It’s nice to be back in my hometown once again. Although traffic has been a bit of a rude awakening. And by rude awakening I mean like someone pouring water and angry bees on your face while you sleep, kinda, rude awakening.
On Wednesday and Thursday this week I probably drove for about 5 hours, IN THE SAME COUNTY. I realize for most San Diegan’s this is not a big deal but I should remind you I just moved back from Kansas. In Wichita, I always gave myself 30+ minutes to be somewhere and would sit in my car, in the parking lot, for 15 minutes. In Wichita, during rush hour, I would give myself 45 minutes to get there and sit in my car, in the parking lot, for a half an hour. In Wichita, I usually couldn’t hear you complain about traffic because I was laughing to loud and pointing at you.
“Right, traffic…hahahahahaha…wait, were you being serious?”
Now I am home and I remember real traffic…shudder. I have become an aggressive driver once again (Not a jerk, mind you) and I am remembering how to get around town. In Kansas when you had a long drive you could throw on some music and hit cruise control all the way to your destination and although it was flat and kinda boring you would get there easily. Here, I have found cruise control is just not an option.
Sometimes there is a flat tire on the 805 and cars are lined up for miles just to see it. This makes cruise control difficult. Other times they’ve decided to do road work on the 163 north, 5 north, 805 north and 15 north at the same time. This makes cruise control difficult. Sometimes it rains and people still drive 100mph causing 2 accidents per driver on the road. This makes cruise control difficult. Sometimes it’s just hot and 3.1 million people wanna get them some beach time, AT THE SAME TIME. This, too makes cruise control difficult.
Spiritually I’ve felt the same thing. It’s so nice to throw on cruise and just chill but easy is not always the life of one who loves their Savior and their city well. Loving San Diego well, as missionaries, means we are going to have many starts, stops and rough transitions. If we persevere, we may get to a beautiful new destination we couldn’t have imagined while on cruise. It will be harder. Life won’t be smooth as it could be, but it will be oh so right. If you’ve ever contemplated joining us or another church plant, I can tell you, it may FEEL harder but it is so worth it. And if we do it right, we are going to pick up new believers along the way.
You know what happens when you pick up new people?
Two words: Carpool. Lane.