Road Trip

Instead of flying yesterday, I took a road trip. There was a potential customer that I needed to see in central, south Texas, so I rented a car and took off. You see, by the time I figured in getting to the airport, waiting until my flight, flying to San Antonio, renting a car, driving to the customer, driving back, catching my flight back, driving home. Well, it seemed like more fun to drive.

So I picked up the car and headed out. Made a Starbucks stop in Waco, then drove the back roads (Hwy 77) to Victoria, Texas. I had never driven that route. It cut across a route I used to drive all the time when we lived in Houston and drove to Abilene for family visits. Cameron was the cross road when we would head to Temple from west Houston. When my bride and I were newlyweds we would compete for who HAD to drive, when the kids arrived we competed for who GOT to drive. But this trip was just me, and more importantly, my thoughts.

You see, I don't turn on the radio, or listen to CDs. I think. I ponder. I play the eternal "what if" game in my head. Sometimes the thoughts are trivia, sometimes esoteric, occasionally profound. I am starting a discussion group of 20-somethings next weekend, so I was wondering if the normal spiritual formation starting point was best. The question: How does God interact with this creation of His? or does He? What does it look like? How can we tell it is him and not some random event? Can we learn to anticipate the actions/non-actions of a supreme being?
You see the problem is that any explanation we come up with is problematic. So we will simply try to explore the different philosophies and see where they lead. Journeys are funny that way.

So as I blasted from north Texas through the rolling hills of central Texas to the scrub oak of south Texas, these thoughts kept me company and occupied.

The trip home was not nearly as fun, business interruptions, phone calls, and the inability to track for more than 4 or 5 hours created a more mundane drive home.

I'll keep you posted on the results of the conversation with the group. I always learn something while inflicting a little uncertainty of my own.

Godspeed,
Don