Wallace Family Hits the Road

Note: As of July 15, we are spending time with family in Atlanta but here are some highlights of the last month.

Getting Out of Dodge

Could it be true? We closed on our house, no hitches. God is good.

OK, we did hit one bump – packing. We bought the sales pitch - hook, line and sinker. Don’t rent a moving van. Try the convenient portable storage container approach. Here’s how it works. Some guy drops five (Five! Surely we won’t need that many. . .) storage containers on your driveway. For the next four days, you pack all your earthly possessions into the five (How on earth did we think we could fit all our stuff into five boxes!?) plywood crates. Now there are a couple of rules to keep in mind. No container can hold more than 2,000 pounds. Question: How many boxes of books constitute a ton of books? Answer: Far fewer than will actually fit into the storage container. . .bummer, guess we can’t put the kitchen table in that empty spot after all.

When packing, it’s important to remember that a truck/forklift driver with no particular attachment to Grandma’s china will lift the crate onto a flatbed truck, drive it to a storage facility, tuck it away onto some storage shelf three stories in the air, forklift it back onto a flatbed truck and then drive it 3,000 miles to another storage facility and . . .you get the picture. Needless to say, packing to prevent load shift is critical. Of course, I became far less concerned about our grill knocking into the television about 1 AM on our final night of packing. Thankfully, John persevered and strapped, cushioned and padded the final crate to withstand any kamikaze truck driver (we hope).

The next morning I realized I had inadvertently packed Samuel’s retainer. Where? In the very first box that went into the perfectly strapped, cushioned and padded crate, the one with bicycle tires jimmied to wire shelving bungeed to the grill which shielded the vacuum cleaner. We decided to make an orthodontist appointment when we got to North Carolina.

While waiting for the moving truck, we discovered several items we forgot to pack causing John to scrounge for space in the only two crates not pushing the weight limit. It’s probably best I had to make an emergency visit to the dentist for a tooth that really needs a root canal (we did a temporary fix) so I can continue to live in blissful ignorance regarding our wonderful packing job.

We had to call charity to take away several items we couldn’t fit, make a run to FedEx to mail the stuff we need but missed until the final sweep and beg our neighbors to take the remaining items, including our overflowing garbage. Never in our wildest dreams did we think it would be a problem to vacate our home by 9 PM. We pulled out of our driveway at 8:50 (a full ten minutes to spare).

Exhausted from the previous evening (three hours of sleep on the floor), we did well to drive to Ellensburg (about 90 miles east) where we crashed at the first hotel off the freeway. What a way to start a vacation!

Selfish Jerk or Focused Contributor?

Our desire for approval can cripple us. If you care about people, you want to meet their needs. But life is busy. Sacrificial service disintegrates into good intentions. Out of sheer survival, you become calloused to the needs of others. You’re ashamed of your indifference but overwhelmed by the level of adversity around you. When you finally roll up your sleeves, you feel you can’t do enough. Frustrated, you wonder, “Will I ever make a difference?”

During an interview on the television program 20/20, host John Stossel grilled Texas billionaire Dan Duncan, regarding charitable contributions.

Stossel: “You’ve given a lot to charity, but really you gave only 2% of your net worth. That sounds cheap.”

Duncan: “If that was all that I ever wanted to give away, I would agree 100%, [but] if you're one of the gifted people that can actually make more money, people receiving it are better off if you keep it to get a lot more later on."

Duncan perceives his ability to make money as a gift that ultimately benefits others. His corporation, Enterprise Products, does generate a huge amount of wealth for Duncan to give away. Whether cancer research (Duncan’s charity) profits more from a lump sum or a steady stream of cash is a subject for debate, but Duncan clearly believes he is a greater asset to the world when he operates from his strengths.

Undoubtedly, we have the most impact when we embrace God’s design for our lives. But the short term thinkers always seem to have better plans for our time. They belittle our progress because they don’t understand our goals. How do you stay on course without ignoring the needs of others?

Clarity

Do you often feel confused about what God wants? Do you even resist what you think might be his expectations? Are you conflicted, wanting to follow God yet not sure you’ll be happy where he leads? Sometimes this lack of clarity is the result of a distorted or inadequate view of God. You may have been taught or just assumed that God wants certain things. How can you know for certain what God requires?

There is no shortcut to knowing God’s will; it takes time. In one sense, God is like any other person; the more time you spend with him, the more you understand him. Some people spend virtually no time at all getting to know God. They may even ignore what little they know of God’s law. Yet when they face major life decisions, they toss up quick prayers, asking and expecting God to lead and protect them. This strategy will not work consistently. A better strategy is to pursue an ongoing relationship with God, reading and studying the Bible, asking God for wisdom and courage, and doing your best to walk in his ways. When the time comes for a major life decision, you’ll be far more likely to make a wise one. You’ll instinctively know what God expects because you will know God.

God wants you to know him as your Creator. He made you for a purpose and longs for you to discover that purpose. He knows that life will be truly satisfying for you when you live out that purpose. He has given you personality, talents, and abilities. He does not desire that these gifts be wasted. Instead, he wants you to use them for their maximum capacity for good. When you do this, God receives glory.

God wants you to know him as your Savior. Many people use their God-given gifts for selfish or destructive ends. In fact, if we’re honest, we all would admit that we have this tendency. Yet God desires to save us from this tendency and to empower us to use our gifts for good.

How can you “use your gifts for good” this week?

~John