A Fresh Vantage :Point From The Window

I am sitting in the BoggsMobile looking out the window.

My place in the bus is a chair at a small table, next to the window. On that table sits a laptop. I spend many hours each day in that chair, at that table, using that laptop. I use those hours each day in three main pursuits. 

The first is sermon preparation and the second is before you on this screen, Mile Markers. The third is writing, editing, uploading and writing descriptions for A Word For Wednesday and other YouTube clips.

Now, I do not spend eight hours in sermon preparation for each day that I preach as Bro. Bill Houston endeavored to do. Bro. Bill set the bar high! Wow! But I do make a sincere effort to be diligent in my calling and faithful to my master.

There are many days when I am in that chair reading, researching, praying, meditating on God and his Word and typing away at that laptop for many, hours. It is not a chore. I enjoy it.

But that is not what my subject is today. I intend to tell you about the window that is next to my chair, table and laptop.

Most weeks, the view out my side window is the wall of a church or a churchyard with little to no movement all day long other than a squirrel or two. This week, we are in a campground and the entertainment options are nearly endless.

Just the other day, it was very dificult to concentrate on work for a couple of hours. The window entertainment was too entertaining.😎

I watched a 30ish aged couple hook up to their RV and pull out of the park. It was one solid hour of entertainment watching him empty the holding tanks! It was hilarious!

I could take the high and noble road and tell you that I was not laughing AT them, but that would not be true. I was laughing out loud, smacking the table and slapping my leg in wonderful fits of laughter. It was the best entertainment I have had in a while.

TV has nothing over real life, that is for sure.

The trailer and the truck were absolutely brand spanking new. This may have been the first time they have camped anywhere in their new rig. I remember those days very well. That is why I am comfortable laughing at them from my window. I earned the right.😜

Our first rig was 30 years ago. It was late in 1992 and we had a 1979 Holiday Rambleette Fifth Wheel and a 1989 F250 extended cab truck. It was quite a setup in more ways than one and I learned a lot of things the hard way.

-I left our first RV plugged into the electrical outlet and nearly drove away and ripped it out of the wall the very first time I pulled the trailer. 

-I had a very bad tire blowout on the trailer on our second trip. Tires that look good are not always good!

-I literally threw up every time I emptied the holding tanks for three months. Gross? Yep, but true.

-We have had milk containers fall out of the fridge and watermelons explode on the floor while driving.

-I nearly took out fence posts, light posts, electrical pedestals and water hydrants more times than I can remember.

The man I was watching this week had what looked like a hazmat suit to empty the holding tanks. Watching him was a riot. But if he stays at it, he will be eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while doing that chore in a few years.

He will learn to unhook the water hose the day before when the temperature is a little warmer. It was cold the other morning and he wrestled that 50' anaconda for at least 10 minutes. Even his wife stood off at a distance and chuckled at that sight.

He will learn to hook his truck to the fifth wheel in one smooth motion. He will not have to climb in the bed of the truck six times. He will get the hang of it.

That is my point today. You will get the hang of it too. Let the watchers laugh. Let the critics sneer. Let the scoffers jeer. Let the haters hate. You will get the hang of it.

We have all been there before. We all learned somewhere. The haters and all of the rest may forget, but those of us that are chuckling, we remember. We remember our own first steps and feeble attempts and we are chuckling for two reasons. 

First, we are chuckling at our past selves and we are chuckling because we know you will eventually learn the ropes. It will get better. Please forgive us. We are rooting for you from the window!

Life is hard sometimes. We fall down and we get up. Our knees and elbows may be scraped and bleeding. We may be beaten and bruised. Life may slap us up one side of the head and back down the other side. 

It is Okay! We will get the hang of it. You will get the hang of it. Get up, friend. Dust yourself off and climb back on that horse. Even your friends may be laughing, but they know it is all part of learning to ride.

You may wonder, why I did not go outside and help that couple. That would have been a bad idea. They had a checklist and the worst thing I could do would be to interrupt their checklist and cause them to miss something critical.

Believe me, I have been the one with the checklist many times.

And some things are better learned by experience. I have plenty of experience that tells me that is true. How about you?

Thank you for reading today.

Davy