Are we there yet?

Before I get into the subject of the title of this post I wanted to fill you in on how things went in Beldenville, Wisconsin. The church is beautiful. It is obvious the members of the church take great pride in their house of worship. Some of the striking features are the needlepoint cushions for the communion rail and the pastor's chair, as well as the beautiful east-wall altar with an elaborate raredos. It was a beautiful day as well, and a nice drive through the Wisconsin countryside where we saw wild turkeys, geese and ducks enjoying the farm fields.

Lots of people complemented me on my sermon, but the parking lot cleared out very quickly after worship! I think, since it was the last day of the Pierce County Fair, lots of folks wanted to get home and change so they could enjoy that atmosphere on that beautiful day. The only other explanation I can think of is that since the text was about Jesus walking on the water and Peter getting out of the boat to walk out to him, maybe a bunch of folks felt a sudden urge to get to the nearest lake. At any rate, worship went well, and I am thankful that I had this experience to help me prepare for my internship. That, of course, brings up the subject matter of the title of this post.

When we were kids we were pretty typical kids. Often when dad wanted to take us on a nice, long Sunday drive, inevitably two things happened; One, Bob would get car sick; and two, one of the other of us would ask, "Are we there yet?" It was a sign of impatience because the trip was taking, in the mind of a child, an excruciatingly long time to get over with! That's pretty much how I feel about this move to Dundee. We move Monday. Today is Saturday. Tomorrow is Sunday for the rest of the world, but for Anna and me it is Cleaning Day. Monday we load the big truck and head down the road, but today is mostly just waiting to get going. I don't really like waiting. I tend to get impatient, and so in my mind I am reminded of those long car rides and the inevitable question; "Are we there yet?" "No, we're not there yet!" I can hear dad's impatient response, the exasperated response of someone who thought this would be fun, but is having second thoughts about the car ride, or maybe about having had so many children, and does God laugh out loud when Bob gets car sick?

Eventually we would get to whatever place dad wanted us to see. A mountaintop vista, a farm with animals and perhaps a tractor, I think we even met some dairy cows at least once. Sometimes an excursion just for the sake of the excursion. Anyway, the trip always had a point, and at some level was always worth it, so we did them again and again. No, we're not in Dundee yet, all of our stuff is in boxes, ready to go, the fridge is nearly empty, but has just enough stuff in it to get to Monday, except for salsa, for some reason we have lots of that. Monday we will move, salsa and all, to Dundee. I know the trip will be worth it, but in the meantime, we wait. No, we're not there yet! Blogged by Don