Road Trip Tales..

Derek and I were both leaning as far forward as our seat belts would allow. Every muscle was tense and alert, despite the middle of the night hour and the hundreds of miles already tackled. En route to Texas for a family reunion, we ended up smack dab in the middle of an extreme, spring blizzard. Derek was driving, I was co-pilot, and the boys, clad in footie pajamas, were fast asleep in the backseat. The mountain pass had been difficult, but the plows were out in full force and arriving safely on the other side had boosted our confidence. It was when we were redirected through middle-of-nowhere-New Mexico, however, that conditions worsened significantly.

The whipping wind forced the snow to blow completely horizontal and vision was limited to that which was immediately in front of us. The drifts on the left side of the road were 3ft deep and slowing down only resulted in our car being sucked in; the only option was to plow straight through. My job was to look for the yellow line; centering our vehicle on it gave us confidence that we weren't too close to either ditch. When there was not massive piles of snow to punch through, there was black ice to contend with. The only other vehicles we saw were in the ditch. The snow lasted for 13 hours straight and turning around was impossible. Stopping would have ensured our vehicle becoming one with the white surroundings. Our only course of action was to keep driving forward.

And we made it! By the grace of God, and because of angels surrounding our vehicle; we made it through! Derek had to dig us out of a snow drift once, with his bare hands, and we successfully turned an 11 hour road trip into 21 hours. But the key word is: successfully! The next morning we pulled into Denny's for what may have been the most delicious stack of pancakes we've ever eaten and a little bit of stress laughing as the tension wore off. It was then we started hearing from people across the country who had been awake in the night and said they thought of us and prayed for our journey. God's faithfulness never ceases to amaze. And, yes, another story was born.
As Derek always says, while I'm rehashing an event, 'This sounds like a blog post...' And it's true. I love the journey, the adventures found in unexpected places and the way God is masterfully weaving together all the tiniest details of this life. That doesn't mean I don't balk at hardship, interruption and plans gone awry. I certainly did not enjoy our night of driving through the blizzard; in fact, I don't know if I've ever been quite so scared in my life. But it would be silly not to admit to the massive story potential wrapped up in even the most terrifying of blizzards! After all, what would I write about if our road trip to Texas had been uneventful and completely safe?!

I'm reading through Exodus now and in Chapter 13 I see how God instructs the Israelite people to act after leaving Egypt. There is a dedication of firstborns, a Festival to be celebrated yearly, bread without yeast and specific sacrifices. And the LORD says it is all for the sake of remembering. He does not want the people to forget. "..you must explain to your children, 'I am celebrating what the LORD did for me when I left Egypt.' "(Exodus 13:8) "And in the future, your children will ask you, 'What does all this mean?' Then you will tell them, 'With the power of his mighty hand, the LORD brought us out of Egypt, the place of our slavery.' "(Exodus 13:14) Stories passed down from generation to generation to ensure no one looses sight of what God has done. 'Then you will tell them'! If anyone had epic road-trip tales, it's the Israelites!

But two participants can tell very different stories about the exact same event. Are we skeptical or willing to give the benefit of the doubt. Is the cup half full or half empty? Are the hardships of life roadblocks and deterrents or training courses to strengthen and prepare us? How we describe a situation varies greatly on the filters through which we see life. And the way we tell our stories is the way our children (or whomever your audience may be) will remember it. Do I believe that God is faithful? If my answer is truly yes, that should affect how every single one of my stories is told. 
I am not suggesting we soften details or let hardships seem less than they really were. But Owen and Daniel can either remember 'that one time we drove through the night in a white-out blizzard' as a horribly miserable event that will deter us from ever venturing out in a snow storm again. OR our boys can remember a crazy, wild adventure where Dad and Mom had to be fully engaged and work together to bring us out on the other side with the help of a multitude of angels!

In the next chapter of Exodus, with Pharaoh in hot pursuit and the Red Sea blocking their path, the Israelites panicked and said to Moses, "Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness?" (Exodus 14:10) How quickly their opinion of the situation had changed. Or, at the very least, they were choosing to view the circumstance through a different lens. Can you imagine what their kids felt as they heard their parents talk this way? As I dig into their story, this is repeated countless times; losing sight of what God has already brought them through, they choose to look at hardships through overwhelmed and frustrated eyes and tell a story that fails to point to Jesus. (And I know they're not the only ones...) 

I don't think we need to sweeten up our stories and put a cherry on top before telling them and I definitely don't think we need to be fake. But I am convicted about the stories I tell. They can either draw people closer to the One who has set us free... or not. The simplicity of this is surprising. And the ramifications are staggering. At least that's what I see in these pages describing the journey of the Israelites. When they failed to point the next generation to the One who rescued them from bondage, everything fell apart. 

In Judges 2, Joshua, Moses' successor, 'sent the people away, each of the tribes left to take possession of the land allotted to them.' That means they had finally arrived in the long sought after Promised Land. But verse 10 says, 'After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the LORD or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.' And as you read on, the depravity is astonishing; Baal worship and child sacrifice by the people whose parents walked through the Red Sea on dry ground and ate bread from heaven! Something definitely got lost in translation or, more likely, wasn't told at all. 

"Storytelling is the most powerful way to put idea into the world." -Robert McKee

As long as we are alive, we have stories to tell. And even if we refuse to tell them, our lives will do the talking. What matters to us will come through in our daily living. Our perception of circumstances will be observed by all those around us, and it will affect how they live their own lives. So, the question is: will we choose to tell our 'road trip tales' in a way that points back to Jesus? Will I embrace the inevitable roadblocks (and blizzards!) as part of my journey? Because they will happen regardless, the only aspect within my control is my translation of any given event. How will I describe this to my people? What story will I pass on? Which words will I allow to come out of my mouth, knowing that each sentence matters.. 

I pray my family will see me fighting for joy amidst circumstances that threaten to overwhelm. I hope that my 'road trip tales' will always be told through the knowledge of God's unending love and mercy, which changes everything. We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD, about his power and his mighty wonders... So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.' (Psalm 78:4,7)

'If you don't fight for joy, it's your children who lose. You will be most remembered by what brought you most joy.' Ann Voskamp