preparation

It’s a blustery day at the beach this morning. I’m feeling a bit like Winnie the Pooh, although most would consider me to be the human version of Eyeore. I’ve got a full day ahead of me as I prepare for a Seattle to Boise run over the Misty Mountains. We optimistically rented a convertible for the trip to warmer weather, but, as it turns out, we’ll have to trudge through the snow in the passes first before we can really enjoy some promised sun. I’m not too worried though because, let’s be honest, it’ll be a miracle if the rental company actually has the car that I reserved when I get there to pick it up. I’m about zero for twenty on actually getting the car I reserved over the past few years. And they always seem to, with great joy, want to give me an upgrade to an SUV to make up for the fact that they don’t have my car. Maybe if they can give me an SUV that gets the same mileage as the smaller car that I actually paid for would I be as enthusiastic. Last year, we rented a van to take a group of students on a trip and when “They didn’t actually have one” they offered me two SUV’s to make up for it. As if one van wasn’t going to get crappy enough gas mileage on its own.
I try informing them that I already own an SUV of my own and if I wanted to rent my own refinery to drive it extended distances, then I wouldn’t have bothered putting myself through this absurdity… but yet, here I am again, once more attempting the improbable…. And some people say that I’m not an optimist?
Anyway…. In the olden days, I would have been all prepped for this trip already….bags packed, trip mapped, reservations made, etc. It’s not that way anymore. Little by little I’ve become more like my wife in this area. I have yet to pull the luggage out. We just realized the other day that we never made our hotel reservations. In years past I would have already figured out what time I’d be getting up in order to get on the road at a certain time in order to be in an appropriate place for lunch to be able to arrive at a good time for dinner, avoiding all of the possible trouble spots for traffic, yadda yadda, yadda. Fortunately, on this particular trip, traffic is not an issue, unless you consider needing to pass wagon parties in the passes still trying to complete their trek on the Oregon Trail .
I guess it’s somewhat better for me that I’m not as consumed as I once was with time, preparations, etc. It’s still a concern, but it’s not obsessive like it once was. I’m learning to take things a bit easier. I’m reminded of my life as Pastoral artist and the times that Jesus had these “calm down, you don’t need to know the exact time” conversations with his friends. They wanted details so they could get ready for “THE EVENT”. His advice that they would not know the time of “THE EVENT” so that they could “get ready” but just needed to “ be ready” speaks volumes to me. I’m learning that the key is not in the getting, it’s in the being. My existence needs to exude readiness, not frantically trying to get ready. If the ultimate last stop on my journey is going to be heaven, I’m thinking that it’s more a product of who and what I’ve already become and not the frantic preparations of who I know that I already should have been. Now where did I put that sunscreen?