The tunnel is closed!

The 17 kilometer (11 miles) Gotthard tunnel in Switzerland is closed. Some may say that only a fool would travel that far underground anyhoo . . . so what is the big deal? Well the big deal is that this incredible engineering feat allows us to take a huge shortcut through the Swiss Alps and get to the kid's boarding school with far less stress and time. Now it looks like we will re-route through Innsbruck Austria, adding yet an eight country to this trip! This photo was taken right before you get to the tunnel entrance.


We are leaving early in the morning heading to Black Forest Academy to retrieve our three teens . . . and to see our oldest graduate! It will be a long long trip . . . 2000 kilometers there and 2000 back. I will see/write you in a week . . . most of which will be passed by sitting in a car. Not my idea of fun, but even in the days of modern travel, there are still cost restrictions and difficulties in getting from point A to point B, along with luggage and bikes and children all in one piece.

It seems that life is much more about the trip than the destination. I know that sounds trite . . . especially to my cynical ears, but I can truthfully say that most missionaries in the modern era plan in "trip" cycles. I honestly go for YEARS at a time without emptying my toiletry bag, because it is pointless, another "trip" is right around the corner -- always.

There are many who believe this to be too much and an ineffective life. On the other hand we have planted several churches WHILE doing all this traveling. Many never plant a church although they rarely seem to leave whatever place they are living in. Now do not think me arrogant, because I am not, at least not about this subject. I am making an honest observation. And I am also not being arrogant because I believe the "trip" is the whole point. While I would love to stay right on this subject because I am like totally weary of the constant swirl of statements and insinuation that effectiveness is related to one's total years/months/days/hours/minutes in a single location, which is like saying that one's gender is dependent on what kind of clothes they wear -- effectiveness is not time-in-location-specific, it's doing-the-right-things-specific; the point of this post is the "trip."

So if the trip is the entire point of life, why do we focus so much on the destination? I mean I clearly have destination disease! I generally hate the trip. I wanna BE there! Get there! Yesterday was too late! I can see that I have infected a couple of my children with this as well. So I end this post with no great revelations of wisdom (because I have none) nor do I end this post with some profound insight into the mind of God. No, I want to end this post by confessing that I am trying to focus more everyday on the "trip", the journey, and less on the destination. On those days that I am successful I find life more stress-free, my clarity more evident and that there are gems to be discovered along the way . . . now . . . if they just had not closed that tunnel!