Swinging on a Pedulum

Too much and not enough
I swing on the pendulum of life.

Too much and not enough
Love, intelligence, experience

Too much and not enough
Too tall, too short.  Too young, too old.

Too much and not enough
Not smart enough, nice enough, patient enough

Too much and not enough
Back and forth I swing

Too much and not enough
I struggle through each day

Too much and not enough
These words repeat through my brain

Too much and not enough
I long for someone to still the dizzying sway

Too much and not enough
Will someone ever tell me "just right"?

The LORD Your God is with You Wherever You Go



The Word says in Joshua 1:9 "the LORD your God is with you wherever you go".  I have evidence of this from my recent trip to New England.

The week before the Independence Day holiday, my nephew heard a noise from his car.  He took it to his mechanic who told him it was a wheel bearing and replaced it.  However, he still heard a noise and took it back to the mechanic who said it was the Universal Joint and he should have it replaced, but the car was still drivable in the meantime.  The evening of July 3, about 30 minutes from home, the u-joint broke, the drive shaft fell off and my nephew and his family were stranded for a bit.  My sister picked them up and got them home that evening, but their car was in the shop over the holiday weekend and I helped to chauffeur them around town.

During one of these trips, my nephew commented that he heard a noise from my front tires that sounded like a bad wheel bearing.  I hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary and wrote this off as him being extra sensitive due to his own recent experience.  However, as days went by and my trip to Maine approached, I thought I just might be better off having the bearings checked.  It turned out that both the front wheel bearings were shot and needed replaced.

Though I don't like that my nephew had to go through the experiences he did, had he not been in my car and told me the sounds he heard in my tires, I might have had major problems a thousand miles from home.  God provided for me through my nephew's misfortune (for the record, his mechanic was upset at having given him bad advice so he only charged my nephew for the parts, saving a considerable sum on labor charges).

One morning when I was in Acadia National Park, I stopped to get gas before I ventured in to the park for a day of hiking.  The plastic ring that allows the cap to hang from the filler inlet broke long ago so, as I always do I removed the cap, placed it on the top of the car, and filled the tank.  Then I drove  - up steep mountains, down steep mountains, and around curvy switchbacks - at a bit above the posted speed limit, I confess.  I hiked for a few hours, returned to my vehicle and then drove around curvy switchbacks, up steep mountains, down steep mountains (at roughly the same speed as before) and returned to camp.  Hours later I was walking past the car when I noticed the fuel tank door was ajar.  Curious, I went over to shut the door when I saw the cap was missing.  A little shocked, I instantly looked up and saw the cap still sitting on the roof, right where I'd left it that morning.

A few days later, as I was leaving Maine and heading to Vermont I set my GPS and placed it on the dashboard.  The mounting device I'd had for the GPS broke a year ago so I'd always just laid it on the dash.  I didn't need to see it, anyway; I just listened to the voice and followed what it told me.  I had never driven to New England before and had no idea of what roads or highways there were so I was completely at the mercy of my GPS.

After setting the unit, it displayed that I had about six hours of driving time ahead of me, which matched what I thought.  The GPS screen out of view, I proceeded to follow it's directions - drive to highlighted area, turn right, drive 6 miles, etc, etc.  About twenty minutes in to my trip, with no reason to mess with the unit, I picked up the GPS and saw it now displayed I had 10 hours of drive time!  What???!!!

I quickly pulled over and reset it.  Somehow, I must have bumped something and set myself on a course to who knows where.  Had I not picked up the GPS at that time, I could have been hours out of my way before I caught the error; probably somewhere at the Canadian border with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arresting me for attempting to enter the country without a passport.

These are the issue that I KNOW about.  How many passed by without my noticing?

When times were tough for the Israelites, God continually told them to remember.  Remember how He got them out of Egypt.  Remember how He parted the Red Sea.  Remember how He gave them manna in the desert.  Remember...  He gave them many instances to remember as proof of His love and care for them so they could trust Him in future not so easy times.

He gave me plenty just on this one trip; not just safe travel over 1,946 miles, but also wonderful memories of hiking, the beauty of His creation, and friendships.  Now, when times are difficult and the vacation afterglow and my tan fade, I need only remember.