Travel Guides

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. Jeremiah 29:11 (The Message)



For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

We’re still thinking about where to go for our first week of vacation this summer. While we’ll go to Asheville in September, the first week is up in the air. I get three weeks of vacation but husband only gets two weeks. Those two weeks can only be used between June 1 and September 30 and cannot be taken consecutively. That pretty much rules out Alaska until after we retire. In the old days with children still in school, we had to take any trips during their summer vacations. Usually, it was to the Rainbow River or somewhere else close to home. Husband didn’t like to take the kids on long car trips. I remember once on the Blue Ridge Parkway when oldest son was whining about feeling carsick, but it was youngest son, still a baby, who started upchucking. But, now, the world is our oyster. We are free to choose where we want to go and how we want to get there. Of course, husband still doesn’t like long car trips, nor does he like to fly. He prefers traveling by motorcycle, but my two hour butt limits how far we can go in one day. We’ve been going round and round with me trying to get input from him and not impose my will for a change. I say, “Do you want to go so and so and do such and such?” He says, “I don’t care. You chose.” But, then, when I start making firm plans, he balks. Today, I went to the local library and brought home twenty travel books. I handed him his glasses and set him to work reading, “The Most Scenic Drives in America,” “Great American Vacations,” “Off the Beaten Path,” “Fromer’s USA,” “Washington, DC for Dummies,” “American’s National Parks,” and more. I threw in “The Magic and Mystery of Ireland” for good measure, but he didn’t take the bait. Because the week we are considering going on vacation begins with Father’s Day, he finally confessed he had told oldest son we would come see him in Pensacola. He also said he wants to go see a car museum in Tallahassee. So that means we are headed to the upper Gulf Coast. We will only stay in Pensacola a few days as oldest son and his girlfriend are busy trying to make enough money to pay rent and student loans and then, I think we will go to New Orleans and Baton Rouge for a few days before returning to Tallahassee and the car museum and then, home. At least we are a little closer to figuring out what we will do. It’s taking us a long time just to plan one week’s vacation. Yet, God made plans for my life long before I was born. He assures me that they are good and will give me hope for the future. Those twenty travel guides might get me to Louisiana, but there’s only one, the Bible, that will get me through this life!