RECALCULATING

I like travelling with my Garmin GPS on while I drive. Every time I get off the main road or make a wrong turn, my GPS tells me that it is “recalculating” to get on the right road again. Sometimes, this constant voice reminding me that it is “recalculating” is an annoyance (especially when we are just getting off the main road for gas or food or other pressing needs). Other times it is a comfort reminding me that it will always recalculate a new route to get me on my destination again.

 The New Year has reminded me of some new recalculations that I have needed to make to get back on track once again. Actually my inner GPS has been reminding me to “recalculate” for some time now. I look forward to getting back on my bicycle once again (when the roads are clear of snow and ice and it is a little warmer) and reestablishing an exercise program that will help me get in better physical shape and hopefully lose some weight. I want to read and study more and watch TV less. I also want to be more regular in writing this blog to share some of my reflections on ruminations on various things I am thinking about.

 Travelling the 3224 miles on our winter vacation trip to Kansas and Colorado gave me lots of time to reflect. Let me first tell you a little bit about our trip. On Monday, December 29, we loaded up our 1995 Ford Windstar with our whole family who were with us for Christmas: Dianne and I; Julia, who is attending Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia; Ryan, who is serving in Mennonite Voluntary Service in Madison, Wisconsin, and Phil and Mary, who are seminary students in Fresno, California. We travelled first to Dianne’s mother’s house in Newton, Kansas and spent a day there visiting family and friends. Then Dianne’s mother joined us in an already too full van (Windstars are not really built for 7 adults and all their stuff!) for our journey to “the cabin” which is located up the Chalk Creek Canyon, between Buena Vista and Salida about 100 miles west of Colorado Springs.


“The Cabin” has been a wonderful place for us to vacation for over 25 years. Dianne’s parents fulfilled a longtime dream to have a place in the mountains and we all pitched in to build it. It has been a place of many memories for our family as the children grew up. We have been up there many times in the summer but seldom in the winter. In fact the last time we were there in the winter was 1992. So it was high time that we see the majesty of the Rockies in the beauty of winter. We were not disappointed. But I will have to stop now and finish my sermon for this Sunday. I will continue this travelogue next week. Below are some pictures of the cabin and mountains. More pictures next week.