Why did we do this?
For moments like this
In 2004, with the imminent failure of a printing business I owned, and what felt like the world crashing in around me, I was looking for a way to escape. At the time, it seemed as though we could lose our home and the idea of buying a Motor Home to travel the country dug its way into my mind. What was nothing more than a mental distraction, a way to think about something fun and exciting, beyond the desperate circumstances in which I found myself, became a reality in 2007.
In June of 2006 we found the nerve to put our home on the market, not because our financial condition demanded it, but because we felt compelled. A year and a half after the motor home idea entered my brain, my circumstances and outlook on life had reversed. I am thrilled with where we are and grateful for how God has cared for and blessed us. My other business is growing. I have a wife and children who love me, parents who live next door and adore my children, and a wonderful church family with deep friendships. All the while, there has been a nagging discontent that comes from the burden of my possessions, the pressure to maintain and the realization that more money and things will not satisfy me. I've come to realize I have spent the better part of my life building my kingdom and in the world's eyes have had more success than most: big home, nice cars, cool vacations and lots of stuff. A mental tally of how much time, effort and money I have wasted to impress people I don't know or matter to me makes me ashamed. Add to this a sense of urgency to redeem the time, slow down the clock, focus on the people that matter most to me and I am ripe for a new direction. Our oldest daughter turned 13 in December, 2006 and her sister is 10. In the blink of an eye they will be asking me to walk them down the isle, and my sons (8 & 3) will want the keys to my car before I know what has happened. The window of opportunity to do what we are planning is closing quickly, and I must take advantage of it.
After selling our home in January of 2007, hours of research, attending RV shows, reading books on full-time RVing and asking a lot of questions in the RV related web-forums, we picked up our new Alfa Gold SOooo Long motor coach. Storing our belongings, except the essentials, which included 33 pairs of my wife’s shoes, we moved into our new home on wheels, or “house bus”, as our three year old son called it. Being one who loves to plan and then execute the plan, I spent months researching and planning the places we would go, see and do. What was considered wisdom by all, we determined that our first stop would be close to home. Just in case something went wrong we would be close enough to get help. Due to ill-placed faith in modern technology, i.e.: GPS, what should have been a short two hour trip morphed into a five hour, “Dear God, why we are doing this?” experience. Some valuable lessons were learned that night; such as when driving a 40 foot motorhome, towing a Chevy Suburban the fewer times you have to turn around the better. When we finally arrived at our campground, after dark, after office hours, we located our site, I extended the leveling jacks and slides to then go hook up the water, electric and the still “nightmare” causing sewer hose, only to find my sewer hose was not long enough. Terrified that I had just made the worst decision of my life, and had drug my family along with me, I disconnected the water and electric, yelled at my wife to move the suburban out of the way, pulled in the slides and leveling jacks to reposition the RV closer to the sewer. A new order of steps were established, and I bought a second sewer hose just in case. I am nothing if not a quick learner.
With everything connected, the frustrations of the night were quickly replaced with the excitement and anticipation of what lay ahead. One of the many goals I had for this adventure was to see as many sunrises as possible. The alarm came early, I hit snooze and began the argument with myself about whether to get up or go back to sleep. Sleep won and I rolled over. As I did, through a gap in our shades I saw a brilliant glimmer of pink and I quietly grabbed my clothes and bible and went outside. It proved to be the first of many quiet mornings I would spend with my precious wife watching the sun rise.
While at our first stop, a neighboring camper, a big Harley riding character came over to talk. I told him what we were doing and the man nearly cried he was so excited for us. He had goose bumps as he began telling me places we had to see, and I knew then that this was going to be a very good thing.
