We used to say, “School is out for the summer—it’s time
for family vacations!” This is still true in many areas of the United States,
but as schools get over populated there is a growing trend for year-round
schools. (As far as I can see, it affects the travel industry in that families
are now able to travel in the “off season” and land some really great travel
deals. Most parents that I have talked with have mixed feelings about year-round
schools: They say they have found their children seem to do better academically
with breaks throughout the year, but they’ve got to have some type of childcare
during the “track-out” time.) As far as me, I loved my summers! Three months of
fun in the sun. Growing up in central Florida back in the late 60’s and 70’s,
we made our own fun. My mother and I weren’t able to afford vacations, but I
spent a lot of summers in Arkansas with various aunts and uncles for weeks at a
time.
My cousins and nephews and I, we would make our own fun. Splashing
in the creeks, playing elevator tag in the multistory buildings on the campus
of the University of Arkansas. Maybe that’s why to this day I’m still a big
Arkansas Razorbacks fan—Whoooo Pig Suey! To this day, I can’t figure out why we
never had the police called on us or were thrown out of one of the buildings. I
guess back then, in the Dark Ages, people just wrote it off to kids having fun.
But it was harmless fun. We did get in semi-trouble once: We found a Razorback
football helmet lying out, so we took it. We were discovered by our mothers and
had to return it with a chewing out from the athletic director at that time,
Frank Broyals.
Now Shirley and I love to go places. Everyone knows how
much we love to cruise. We have three cruises in the works now: a six-day to
Nassau and Freeport on October 22; a 5-day marriage conference from Charleston,
SC, on February 13; and a 15-day to Hawaii from Long Beach, CA, on October 19,
2013. But we’ve also got a couple land vacations this year. We spent Memorial
Day weekend in Virginia Beach to celebrate Courtney’s birthday. The week of
July 4, we visited Washington DC to celebrate Shirley’s birthday as well as this
wonderful country’s 236th. (That blog is nearly finished, so keep an eye out
for it!) We are also traveling to New York City for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day
Parade. I’m hoping to take the family to Disney World very soon; we have only ever
spent one day at the park as a family. I’ve blogged before about how I grew up
15 miles from the front gate of Disney and how much time I’ve enjoyed there, and
I think it’s time I take them to see the Mouse. I’d also like to check out the Holy Land Experience in Orlando. I have never been to that park, but I have been to
the Holy Land, and I hear the park is a very close recreation of the area
during Christ’s time.
Agape Travel’s motto is “Don’t Just Live—Travel!” You see, while a vacation can definitely be a time to just relax, the
experience of visiting new places and meeting new people can be so much more. I
want to get the message out to people that life is not guaranteed—we only have
a limited time on this earth, and once our time bank runs out we cannot make
another deposit. I look forward to getting to Heaven and worshiping Christ for eternity,
but while I’m here on this earth, I want to see and experience God’s creation. At
our church, Calvary Baptist Raleigh, our theme this year is from Jude 22. It
tells us to make an impact on the world around us, a positive, intentional
impact. I want to do that. As we travel and experience other peoples and
cultures, it makes us better equipped to do just that.
I will always remember the first time we went to Cozumel,
Mexico. We were traveling to the rainforest outside Costa Maya to see the Mayan
pyramids, and our tour bus went through a very small village. It was a very
poor village, the school was a rundown building, painted pink, all the windows
and screens broken. And according to our tour guild, if it wasn’t for the local
Catholic priest, they wouldn’t even have that much. When we completed our tour,
we returned to the cruise port and the girls were somewhat alarmed in seeing
two guards with M-16s guarding the port entrance. I had seen this before in
Israel: There are armed Israeli Army regulars on every street corner. But I
think this trip really showed Tiffany and Courtney the way that others have to
live and how blessed we are that we live in the United States. I know that
every time we travel to another country, it’s a reminder to Shirley and me how
blessed we are.
Whether you travel to another country or just to another
state, experiencing the lifestyle of different people is a life lesson for all
of us. On our last cruise, Shirley gave a plastic bag of strawberries to a
little boy, who shared it with his friends. She was able to be a blessing to
them, and if I know Shirley, she said a prayer for them too. This island was
very very poor, but there we were on this big cruise ship with all the food we
wanted to eat. I think she had an impact on these children that we will never
fully realize. What I do know is that, because of many of the places we have
visited, we are better for it. We have learned not to take what we have for
granted. The blessings of God are abundant in our lives.
So, don’t just live—travel! Impact the world, and let the
world impact you in return.
Rick
