Somewhere in Southern Utah
Two weeks ago I was in San Diego, California, to attend the Christian Leadership Alliance conference.
I’ll tell you more about it in future posts, because I heard some great speakers who shared some great insights for anyone looking to make change in their life and live to their full potential.
Anyway, my pastor heard that I was there, and he called me to tell me he’d been searching online for a certain car he wanted to buy…and it just happened to be in San Diego.
His next words were, “So if I buy it, you wouldn’t want to drive it back home to Grand Rapids, would you?”
I called my wife to see if she’d mind if I came home a few days later than I had expected…actually it was 3 days…and 2,400 miles later. She agreed that it would be great to help them out, and I’d be able to enjoy a little adventure driving across the country, so we said yes.
The drive was absolutely beautiful. From San Diego, I drove to Las Vegas, then through Utah up to Salt Lake City, then through southern Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and finally Michigan. I drove through desert, mountains, and plains, through farmland and major cities. And I stopped to check out a few historical points of interest along the way.
One thing I hadn’t expected was how much thinking I’d do while I was driving. I enjoy listening to talk radio, so I did that quite a bit, but I also brought along some CDs from the conference and I listened to several of my favorite podcasts.
At first, I began to think mostly about work projects, and all the things I needed to get done. Then I began to think about my personal life more: my family and other relationships.
Eventually, I began to think more about my personal goals and objectives, across each of my major life areas. I reviewed some of the things I had hoped to accomplish but hadn’t yet. I began to think about things I wanted to change in my life…and wonder why I hadn’t been successful at doing them yet.
This drive across America became the drive of my life, as I had several days to do nothing but drive and think about all the things that were important to me. The experience reminded me that we all need some uninterrupted time, every now and then, to evaluate our lives at a deeper level than we might normally do on a weekly or monthly basis.
What works for you? Do you tend to think about your life while you’re on a long drive? Or is it hard for you to do that while focusing on driving?
When and where do you enjoy thinking about the deeper things of life? Please share your experiences.
You might also like:
Speak Your Mind