What's up ahead?

Imagine diving down a beautiful country road. It's bright and sunny. It's spring, so the trees are budding and blooming. The fields are freshly planted. The breeze blows the scattered puffy clouds along the big blue sky. It's perfect.

You've not driven this road before. It winds east and west, sometimes sharply. It goes up and down through the valleys. You can feel your stomach drop at the top and bottom of each hill.

The road is barely wide enough for one car to pass through. You begin to wonder what might happen at the top of that next hill you're rapidly approaching. What if there is a car coming the other way? A piece of large farm equipment moving slowly up ahead? A pedestrian walking his dog? The silent panic begins to rise in your throat. Your face gets hot, your palms sweaty.

And then you're there. You've made it safely to your destination. But you're missing 10 minutes of the ride. Where did your mind go?

That just about describes the ride from our potential new home in a tiny country town in Illinois to Todd's parents' house this week. What started out as a pleasant drive through the prairie ended in a stressful few moments for me. No one else in the car seemed bothered at all by the ride. In fact, the girls thought it was a blast! "Go faster, daddy!" was the resounding reply from the back seat, while I grabbed the door handle and closed my eyes.

I guess life is kinda like that. Everyone has their own issues and anxieties. Everyone moves at his or her own pace. Push too hard and you can create resentment and fear. Go too slow and you might miss the blessings God has planned for you.

This is an illustration of what's been going on in my life in the past few weeks. I've been praying for so long for God to show me and my family where He wants us to go but I'm afraid of the answer. I'm afraid to look over the next hill. I'm both crying out for and bracing myself against change.

But a the saying goes, "Life's a journey, not a destination." Covering your eyes on the scary part of the ride means missing half of the fun. Guess its time to just enjoy the ride secure in the faith that God's got this covered.