The Best Vacation I Ever Took

Each mile driving down the interstate brought us closer to the airport and the lift-off to a gift vacation.

The mistake was innocent. Each mile driving down the interstate brought us closer to the airport and the lift-off to a gift vacation. Our beloved family invited us to join them on holiday, and after all the months of COVID lockdown, it felt like someone just opened the back door and said, “Now you can go outside and play.” WOW!

Mindlessly, I opened my email to give one last swoosh through my inbox before taking the nine-day hiatus. Bummer. Glaring back at me was one particularly crummy message. This did not feel like a welcomed send-off for fun in the sun.

Once at the terminal, we schlepped the bags onto the conveyor belt, and I shoved the email message aside. However, on-site at our glorious location, in the quiet middle of the night, the unwanted message started flashing like a red alarm bell in the halls of my head.

• Perfect gift

• Perfect vacation

• Perfect location

• Perfect timing

• Imperfect email

At this nocturnal moment, the snarly email commandeered an upper hand in the labyrinth of my brain, and the power of the message threatened to derail a perfectly splendid week provided by The Hand of God.

Then, unannounced—in that oversized luxurious bed—the Holy Spirit stepped in and took over my mental inbox, and with one simple sentence disarmed the power of the problem: “Take a vacation from worry.”

What?

“Take a vacation from worry.”

This message was precisely what I needed to hear. Leave it alone; lay it aside; don’t bother with it right now. The anointed instruction made complete sense and with divine mercy, He gave me back my joy, my peace, and my contentment. In fact, His supernatural wisdom gave me back my vacation—the vacation He intended me to enjoy.

In the days to follow, whether picking up seashells, floating in the pool, or reeling in a whopper, each time the email content attempted to gain recognition, I heard again the still small Voice of the Holy Spirit reminding me, “Take a vacation from worry; Take a vacation from worry; Take a vacation from worry.”

Wow- that is the best vacation I ever took.

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way” (2Thes.3:16).

The power of nighttime thinking must be placed under the control of the Holy Spirit, no matter where we are. When has He intervened for you in just the perfect, peaceful manner?

Crisis at the Fuel Pump

“If you plan to travel this summer, be prepared for fuel challenges.”

"We are running out of gas.”

“Expect issues at the fuel pump.”

“If you plan to travel this summer, be prepared for fuel challenges.”

Summer news headlines remind us that gas (benzine, petrol) is low, and we face a fuel crisis.

But not so with God. He promises to supply—and supply abundantly. Look at these three tank-fillers:

1. “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8 Berean Study Bible).

2. “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3 BSB).

3. “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10 NKJV).

I’ll take it! Fill ‘er up!

Living With Eternal Intentionality®️

Where do you feel your summer life is running low on fuel?

Which promise encourages you to lean into the abundant resources of God?

Summer Reading at Its Best

“She wasn’t afraid to ask real questions.”

Her absence continues to tug at my heart, my emotions, and my needs. What I would give to be able to discuss my current challenges with her!

If only she and I could return to that evening in Bavaria over wiener schnitzel, apfelstrudel, and coffee when our hearts first bonded. If only we could still be sitting comfortably around our dinner table in Germany with my children asking her questions about jungle life. If only as two couples—she and Lars with Larry and me—we could sit beside the Danube in Budapest, enjoying ice cream, and meander like the river itself in a slow movement of easy conversation. If only.

But we can’t; alas, we can’t. She is gone, and June 15th marks her Homegoing.

Therefore, Becoming Elisabeth Elliot, Ellen Vaughn’s authorized biography of Elisabeth’s early years is a soul-nourishing, sweet treasure to me. Destined to be a classic, this volume is rich with research beyond belief and offers summer reading at its best.

I never knew that Jim Elliot was nearly killed by a train in Wheaton, Illinois. Nor did I know that only a rolled shirt sleeve prevented his death from the fangs of a deadly viper while on a jungle trek. Details like these fill the pages with this new release.

Relationships receive primary attention in this work. Ellen Vaughn vividly describes “Betty’s” association with her mother and the family dynamics in the home where she grew up. As well, she articulates the painful challenges Elisabeth encountered upon visiting Jim Elliot’s Oregon family for the first time. Deeper into the book, the writer opens the door to the ongoing challenges Elisabeth encountered, as a young widow, with a coworker.

From these pages, I learned that the mission to the Waodani—the mission that ended in the violent deaths of five missionaries—was, in fact, a secret mission. “The event that some say galvanized the Christian movement for the second half of the twentieth century took less than fifteen minutes. Days later, the search and recovery party found the carnage . . .” (Ellen Vaughn).

Forever, I will be grateful for the woman, as Vaughn describes, “a critical thinker who wasn’t afraid to ask real questions . . .” This is the wife, mother, and missionary who said, “Obviously, God has chosen to leave certain questions unanswered and certain problems without any solution in this life, in order that in our very struggle to answer and solve we may be shoved back, and back, and eternally back to the contemplation of Himself, and to complete trust in Who He is. I’m glad He’s my Father.”

For your summer reading, without hesitation, I recommend Becoming Elisabeth Elliot by Ellen Vaughn

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

Be sure to offer your recommendations for summer reading so that we can all benefit. And, by way of suggestion, I think this book would make a rich contribution to a book club in the fall.