I love road trips, don't you? That was one of my favorite things to do as a kid was go on a road trip. Being in a car for long hours wasn't the great part, but spending time with one another and opening your eyes to the beautiful scenery as you drive by it. One of my favorite places to drive through is taking I-70 through the Rockies in Colorado. Such beautiful scenery from one hundred to two hundred feet up all the way down to the bottom of the Colorado river. There is nothing like it. As a kid I was always excited to go on a road trip. Last one to fall asleep, second one up, first one to finish breakfast, first one done with brushing my teeth, first one in the car. Maybe some of those I wasn't first, but I was always the most ready. The first road trip I can remember is the road trip my family had taken to California. The part I remember most is of my brother, little brother. We had just stopped at a gas station and all of us kids got to get one kind of candy. My brother had picked out a pack of life saver mints, can't remember what I got. We climbed back in the car and he had opened up the mints, one after the other. Didn't saver them but just ate them. Crunched on them like gummy bears but it wasn't chewy. A couple minutes later, a couple miles down the road, and all the mints are gone. My mom asked, "is he done?" Talking to my older brother, I turned around to see if he did, and right as I did, he puked all over himself and all in his carseat. It wasn't very minty either. I was probably about seven or eight at the time. Years go by and taking road trips still always exciting, but came to a point of beginning to be a bit of a problem. I was getting taller, still really flexible but my legs needed to stretch every so often. Growing seven to eight inches in a single year was awesome but a bit painful and expensive on the price of clothes. Road trips then turned to a little bit of a different story. Still always exciting and fun but came to questions of, "how much further can I go back?" "Can you scoot your chair up a little please, little more? Thank you." "Can I have front?" As I got taller and taller, it was always a fight for room. When having a sizable car, I was always thankful! There was always leg room. When those sizable cars were replaced with a truck or a sedan, I was always looking for ways to get as many inches as possible. Even one extra inch was a lot. Seems like a little but it was a lot for a taller guy. Being above average height by four to five inches on a road trip means a lot. But what was most interesting about all the years that I first started really having to fight for leg room to my most recent road trip three days before coming to Guatemala, was that, even though every one else was getting sleep and being comfortable, i was happy that I was able to sit in the cabin with my brothers and sister. I was happy that I got to be in a vehicle that was in good shape and taking me home. I had made the sacrifice of fighting for that extra inch to going back to looking out the window and enjoying the Rocky Mountains. I was happy looking over at my younger brother and sister and seeing them sleeping and being comfortable. It may have not seemed like it at the time, but if I could go back to looking over at them sleeping with me pushed up against the inside car door, I would have a guaranteed smile on my face. Before I had started writing this ibs, I was really struggling with this verse. I had two thoughts going through my mind. Either making sacrifices for me was really simple because I have lived with a lot and a little or making sacrifices was one of the hardest things in the world for me to do. Nothing came to mind for several minutes. At a point I began to get frustrated and took a deep breath, listened to Ian and went and did something else then came back to it. Came back to the verse and Zach had told me of Luke 9:25, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost." What do I profit if I were to gain every inch during a road trip and be completely satisfied while everyone around me is suffering? What do I profit if I have everything but I have nothing? It's interesting thinking about what I gained when I gave up that extra inch of space to my brother and sister so that they could sleep.
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