Mileage. We all have more of it on us that we would like to admit. But I like old things. Heck, I am an old thing! Everything I own is old, except for my technology:-). My little old house that I bought sight-unseen some 6 years again has some serious mileage on it. It was built in 1895 with square nails, not round ones! My clothes tend to be old too, although not made in 1895! My mother (I am visiting my parents at the moment) grabbed my clothes this morning and dumped them in with her clothes in the washer, while I was yelling, "don't dry my jeans on high heat!" She listened to me thank God, but commented when I returned home, that my jeans are the oldest piece of clothing that she has seen in the last 40 years. The reason that I don't dry them on high heat is because high heat makes all the patches peal off. (Don't feel sorry for me, I could buy new jeans if I wanted :-))
My oooolllldddd jeep wrangler was reaching some milestones this afternoon on the way back from Carnesville, Georgia (a city that you have never heard of) after trying to do some banking. These mileage photos throughout this post, have been from my old worn out Wrangler which hit a huge milestone, as I pulled off the road into someone's driveway and took this amazing photo this afternoon. Well the photo sucks, but the numbers are impressive.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Thousand, Two Hundred Twenty-Two point Two miles. Thats alot of mileage. Not the most that I have ever had on a car that I drove daily (my Toyota Van had 365,000 miles on it and ran like a top. I hated to leave that van in America when we went back overseas), but definitely the most unique number I ever turned over in a car that I drove daily. But what that big number means is that my jeep has lots of character, lots of memories, lots of things that could be fixed, but a keen sense of dependability - that it will get me where I intend to go. I like it and wouldn't trade it for a new one.
My point in this post, is that most folks have a mileage one them, and milestones behind them. Hopefully we all have more mileage and milestones ahead. My personal milestone of the moment is a job change. This month, December, 2008, is my last month in the employment of the CMA. I have worked with no other organization since August, 1986. Twenty-Two years and four months. I have logged far far far more tham 222,222.2 miles in those years. We have led churches in two states domestically, and planted three churches in two different countries in three different languages abroad. But now it is time to move on to a larger vision and hopefully more milestones. I'll be sure to send you more pictures along the way.
