We had planned the trip for weeks, with the children all getting excited, saving our pennies, organising the house, and figuring out the logistics of having ‘Miss A’ back and forth to Melbourne during our holiday. The day came and we all awoke at 2am. That turned out to be the easy part. We were all bundled in the car by 3am, complete with Jazz in her kennel, in the trailer. We were off on the 4 hour journey to Melbourne to pick ‘Miss A’ up and continue on to Adelaide to visit with John’s family. (A further 8-9 hours)
We got to Glenrowan? and John thought he’d just check on the dog and the trailer to make sure all was well. Problem? You betcha! The car wouldn’t start and the charge light stayed on, telling us that the battery wasn’t charging. Oh dear, we had a deadline to pick ‘Miss A’ up and here we were at 4.15am in the middle of nowhere…John thought the problem was with the alternator and seeing as how we have a spare one at home, he didn’t think it wise to attempt a 12 hour drive with the car not working properly. So, I called ‘A’ (don’t you love mobile phones!) and she ended up catching the train home while we waited in Glenrowan until the sun came up, so that we wouldn’t have to use the car lights, thinking that this might take even more power from the dying battery.
We got home, and the children and I all had a sleep while poor John worked on the car. We went and picked ‘A’ up at 11.30am and then John tinkered with the car for the remainder of the day. He couldn’t figure out what the problem was but tried a few things and it all seemed to be going well. We thought that we’d try again.
TAKE 2
I groggily awoke and showerd this morning at 3.30am but I could NOT wake John. (He didn’t have a sleep yesterday when we all did, and he had a late night.) I flopped back on the bed beside him and didn’t wake until 8am!!! Argh, so much for our early start! Oh well, the children had only just woken too so I guess we all needed some sleep.
We piled in the car yet again and set off…this time we were altogether. 2 adults, 5 children and Jazz, the beagle. The car seemed to be going fine and we stopped at Glenrowan AGAIN just to check the car and trailer. Would you believe it? The charge light came on and the battery seemed to have no life in it. John fiddled with it for an hour while we fed and watered Jazz and eventually John decided that it still wasn’t *right* so we came home again. The weird thing is that the battery and car seemed fine when we got home!!!!
For two days in a row we have set off only to get (approximately) 100 kilometres away, turn back and head home. We’re staying…for now.?? We don’t give up easily in this family and have set our minds to trying again. We’ll set off next week, dropping ‘A’ in Melbourne for training and we’ll continue on to Adelaide where we’ll stay for one week and then head over to Canberra for Softball Nationals. I guess that means we’re one of a few things. We’re either:
1) Stupid
2) Stubborn
3) Really enjoy traveling
4) Really want to go to Adelaide or
5) All of the above…and then some.
Usually when we go away on holdays we are quite disorganised and leave things until the last minute. Not so for this trip! I left the house clean and tidy and have all things organised. John spent a few days working on the car to make sure it was all going well. Despite all this, stuff still went wrong.
However, I have been reminded of Scripture, which I may have taken slightly out of context but the Lord will use it to show me things anyway.
A person may plan his path, but ADONAI directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9
ADONAI directs a person’s steps, and he delights in his way. He may stumble, but he won’t fall headlong, for ADONAI holds him by the hand. Psalm 37:23
We can devise many plans in which to try to be successful yet God knows it all- the ups and downs of it all . However, sometimes these things are not in our control but what is in our control is to say , If God wills it, we can do this or that. James 4:14,15
Throughout all these trials and happenings we see that our plans go awry but we can rest assured? because God is holding us…He has directed our steps and will see us in all eternity because of his Son.
Thank you Jesus.