In addition to redeeming the time and sunrises we wanted to experience this great country in a way most people only get to read about, to see God’s creation. During those eleven months we saw His creation. We saw it in the mystery of Carlsbad Caverns, in the grandness of the Grand Canyon, in the majesty of the Sequoia Forest, in the inspiring beauty of Yosemite, in the heights of the Redwoods, in the exhilarating experience of playing Pebble Beach. From Crater Lake, Yellowstone, the Rocky Mountains, the strange rock formations of Utah, the cornfields of the Ohio river valley, the countryside of New England in the fall, in the history of our country, the Outer banks of the east coast, the beaches of Florida to so many places in between. God’s word is true – the whole earth is full of His Glory. I saw His glory in the faces of my children as they stood in awed silence starring at what God has made, and in their prayers when they thanked their heavenly Father for the trip. I saw His glory in my wife who day after day, joyfully showed us Jesus in her loving service to her family. I saw His glory each Sunday when visiting another church and so many people welcomed us like family. I saw His glory through God answering so many of your prayers for safety and health. Outside of Bronson nearly falling into the Grand Canyon, and a few attempts on my life we didn’t have a single close call.
01-15-2007
As I sit in our family room, with a fire in the fireplace, and a winter storm bearing down on central Texas I can't help wishing we were in Key West as our original plans had entailed. Nearly a month ago, on December 17th, the contingent contract on our home fell through. With all the plans and preparations we had made for our journey, it would have been easy to become frustrated, even angry at our circumstances, but to what end? We determined instead to take the house off the market over the holidays, and enjoy Christmas in our home for what will likely be the last time in this house. I am, at times, guilty of wallowing in my disappointment that my plans did not come together as I had hoped, but I mostly find myself excited by waiting to see what God is going to do. Clearly, He desires us to be in Austin a while longer to complete a greater work in us for His glory. Never before in my Christian walk have I been as willing to let God be God in my life as I have been in recent months, and hope to be for the rest of my years. So much of what has motivated me to pursue this year long journey has been to put us in a position to be able to say "yes" to God. My inability or unwillingness to say yes has been largely due to my pride and pursuit of material possessions. The burden of my stuff and pursuit of it has been a wall between God and me that I intend to break down. The sale of our home and moving into a 400 square foot RV will go a long way in teaching us what we can live without. Traveling the country, I hope, will open our eyes to a much bigger world than the comfortable life we have made for ourselves. Reducing our living expenses will allow us the freedom to abundantly give to the needs of others, and to store up treasures in heaven. That is when I will know we are there.
In June of 2006 we found the nerve to put our home on the market, not because our financial condition demanded it, but because we felt compelled. A year and a half after the motor home idea entered my brain, my circumstances and outlook on life had reversed. I am thrilled with where we are and grateful for how God has cared for and blessed us. My other business is growing. I have a wife and children who love me, parents who live next door and adore my children, and a wonderful church family with deep friendships. All the while, there has been a nagging discontent that comes from the burden of my possessions, the pressure to maintain and the realization that more money and things will not satisfy me. I've come to realize I have spent the better part of my life building my kingdom and in the world's eyes have had more success than most: big home, nice cars, cool vacations and lots of stuff. A mental tally of how much time, effort and money I have wasted to impress people I don't know or matter to me makes me ashamed. Add to this a sense of urgency to redeem the time, slow down the clock, focus on the people that matter most to me and I am ripe for a new direction. Our oldest daughter turned 13 in December, 2006 and her sister is 10. In the blink of an eye they will be asking me to walk them down the isle, and my sons (8 & 3) will want the keys to my car before I know what has happened. The window of opportunity to do what we are planning is closing quickly, and I must take advantage of it.
