The Expedition

Last summer my family and I went on an incredible “trip of a lifetime“ (as we liked to call it) to Europe. At the time, my brother was stationed at a naval base in Naples, Italy, and my second cousin was getting married in Bias, France. We decided that this may be our only chance to explore Europe, and with my brother’s job and my cousin’s marriage, the timing was impeccable. Little did we know what this journey had in store for us…

The first couple days of our trip was perfectly planned. We explored Rome and Florence, touching pieces of history and consuming gelato every chance we got. It was amazing. Next was our drive to Naples. The drive from Rome to Naples is about three hours, depending on traffic. Our transportation was a rented, tiny SUV that barely fit my family of five and all our luggage. The best option for the three hour drive was to tie down our luggage to the top of the car so we could comfortably make our way to Naples. The traffic in Italy is INSANE. Even the highways have carelessly speeding Italians who don’t like people in their way. The highway we drove on contained a mile-long tunnel and had fences that separated each side of the highway. As we drove an acceptable 85-90 mph, I was awakened by my mother’s scream. The rope embracing our luggage ripped and three large bags were tumbling down the highway just as we were entering the vast tunnel. Because you can’t pull over while in a tunnel, we immediately hugged the shoulder when we saw the light of day. Our first thought was: “Everything is demolished. There is no possible way our belongings survived the fall, and if they did, surely they have been hit by the speeding cars.” Because there was fencing between the highways, there was no possible way to turn the car around. The nearest exit to turn back was 13 miles away. The only thing left to do was to run through the tunnel to retrieve what was left of our luggage. My mother and my sister ended up running through the mile-long tunnel, avoiding speeding cars while pulling the luggage off the highway, my brother running after them and ruthlessly waving down a car, and driving back to our vehicle. We could’ve never imagined something like this could happen in our perfectly planned “trip of a lifetime.”

We planned for the best possible outcome, but faced a circumstance that was frustrating and hard.

Looking back at the events that played out during that trip reminds me of my own expedition. Life is unexpected. We can’t plan for every single moment and every single experience. Opportunities come and go, we lose people we love, we make plans that fall through, people let us down, we lose our job, we make mistakes, etc. Things happen and life goes on without stopping. My journey thus far has been filled with so many different experiences; these experiences have stretched me in ways I didn’t think I could be stretched and have molded me into who I am today. Through this blog I hope to share the things I have learned and the things I am continuing to learn. My goal is to share my heart and experiences in an authentic way and reveal God’s redemption through my testimony. I pray that my entries connect with those who are traveling this crazy path of life with me and that in some [even if small] way I can bring hope, through the love of Christ, to that road. This blog has been in planning for a long time and I feel as if God has been preparing my heart for the things I will write about. Whatever God is working out in my life and whatever future He has planned for me, I know deeply within my heart He will always be with me, guiding me down the road ahead.

“Go forth today, by the help of God’s Spirit, vowing and declaring that in life – come poverty, come wealth, in death – come pain or come what may, you are and ever must be the Lord’s. For this is written on your heart, ‘We love Him because He first loved us.'” -Charles H. Spurgeon

And so, begins…

The Expedition