Is this living? Time to pause and review life. We are two busy beavers, we work hard and have been successful in everything we've put our hands to. Loving kids, all married to wonderful spouses and they all are successful in their own right. Great grandkids, so much fun to be with. A nice home, a beautiful motorhome, a steady retirement income and the blessings of a bright future when we do retire (shortly) and hit the road.
Sometimes I am embarrassed by what we have, we've been blessed beyond a shadow of a doubt. I remember when we bought our first motorhome, it was 20 years old and it was a reach for us to buy it. We were living on a Coast Guard base in New Jersey at the time and I often felt bad that we had something that nice when there were other families on the base that were just getting by putting food on their tables and glad to have an old car to get around in. They'd look longingly as we drove out to go camping, wishing they could have something like that.
Even today, as I read on some RV forums of someone who is excited about buying a new-to-them RV that might be 15-20 years old in need of serious work but it's the best they can afford, while I'm driving around in a motorhome that is beyond anything they can afford. It bothers me quite a bit. We sometimes stress over how much our house has fallen in value when many are facing foreclosure, having lost jobs, careers, life savings and wondering how they are going to survive.
I really believe we've been heavenly blessed in our lives in so many ways. I always remember the words: "He who has been given much, much is expected". We live by those words and give back whenever and wherever we can.
So one of the things we want to do is continue to give back and use our Journey to enable us to practice what we preach. We're going to look for ways to serve, whether it's helping to construct buildings for churches in the SOWERS or NOMADS ministry, build houses with Habitat for Humanity or doing volunteer work of some other kind that we'll find along the way.
And we'll have fun doing it, thankful for every day that Marti and I will have sharing our blessings as we travel.
Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.
Amen to that!
ReplyDeletegood for you for all you have and all that you will be!!
ReplyDeleteI love your attitude. You guys have big hearts and will make a difference wherever you go.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to stop to count your blessings. Habitat is high on our list also. May your blessings continue.
ReplyDeleteSyl
We have always wished we could volunteer more but we need to work so much just to make it, we hardly have time to volunteer.
ReplyDeleteWe have looked into the Nomads, Habitat and other groups and are quite impressed and always look for openings where and when we might be able to give a little. So far things don't line up but they will and we will be ready to give as much as we have received in our lives. We too have many blessings and are grateful every moment for all we have and all we will have in our lives.
Thank you for the reminder.
You remind me so much of us! We are hitting the road right after the New Year for our new adventure living in the 2004 Meridian. We will be heading south and have one service project in Louisiana in January, and 3 other Nomads projects scheduled. We are so anxious to be able to leave the hectic work and be able to help others now. We follow your blog - as I said - I feel we have parallel lives right now.
ReplyDeleteIt is a good thing to reflect on how we come upon our great and good fortune. When we discover it has not all been a result of our own hands, it is great to reflect on what responsibilities follow. I hear you when you talk about the grind of working. That is what I said to myself for years before hitting the road last year. Though I love work and value working, there must be a balance between work and everything else. You're building towards the balance.
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