I was certain that our Oldsmobile would make the trip with ease, but a church member had a brand new Oldsmobile station wagon and insisted we travel in land yacht style! So we did! Our food budget was $15 per day. Pat brought along individual serving boxes of cereal to which we added milk. One meal down! Near noon we watched for Holiday Inns that featured a smorgasbord for $3.99 and "kids eat free." Eat up kids! And evening meals were cold sandwiches and popcorn. Inexpensive, but FUN!
A kiddie pool was a requisite amenity for serious consideration of motel accommodations. My reverie includes wading through a kiddie pool holding Jonathan’s hand while he sang loudly, "Here comes Jesus, walking on the water." Don’t you envy me? A memory like that is priceless and costs nothing!
Pat and I were college students when the Vietnam War was costing American families their sons and daughters. We read about Agent Orange and napalm while our peers were ingesting it, burning scar tissue into their lungs and twisting their immune systems into defenselessness. Chemicals distorted their genes until a long list of birth defects put their post-war born children on critical care lists nationwide. Added to the already too heavy load of nightmares, empty sleeves or pant legs, marriages teetered on the brink of ruin. Too many children were left without a father in the house, a silent casualty statistic of an ugly war. Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Humphrey and Nixon all dealt with the military-political quagmire and surely wish their biographers could have omitted paragraphs about Viet Nam. Stateside, college students who were still teens were shot dead by National Guardsmen who were also too young to vote.
More than one young married couple wondered, "Is it safe to bring a child into this world?" and "What will happen to this nation?" The Cold War was being executed with threats and counter threats. A Russian premier pounded his shoe on a desk in the United Nations Assembly. Gary Powers was shot down over the USSR and held in prison. Kennedy was assassinated. Johnson refused to run for a second term. Agnew resigned in shame. Nixon was forced out. Ford failed to be reelected after doing his best to heal a nation wounded by too many assaults on her spirit.
I have been remembering, reflecting on those days. And I remember singing a simple chorus.
My Lord knows the way through the wilderness
All I have to do is follow.
My Lord knows the way through the wilderness
All I have to do is follow.
Strength for today, is mine all the way
And all that I need for tomorrow.
My Lord knows the way through the wilderness
All I have to do is follow.
The tune was catchy and easy to sing. We didn’t always have the best musicians, but they could play this one. So we sang! We clapped and sang the song when interest rates soared into double digits and the world economy looked like a chapter out of the Apocalypse!
But, we quit doing the simple, inexpensive things like taking trips to Florida on the cheap and singing simple songs of assurance. Too often we mobilize to resist decisions we don’t like as if we were college students angry with a war fought on the other side of the world. Instead of long hair, tie-dyed tees, sandals and sit-ins, we petition, parade and protest. A good long road trip with overnight stays at an inexpensive motel and some sing-along music affirming the sovereignty and wisdom of an almighty and gracious God is what we really need. We have survived a lot with the simple and inexpensive. Maybe we could sing "The Lord knows the way through the wilderness" one more time, or twice!
Thank God. The lyrics are true!
No comments:
Post a Comment