Photo by Jenny Venturo
We are not a typical family, and we have never done things in the typical way. Nobody who travels full-time in an RV can live or think like normal people do. It’s not that we try to rebel against the typical; we just don’t know how to be typical.
Two weeks ago, though, we did a very typical thing. We took a vacation in the Florida Keys. Yet even then, it wasn’t your typical vacation.
First of all, our strategy wasn’t typical. We didn’t stay in the Keys. We stayed at a boondocking site near Homestead, FL, in Everglades National Park, 2-3 hours away from where we wanted to explore.
In case you’re unfamiliar with RVing terms, “boondocking” is a synonym for “dry camping”—camping in a travel trailer without hooking up to water or electricity. Instead of having a constant supply of water and power coming into your trailer, we had to consist on the water stored up in our tank and the electricity in our batteries for our entire five-day stay.
Our experience wasn’t typical, either. Vacations are supposed to be relaxing, but ours wasn’t.
I must admit—part of the reason for this was our aforementioned strategy. Waking up early every morning; driving over 2 hours; spending the day snorkeling, supping, and fly fishing; driving over 2 hours back to the campsite; and cleaning up in the dark all took their toll. Not only that, we were, as I told you, living on strict rations of power and water, which any person who has survived a power outage during a hurricane or large storm can tell you is not easy.
But the biggest problem was the weather. A week ago, the forecast had said it would be nice, so we had gotten our hopes up. Now, the forecast was predicting rain and clouds for every day of our stay. It was very disheartening—and we were all feeling it.
Why was it disheartening? Here’s my main reason for bringing all this up—it was disheartening because Christians in general don’t think according to the typical mindset.
The typical worldview is that everything has a natural cause or explanation. Occurrences like thunderstorms, overcast days, accidents—these are little more than coincidences determined by the laws of nature and whims of chance. Christians, however, recognize that all phenomena are foreordained and dictated by a sovereign Creator.
So, when He allows irritating little disruptions to cancel our plans, deflect our excitement, and dampen our spirits, we tend to wonder why He would allow them into our lives. Why, on top of everything else that is going on in my life, does this have to happen? Would it spoil some eternal plan to just have nice weather for one week? Does He care—or would the world just go on without either me or Him?
While it is arrogant and wrong to question the Lord, and while the promises of God as found in His Word are always the answer to doubt and discouragement, I want to point out that the very fact that you are feeling these things is because you are a Christian (to learn what it means to be a Christian, click here) who doesn’t think like the rest of the world. You are revealing a mindset that recognizes the hand of God in all events, whether big or small, worldwide or personal, as opposed to a worldview that would shrug off disappointments as “the natural way of things.”
So, don’t give up on the Lord as you stand in the rain—seek Him, pour out your heart before Him, trust Him (Psalms 62:8), and acknowledge Him in all circumstances (Proverbs 3:5-6). Don’t give in to the typical outlook on life—the idea that all events are driven by chaotic, unfeeling forces that will drive on with or without your existence. Instead, “Cast your burden on the LORD, and He will sustain you” (Psalms 55:22).
As for our vacation—well, in this case God graciously gave us amazing, warm, sunny weather on the last two days of our day (in spite of the forecast, by the way), and we had an incredible time. He doesn’t always do that, but it’s nice when He does. We should thank Him either way.
Photo by Jenny Venturo
We were surprised to discover iguanas all over the Florida Keys, basking on tree branches, swimming in the ocean, and even resting on top of billboards!
Photo by Paul Venturo
Oh, what it takes to get a picture of an iguana! A maze of tree branches and quicksand lay between us and this "dragon" in his "castle" on Don Quixote Key.
Photo by Jenny Venturo
A new sport is born. "Conch diving" involves spotting conchs from a SUP, diving under the water, pulling up a specimen, and hoping it doesn't have an animal inside!
Photo by Jenny Venturo
Photo by Jenny Venturo
Beautiful but deadly! Two years ago, Caleb was severely stung by one of these during a snorkeling trip in the Keys. We also saw nurse sharks, lemon sharks, and a bonnethead.
Photo by Jenny Venturo
We have never regretted purchasing four inflatable SUPs!
Photo by Jenny Venturo
Photo by Jenny Venturo
You never know what you'll catch when you're fishing in the Keys! This is a porkfish.
Photo by Jenny Venturo
Photo by Jenny Venturo
A barracuda. Look at those teeth!
Photo by Jenny Venturo
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Used by permission. All rights reserved.