Had to Walk the Rocks to See the Mountain View

15 Years of Roads Leading to our Cabin in the Woods

Tonight finds me hundreds of miles away from all that I hold dear.  She and they are safe and warm back home.  Tonight marks one more business trip.  It's the same as so many before and very different at the same time.  You see, for the past 15 years I've been tilling the soil of this garden plot called responsibility.  It's been an honor.  Over the years I've covered a lot of miles, cleared more airline security checkpoints that I care to recall and blown through more than a few turnpike toll booths than I paid for.  Over the past several years I've noticed that leaving is less exciting and the longing to return starts much, much sooner.  I'm reaching for the phone to call within an hour of pulling out now.  It's harder to leave the kids because I know painfully and honestly that I will miss moments that I can never recover.

I am by no means complaining.  I'm very grateful to have these opportunities to provide for those entrusted to me.  I am also thankful that appreciation and longing has grown in my heart and tamped down some of that wild recklessness that so characterized my early 20's.  This trip is also different because the payoff is much more immediate.  This weekend I will be back home with my crew and we will be heading to our homestead to continue the progress towards living there full time.  I have no less than 6 trees down that need to be processed.  Those will keep us warm next year in what aims to be our first winter living in the cabin!  I've got about 20 final cinder blocks to set.  And, as soon as the rain cooperates, we will finish our floor joists and decking.  In addition to that splitting maul I rehung two weeks back that needs to be tested, there are children to be molded and a bride to pull close.

I work this trip with my mind on the task at hand and my heart eagerly looking forward to the tasks on the horizon.  I am a man made rich by God's mercy.  I press on knowing that there are more steps to take, more mistakes to make, more lessons to learn and more life to treasure.  Onward to a heritage and their inheritance.

Proverbs 127

Unless the Lord builds the house,
    those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
    the watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is in vain that you rise up early
    and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
    for he gives to his beloved sleep.

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
    the fruit of the womb a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
    are the children[a] of one's youth.
5 Blessed is the man
    who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
    when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.