Leaving everything

I drive hundreds of miles every weekend, which provides a lot of time to daydream. My daydreams are very predictable, depending on the season. Since this is Spring, I’ve been dreaming about camping. I love camping. We have a pop-up camper that is the focal point of many dreams. There’s nothing as wonderful as laying in the pop-up’s bed, feeling the night breeze and listening to crickets. We knew when we got the call to Peru that we’d have to give up many of the things we cherish. Obviously, the daily relationships with friends and family are the most costly. The good news is that using an internet phone service, we’ll be able to have a phone number in Ohio that will ring directly in Peru. So, we’ll only be a phone call away…more or less. Emotionally the thought of leaving close relationships behind is overwhelming, so we don’t dwell on it by choice. Nonetheless, our subconscious emotions have a way of breaking through our defenses. For me, this happens when I’m driving and see somebody’s new camper or a great place to camp. Then it gets me—we won’t be camping anymore. Aaaahhhhh! My subconscious goes into overload and I see myself trying to fit our camper in the overhead baggage compartment of the plane. The flight attendant says, “I’m sorry, Sir, but you’ll have to leave that behind.”

I say, “Of course I’ll have to leave it behind, anybody can see that. I just brought it on so I could say goodbye.”

The scene ends with some brutish baggage handlers ripping the camper from my steely grip, while the captain and flight attendant hold me back. With my arms stretched out, reaching for the camper, I say, “Goodbye sweet breezes…Goodbye pitter-patter of the rain of the aluminum roof…goodbye…”

In Luke, chapter 5, Jesus calls out to Peter, Andrew, James and John and says, “follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Luke 5:11 says, “When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.” (NASB)

He’s worth it.

Above is a picture of the camper from a XA trip back in September, 2004. Lena is holding Abi, who was one month old. The other people are XA alumni from Wilmington College (Shannon Treadway and Katrina Frazee). Tara Lydy (XA staffer at Wilmington) is preparing the teaching skit for that smoky Sunday morning.

This is a picture of Hannah, reading in the camper at Table Rock Lake. We'll be selling the camper this summer. If you're interested, send me an email at billshrader@earthlink.net.