps in the road are inevitable, some forewarned, others potholes out of nowhere without warning signs. Some miles will be marked with construction and repairs. Sometimes we’ll need to pull off out of necessity, at no particular destination, just because our guts can’t take it. Other stretches will simply pass by, the stripes in the center eaten up like Pac-Man pellets, scenery beautiful as we whizz by.
The only stable ground I’ve found in all my travels is God and God alone. He is firm, solid, unshakeable, non-shifting. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and His love for us never changes. God and God alone. And if my trust isn’t in Him, a 10cm shift in soil, food poisoning, or a 5.1 earthquake like the one that happened while we were in CA, won’t only rattle me, but set me off my course.
What if life isn’t smooth? What if trusting in God isn’t smooth, either, but trusting Him means we’ll be on the ride of our lives?
It’s the only ride I want to be on…
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