Mountains, Forests, Beaches, Deserts

Today is the day.

In a short bit we are heading out for our first Vaclav Summer Road Trip Adventure.  It is going to be epic in the sense that we have never attempted something like this with all our kids before.  "Are you crazy?" you might ask?  Why, yes, yes we are are.  But everyone we spoke to, who took such road-tastic family vacations as a child, seemed to remember them with an overall sense of good-memory making.  I'm pretty certain that's what is in store for us.

As a way to help frame our many adventures on this little outing, I prayed for a word or promise about our trip.  One answer God gave me was Psalm 84 from the Message:

What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel-Armies! 
I've always longed to live in a place like this, 
Always dreamed of a room in your house, 
where I could sing for joy to God-alive! 
 
Birds find nooks and crannies in your house, 
sparrows and swallows make nests there. 
They lay their eggs and raise their young, 
singing their songs in the place where we worship. 
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God! 


How blessed they are to live and sing there! 
And how blessed all those in whom you live, 
whose lives become roads you travel; 
They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks, 
discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain! 
God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and 
at the last turn—Zion! God in full view! 


God-of-the-Angel-Armies, listen: 
O God of Jacob, open your ears—I'm praying! 
Look at our shields, glistening in the sun, 
our faces, shining with your gracious anointing. 


One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship, 
beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches. 
I'd rather scrub floors in the house of my God 
than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin. 


All sunshine and sovereign is God, 
generous in gifts and glory. 
He doesn't scrimp with his traveling companions. 
It's smooth sailing all the way with God-of-the-Angel-Armies.


My mind reels with wonder at how this is going to relate to our trip.  But I say Amen! 
May the roads wind us through the corridors and into the presence of our Mighty King!