Orange VW Buses

When Rich and I were dating, we had all kinds of crazy ideas of what we were going to do with the life we knew we would be spending together.  We were getting out of Jersey, for one thing.  High-tailing it out of here is more like it.  We figured we could drive and see the country for a little while- but we needed a VW Bus to do it.  And it must be Orange.  With curtains, of course.  I mean, that's the stuff all the best folk songs are made of, right? Sleeping in the backseat, eating hummus wraps, taking pictures with old cameras, drinking bad gas station coffee and writing songs at 3 a.m. while the other drives.

We're still in New Jersey.  In fact, our house is in the same town that Rich grew up in. My Dad and his family live two blocks away, in fact. We're directly across the street from the church where we met. We have toured the country some as well as engaged in some international travel in our almost 6 years of married life together- but never in that Orange VW Bus.  It became almost a sad symbol of an unreachable dream.  We were adults now.  We have a mortgage to pay.  Jobs to go to.  Now, children to have.  An orange, VW bus is just not in the cards anymore.

Have you done that?  Decided that the circumstances you are in suddenly dictate whether or not a dream is attainable?  God doesn't work that way.  Circumstances never dictate how much He loves us, delights in us and longs to see us free.  If He doesn't work that way, why do we?

I have new eyes for that orange bus this morning.  Why wouldn't I want my daughter to grow up surrounded by the music of her parents and the beauty of creation? Hummus wraps are good for everyone, I'm sure she'd only benefit.  I mean, it's a BUS, right?  That means that perhaps it wasn't meant just for the two of us after all, anyway.  We needed to wait for our family to grow to fill up the seats.

What's your VW Bus?  Did God close the door on it, or did you? Go figure it out and let me know.  I've got some car shopping to do.