(Sam and Will posing outside of North Platte, Nebraska.)
"The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be still." (Exodus 14:14)
The car pictured above is a 2015 Mustang convertible. I'm sorry to say, it is not ours.
The boys pictured above are Sam, age 12 and Will, age 6. I am very happy to say, they are ours.
The place pictured above is about ten miles west of North Platte, Nebraska. Needless to say, no trees were harmed in the making of this picture.
The reason for the above picture is that our 2004 station wagon broke down on I-70 en route to a rendezvous in Sidney, Nebraska with my parents. They were taking Sam for a week-long visit at their home in Wyoming - fishing, hiking, driving a tractor and seeing some long lost cousins. Sidney was half-way.
The breakdown took place on Saturday night, just east of North Platte. Our car was towed to town, but there was no place in town that could fix the car until Monday and we still had 120 miles to go to Sidney. We had to rent a car, but the only rental car available in town was the Mustang. "Beggars can't be choosers," I told the rental agent. He laughed. Three hours after our car trouble, we were wheeling our way to Sidney in style!
My parents were waiting for us outside the hotel and we were starving. I ordered some pizza and after a short visit, we were off to sleep.
The next morning, Sam was off to his Wyoming adventure and Will and I were returning to North Platte to wait for the car. Yay...
I wasn't too sure what we would be doing in North Platte all day, but things started to look up when we noticed that there were warm cookies being served in the hotel lobby as we checked in. Sweet!
Refreshed after a few warm cookies and some ice-cold milk, I asked the hotel manager what she would recommend that father and son do on a Sunday night in North Platte. "Go to the park and ride the carousel," she said. So that's what we did...we drove to the park and we drove with the top down.
The carousel turned out to be AWESOME! And Will rode round and round and round. Then, the two of us noticed the concession stand. By now, our cookies and milk had worn off so we each ordered a large soft-serve cone. Will will be happy to tell you that his cone was much larger than mine!
All of this was okay because by the time we arrived back to the hotel, they were serving late-night pancakes. Will could only finish one. I had two.
Our unexpected stop in North Platte ended up being a wonderful blessing. Will and I connected over cookies, ice cream, pancakes, and a cool convertible. We made some cool memories. In the same way, this year has been full of unexpected blessings; kayaking trips, waterfalls, movie dates, and adventures in eating. There have also been a few bumps along the way. However, I am convinced, now more than ever, that God still does great things when we stop.
Church Stopping. Less doing. More being.
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