I left today to go on a family vacation. The first one in many years that wasn’t connected to some kind of ministry responsibility. I kind of got talked into it by caring people who convinced me that we needed a real vacation like normal people. I finally came to the place where I believed they were right and got excited about getting away with my family for a couple of weeks. Olivia and I left early this morning with the rest of our crew joining us later.
On the way we prayed about the trip, committing it all to the Lord, asking for His blessing. I even asked the Lord to make this the best vacation we’ve ever had. We got to our destination around noon and, before getting out to settle in, we went to have our initial vacation meal. Olivia loves seafood so we ate lunch at a long time seafood favorite. Within 3 hours or returning back at our vacation residence, Olivia was as sick as I’ve ever seen her, suffering from food poisoning. Being handicapped and unable to walk, her suffering was much more severe. Food poisoning is horrible, and can be dangerous, and her limitations exacerbated the whole situation. My job all afternoon and evening was to tend to her physically.
By around 9:30 she was resting better so I fixed myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner. We had planned on going out to dinner and I was going to get a great steak. At the end of our first day on vacation, as I sat there eating my PB&J sandwich while Olivia lay in bed exhausted, I told the Lord, “And I prayed for the best vacation ever. Thanks a lot.” At that point I heard the Lord say clearly, “It will be.” Huh??? He simply said, “Trust, Me. I know what I’m doing.” I realized He wasn’t looking for my comprehension, He was looking for my confidence. Wow!
Doesn’t that speak to a lot of issues and situations in our lives. In Job 42, after spending so much time complaining, he encountered God and declared, “I’ve complained about things too wonderful for me to understand.” So I thank God for our strange, but wonderful first day of vacation, confident that the One who has already proven His great love, sees the big picture, and is absolutely in control, and knows exactly what He’s doing.