Cruisin'

Last week was the week of trading old dreams for new ones.  With the blessing of new things in life has come less time for car projects and after quite a long time of deliberating and prayer I passed my dream car on to a friend, allowing him to start a dream of his own.  It wasn't an easy choice and while I (mostly) enjoyed my 10 years of ownership, there are just a lot of other things I need or want to spend my time on these days.

  

As life with God goes, with the closure of one chapter comes the opening of another and I'm really excited about what adventures the replacement fun family rig is going to bring, hence the Dr. Seuss image to the left.  More on that later, I want to first start with the process that led us here.  I had been toying on and off with the idea of selling the Supra for several years and actually had it sold to someone out of state at one point but the deal fell through.  Unsure of what to take from that I decided just to hold onto it until a slight re-direction in November when someone pulled out of a shopping center and clipped the driver's side.  3 months later the dust finally settled and, with a renewed interest in moving on, a sale was made.

The other part of this automotive puzzle is a project I've had since I was 15 and has provided more memories and consumed more time and $$ than I care to enumerate.  As with the Supra, I've considered selling on a few occasions (usually out of frustration and/or a desire for something else) but more recently with a sincere desire to simplify life a little and make sure my time and effort is directed where it can bear the most fruit.  Since reading Bill Hybel's The Power of a Whisper several months back, I've been trying (sometimes in vain) to tune my ear to God's leading in my life, especially in areas I've typically felt like I've got stuff handled like cars, a perfect example is our new to us family mobile, which on my own I probably would have never run across let alone purchased.  

Not doing well at this on a particular day, I was wrestling in my standard preoccupied manner with what to do with the 4Runner while driving to lunch.  I'd come to the conclusion that ultimately what I wanted (and was attempting to build, albeit not finish in my lifetime) was an off-road vehicle for the occasional family adventure that could also serve some practical purpose.  Just about that time, a cherry Toyota Land Cruiser pulled up next to me.  3 rows, solid axles, front and rear lockers, the ability to fit 33" tires with minimal lift, an offroad beast that can haul the whole crew in overbuilt Toyota luxury (insert Tim Allen grunts here).  It took several more months to come to a conclusion but that was a starting point to a beastly 1996 Land Cruiser ending up in our driveway:

As John Eldridge states here, sometimes God provides guidance and clarity to move us in the right direction and other times he speaks to us through sheer revelation but "The key to receiving answers to prayers for guidance is to let go of our constant attempt to “figure things out.”  This is something I'm definitely still working on and am sure I'll be reminded of while Cruisin' and enjoying life to the full exploring the trails with my family.  As Dwight Edwards says in Revolution Within: "When we delight most in the spectacularness of God, when his glory becomes our highest agenda, we find a taste that thrills our souls plus we experience a nonstop transformation in our lives along the way."