How I long for a trip, don’t need no grip,
I’m taking one more ride
‘Way out there in the prairie air,
I guess it’s in my hide…”
–Bob Nolan
“It isn’t the stations one has to worry about, it’s the side tracks… So many become sidetracked and missed the things that were worthwhile.”
–Louis L’Amour
Hard to believe that after 39 years that I do not have any actual teaching days left. However, just to let you know that I’m longing for a trip. Not one out of the country, that’s for sure, but a new trail to travel in life. It is definitely one that Annie and I have never traveled before, so much of what we will face will be new territory for you.
With retirement (or retreading) looming on the horizon we are taking one more ride. The plan is to move to the community of Coldspring, population under 900. That’s my size of town. It was founded because of the cold spring located there, and the first post office was established in 1847 with the community being named Coonskin. It was in 1850, that the town became known as Coldspring.
Maybe I would prefer the prairie air, actually the mountain air, but I will settle for the forest. It must be engrained in my hide, but it has sure taken its time to get here. There have been vacations to the High Lonesome and to the prairie and desert regions, but now there will be temporary settlement in the forests of East Texas.
By temporary, I mean that the day will come for me, for us all, to make that last trip. For sure, on that journey, whether by rapture or by the grave, we will not be taking a grip along with us. (For you modern folk, a grip was a suitcase). In fact, in this new trail we are traveling we are certainly learning the need for downsizing. People just seem to accumulate “stuff” throughout life. Not that it is all bad, but much of it is unnecessary.
A few years ago I did a study on Abraham. He has become one of my favorite Bible characters. There were a few times in his life where he had to pack up and move. He never bothered to build a house, for he never knew when God was going to tell him to move. Part of it was his location and part of it was due to his vocation. He lived in a tent, but that tent was really a home. An interesting item in the life of Abraham is that it was his normal custom, though a couple of times he neglected it, was that when he pitched his tent he built an altar. Right there is a good lesson for us. The tent/home should be where the heart is and with that there should also be an altar built in worship to the Lord.
“After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord.”
–Genesis 12:8 (NLT)