Hawaiian Steeplechase

We have all heard that life is not a sprint, it's a marathon. Well, I beg to differ. I happen to believe that it is more like a steeplechase - and odd, long distance race that is only seen in outdoor track meets. This event requires its participants to not just run for a few miles around a track, but to jump over what looks like security barriers, placed every so often. But just to keep things really interesting, one of these little fence-like structures has a gigantic puddle behind it, causing these guys to not only jump on and over this fence, but to land with a splat and a splash. If that were not enough, the runners have to continue in shoes that squoosh and shorts that, well...feel like there's been an embarrassing accident. But they persist and persevere. I love these guys.

So, a steeplechase. That is what our life - and I think pretty much all lives -look like. Of course, we happen to be running our race on the most beautiful place on the planet which makes it easier.

We are now in our new little condo - the latest in temporary digs. It's in a lovely resort that was built some time in the seventies or eighties...and it hasn't been updated since then! It's cabinets are that yellowy-cream masonite with the fake wood lip at the top or bottom that serves as a handle. We have the same yellowy-cream color in the formica countertops. The range has one of those digital clocks with the block numbers that flip - when it's working. This one reads a permanent 6:41. Don't know if that's A.M. or P.M. But by far the funniest part of this place is the little microwave that was set on the counter a couple of decades ago. Instead of nice little buttons to push, it has a couple of dials to turn - one to choose between "cook" or "defrost", the other to choose the minutes, 1-25. We discovered that this, like the digital clock, was no longer of much value, when I was heating a cup of coffee, turned the dial to "2" and left while awaiting the "ding" to politely tell me my coffee was now hot. When I heard something other than the gentle chime, I investigated and discovered my coffee boiling like Kilauea lava - and the dial still at "2".

Yup, this place is old. It's closets are little. The bathroom is tiny. And we are happy as two peas in a little pod! I started looking at the last two places we've been in as sort of metaphors for things in life: just because something is pretty on the outside doesn't mean it's not a train wreck inside. In fact, that is how the enemy gets us - seducing us into what looks glam, only to discover that things are not good once you're inside. The ocean front bungalow was that for us. But this little place is just who it is: unglamorous, plain, a little broken down. It has no pretense about itself. And we love it in its humility.

But, back to the steeplechase... we continue to run this race that God has set before us. We can make all those leaps and jumps as long as we let Him power our legs and hearts. It would be easy to give up when our shoes are squooshy or our shorts...damp. At least it's not boring.

I write this now as I watch Don finish up his packing for our trip to California for Christmas! Most of our time will be spent in Temecula with Amber and Josh - and their parents and uncles. I pray that I see many, MANY of you this Holiday season - but for all of my readers, may it be a time filled with blessings that you never expected and joy from surprising places!