Unplanned Adventures

It's been an interesting weekend at our house. I'm not quite sure if interesting is the right word. Shocking? Stretching? Learning?

Wes and I have been shopping for over 2 years for an RV and finally purchased one. We've been to RV shows, traveled all over the state of Oklahoma looking at used RVs, researched campers, read all about RV buying and preparations ... and finally brought our RV home this weekend.

It was proudly sitting in our front yard for a few hours until we decided to move it to the back part of our lot. First, we had to take down some fence panels to get it back there, but that's not a problem. We're experts at putting up and taking down fence because we have Houdini reincarnated in our dog. So, the panels came down and then I stood in the back to guide Wes through the semi-narrow passage. He backs trailers all the time, so this wouldn't be a problem.

Except ...

The trailer is wider than his mirrors so if I'm standing directly in back of him while he's backing up, he can't see me. We were halfway through the process before we realized the extensions hadn't been put on his mirrors yet, so he was having to go through this partially blind at times. We also didn't communicate very well just exactly what hand signs we would be using. When I motioned for Wes to move to the right, he thought I was motioning for him to continue coming straight back. But Wes managed to back the trailer in spite of the narrow passage and half-crazed woman flailing around, trying to give directions. He backed it up slowly ... and then suddenly, it wouldn't back up anymore, even though there was nearly a half acre of back lot to go.

Apparently, when it has rained every day for a week, the ground gets a little too soft for a truck and a trailer to drive on without sinking up to the axles in mud. Apparently. Apparently to everyone else but us, that is.

And, when an RV gets stuck in the mud and continues to sink deeper and deeper on one side, it will get the leans. In fact, it gets the leans so much that it will just lean on the nearest obstacle, which just happens to be our fence.

Brand new RV. Stuck in the mud. Leaning on a fence.

Hmmm. What to do? Fortunately I'm married to a wonderful man who doesn't get extremely frustrated and irritated at minor catastrophes like these. We just got some shovels and proceeded to start digging -- from the far side of the trailer since the sunk in side is on the fence. Well, Wes was digging. I was fighting with a dog.

Remember, I told you we have an Houdini-type dog. He is on a very long lead while he's outside because that dadgum brilliant dog has jumped our fence on every side. We built it up until it's taller than me. Of course, since I'm only 5 feet tall, that's not saying much, but still we've worked on a lot of fencing around our acre lot. Finally, we realized that no fence was high enough, and he just had to be on a long lead with supervision while he was outside. Well, our escape artist dog saw a fence panel was down and the way out was directly in front of him. Somehow Houdini Wylie wiggled out of his harness and was heading for freedom, and certain death in the busy street in front of our house.

I'm not a young girl anymore. I don't like running. I'm not exceptionally strong. But I saw the dog was heading to disaster and mayhem. I couldn't catch up with the dog (puh-lease!), so I did the only reasonable thing to do.

I dove after him.

Diving on the ground, even though it's been softened by a week of rain, still hurts. Especially when you're not used to that. But guess what?

I caught the dang dog. Caught him right by the scruff of his neck and held on like my life was on the line ... which I felt like it initially was since all the air had been knocked out of me. From the other side of the truck, my husband saw my head disappear, heard my "ooooof!" as all of the air was forced out of my body, and he hurried to help me ... or give me rescue breathing, whichever was needed.

Between the both of us, we were able to get the dog inside. The feeling was coming back in my back and stomach after having a hard meeting with the ground. Wes had run to the rescue ... but Wes's body doesn't like it at all when Wes runs anymore. The RV was still stuck in the mud, leaning on the fence. We were panting ... and moaning ... and groaning ... and deciding RVs and dogs are highly overrated. But we persevered. We persevered to the extent that we were finally able to get Wes's truck out of the mud so he could work today ... and our bright, shiny new RV is waiting for the nice tow truck man to pull it about 20 feet to the gravel pad out front.

Honestly, I thought our RV adventures would be a little different than this. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but I know I didn't foresee this weekend. One thing I know however, is that I've got a wonderful man to experience all of life with, a good God that knows just how it's all going to go, and the willingness to step out into a different sort of adventure. That makes it all okay in my book.

There will be more RV adventures coming up, so stay tuned!

Broken Made Whole

Some days, it seems like all we can do is question: How do we recover from this? Will there ever be restoration and healing? Is there any control anywhere? Our feelings get in the way, and we can sink into a pit of despair and discouragement.

There's so much in this broken world that shatters us and leaves us bleeding, staring at the gaping wound and wondering if we'll ever recover. At the base of all of it is sin. Whether it's just part of the overall, fallen condition of the world ... or if it's a sin that we've committed, or that's been committed against us -- we feel them all. They all seek to break and destroy us.

These are things that I hate.

Infidelity. It breaks marriages and lives. It is a ripping apart of two hearts that God has put together. It destroys families, damages witnesses and testimonies. It is a walking death.

Infertility. It breaks God's perfect plan of being fruitful and multiplying. It causes grief to a woman's aching heart, and brings a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness to the heart of the man who wants to provide for his wife. It is an emptiness.

Infirmity. Bodies that no longer work as they used to. Diseases that run rampant through these weary bodies. A broken imperfection that keeps us from living as we're told we should. It wears us down, tires us out, causes us to feel incapable and futile. It is a destruction.

Addiction. Rebellion. Defiance. Hatred. Wars. The list can go on and on.

All of these words are a result of sin. Some due to a sinful and selfish choice. Others due to a fallen and imperfect world. But at the root of all are sin. Sin causes us to feel inadequate, empty, worthless, incomplete, and alone. We grieve and we mourn because we are suffering a loss that we were never meant to experience. In our innermost beings, we know we were meant for more than this.

God knows. He sees. He sees our shattered hearts, feels our deepest pain, hears our agonized cries, knows our innermost being. The world seems to continue on around us, but we're frozen in place, swallowed up in our grief. Grief is a natural part of dealing with loss, and we must grieve.

However, we cannot ever lose sight of the fact that ... God is.

God is ...
     ... ever present.
     ... sovereign.
     ... good.
     ... faithful.
     ... perfect.
     ... all-knowing.
     ... whole.

God is ... all that we are not, especially when we're dealing with a by-product of the brokenness of sin.

God is ... tenderly asking us to trust in Him even we're hurting and scared.

God is ... continuing to write our story.

And His love for us is immeasurable. That was proven by the cross. All of the ugliness and destruction of sin, Jesus took upon Himself. For you. For me. For our healing and restoration.

Listen. If you only get one thing out of reading this post I want this to be it.

The cross is the point in history that we can point to where it was all finished. It was done. This sin that ravages our world, that gashes our soul, that we battle with daily -- it was defeated by Jesus on the cross. The battle still rages, but the victory is already won.

There will be a day when we will see this sin done away with. No more infidelity. No more infertility. No more infirmity. All that is broken will become whole. All that is empty will be made full. Ashes to beauty. Mourning to dancing. All through Scripture, God talks about the Day of the Lord -- the time that He'll heal it all.

It is coming. It is certain. And we wait in anticipation for all to be made right.