Some Perspective...

This blog has been a design blog up to this point. It has developed from a classroom assignment, to a photo and inspiration posting page, to a monologue of all things design and job related that may be on my mind. This post marks yet another transition this blog and you fellow bloggers must endure. I really want to share a few things that are on my heart.

This week has been a week to put things in perspective.

It began with a sermon in Church on Sunday morning about the prodigal son. It's a story we've all heard or at least been exposed to regardless of our religious affiliation. It's the story of the son who asks for a portion of his inheritance early and, once received, leaves for life of partying and blows his money rather quickly. He then finds himself in a dire situation longing for even the food given the pigs. Later he realizes he was much better off in his father's house, so apprehensively, he heads home. Meanwhile...the father has been waiting, wondering what could have happened to his child. He sees the son heading back home and runs to him, welcoming him with open arms. There are other points made in the story, and please forgive me if what I've summarized here is not how you would interpret this story. If you would like the whole story it can be found in Luke 15:11-32 - any version of the Bible will do. The sermon continued to discuss the father who had been waiting, not wanting to interfere in his son's affairs, but wanting him to return home to the safety and comfort provided. This being a story I had heard many times, I didn't take much else from the lesson...

...until around Wednesday. But to get to that I must go back to Monday.

Joe and I were supposed to be camping on the Rogue River this week with my aunts and uncles from Arkansas, Oregon, and here in California. It's a family reunion of sorts. Joe and I were so looking forward to this trip because we haven't been able to attend since we started college. I'm not complaining by any means! My summer's have been blessed beyond belief since I've been in school. I'm simply stating the fact that we have not been on this trip in a few years.

Anyway, we left Monday morning for the Rogue. We made it to Corning, CA - actually the place we had planned to take a pit stop - when the car started making a funny noise. Long story short, the Pontiac is completely out of commission. We ended up just letting a salvage yard pick it up. Monday night we spent in Corning and my dad brought us up a car to continue our trip Tuesday morning. Tuesday morning we are on our way with the top down, loving life. We get to Mt. Shasta, CA and we start to see smoke. We pull off the freeway and see a leak. We get to a shop where we discover the transmission is blown. So 2 cars in 2 days.

That's the background...now for the analysis. Joe and I had 2 days where we were together, just us. Something we don't get much since we are back with family and involved in life. Granted we had to make some big decisions quickly, but we were forced to be a team and come up with solutions to problems through prayer and leaning on one another for strength and patience. We didn't make it to our vacation destination, but we had a good couple of days hanging out and laughing together at the tumultuous situation in which we found ourselves. We had the finest mexican cuisine in all of Mt. Shasta. We hiked (walked 2 miles from the shop to whatever we could find for food), we took photos of the view of the snowcapped mountains, we had a night in a hotel just the two of us, and we prayed...alot!

For some reason we weren't meant to go camping. Whether it was because something awful was going to happen if we had continued on our journey, or because we needed time to be just the two of us, or because God needed to remind us the He is in control of our lives, we don't know for sure. I'm reminded though of the father in the original story who was waiting for the son to show an interest in coming home and then met him on the road to bring him the rest of the way. Although I don't see me and Joe as the prodigal son completely, I do believe that everyone gets comfortable from time to time and thinks they can take care of themselves. Maybe Joe and I were in that position and we needed to be put in an uncomfortable situation in order for us to show an interest in seeking our Father and third teammate in life. We can't do it all on our own and although we are a great 2-person team, we're an even better 3-man team. Whatever the reason, physical or spiritual, we are thankful for the situation because we learned so much!