After selling our home in January of 2007, hours of research, attending RV shows, reading books on full-time RVing and asking a lot of questions in the RV related web-forums, we picked up our new Alfa Gold SOooo Long motor coach. Storing our belongings, except the essentials, which included 33 pairs of my wife’s shoes, we moved into our new home on wheels, or “house bus”, as our three year old son called it. Being one who loves to plan and then execute the plan, I spent months researching and planning the places we would go, see and do. What was considered wisdom by all, we determined that our first stop would be close to home. Just in case something went wrong we would be close enough to get help. Due to ill-placed faith in modern technology, i.e.: GPS, what should have been a short two hour trip morphed into a five hour, “Dear God, why we are doing this?” experience. Some valuable lessons were learned that night; such as when driving a 40 foot motorhome, towing a Chevy Suburban the fewer times you have to turn around the better. When we finally arrived at our campground, after dark, after office hours, we located our site, I extended the leveling jacks and slides to then go hook up the water, electric and the still “nightmare” causing sewer hose, only to find my sewer hose was not long enough. Terrified that I had just made the worst decision of my life, and had drug my family along with me, I disconnected the water and electric, yelled at my wife to move the suburban out of the way, pulled in the slides and leveling jacks to reposition the RV closer to the sewer. A new order of steps were established, and I bought a second sewer hose just in case. I am nothing if not a quick learner.
With everything connected, the frustrations of the night were quickly replaced with the excitement and anticipation of what lay ahead. One of the many goals I had for this adventure was to see as many sunrises as possible. The alarm came early, I hit snooze and began the argument with myself about whether to get up or go back to sleep. Sleep won and I rolled over. As I did, through a gap in our shades I saw a brilliant glimmer of pink and I quietly grabbed my clothes and bible and went outside. It proved to be the first of many quiet mornings I would spend with my precious wife watching the sun rise.
While at our first stop, a neighboring camper, a big Harley riding character came over to talk. I told him what we were doing and the man nearly cried he was so excited for us. He had goose bumps as he began telling me places we had to see, and I knew then that this was going to be a very good thing.
In addition to redeeming the time and sunrises we wanted to experience this great country in a way most people only get to read about, to see God’s creation. During those eleven months we saw His creation. We saw it in the mystery of Carlsbad Caverns, in the grandness of the Grand Canyon, in the majesty of the Sequoia Forest, in the inspiring beauty of Yosemite, in the heights of the Redwoods, in the exhilarating experience of playing Pebble Beach. From Crater Lake, Yellowstone, the Rocky Mountains, the strange rock formations of Utah, the cornfields of the Ohio river valley, the countryside of New England in the fall, in the history of our country, the Outer banks of the east coast, the beaches of Florida to so many places in between. God’s word is true – the whole earth is full of His Glory. I saw His glory in the faces of my children as they stood in awed silence starring at what God has made, and in their prayers when they thanked their heavenly Father for the trip. I saw His glory in my wife who day after day, joyfully showed us Jesus in her loving service to her family. I saw His glory each Sunday when visiting another church and so many people welcomed us like family. I saw His glory through God answering so many of your prayers for safety and health. Outside of Bronson nearly falling into the Grand Canyon, and a few attempts on my life we didn’t have a single close call.
01-15-2007
As I sit in our family room, with a fire in the fireplace, and a winter storm bearing down on central Texas I can't help wishing we were in Key West as our original plans had entailed. Nearly a month ago, on December 17th, the contingent contract on our home fell through. With all the plans and preparations we had made for our journey, it would have been easy to become frustrated, even angry at our circumstances, but to what end? We determined instead to take the house off the market over the holidays, and enjoy Christmas in our home for what will likely be the last time in this house. I am, at times, guilty of wallowing in my disappointment that my plans did not come together as I had hoped, but I mostly find myself excited by waiting to see what God is going to do. Clearly, He desires us to be in Austin a while longer to complete a greater work in us for His glory. Never before in my Christian walk have I been as willing to let God be God in my life as I have been in recent months, and hope to be for the rest of my years. So much of what has motivated me to pursue this year long journey has been to put us in a position to be able to say "yes" to God. My inability or unwillingness to say yes has been largely due to my pride and pursuit of material possessions. The burden of my stuff and pursuit of it has been a wall between God and me that I intend to break down. The sale of our home and moving into a 400 square foot RV will go a long way in teaching us what we can live without. Traveling the country, I hope, will open our eyes to a much bigger world than the comfortable life we have made for ourselves. Reducing our living expenses will allow us the freedom to abundantly give to the needs of others, and to store up treasures in heaven. That is when I will know we are there.