By Pastor Mark Hopper

Pastor Mark Hopper

Recently I shared about my memories of driving from Arizona to San Diego for family vacations when I was a kid.  It was a long, hot drive across the desert to get to Mission Bay in cool, beautiful San Diego.

My first article reminded me of another “Road Trip,” when I was in graduate school in Dallas, Texas.  Our first child was born in October, and we were hoping to drive home to Arizona to celebrate Christmas with our parents.

Since our car was not very reliable and we did not have a lot of money for gas, we asked my wife’s sister and her husband if we could carpool with them.  They lived at Fort Riley Kansas at that time, so they drove south and picked us up in Dallas.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I didn’t realize that they were bringing their large Irish Setter with them.  The result was that my wife and her sister sat in the front seat along with my brother-in-law, who was driving.  I rode in the back seat with the Irish Setter.

I know this sounds terrible, but we were not required to use car seats for infants and children in those days.  So my wife and her sister took turns holding our two-month old son on their laps in the front seat, while I shared the back seat with the dog.

The dog’s name was Shadrach, like one of the men found in the Bible, in the book of Daniel, Chapter 1.

Shadrach was a good dog.  He had a friendly temperament and was pretty obedient.  He was also a big dog, and he liked to lean on people.  He was a leaner.  He took up three-fourths of the back seat, and I was always squished against the door.

It is over 1,000 miles from Dallas to Phoenix.  It usually takes two days to drive that distance.  I rode in the back seat with that big dog leaning on me for two days.  It was a road trip that I have not been able to forget.

There is a verse in the Bible that says, “Be humble and gentle, patient and tolerant with one another in love,” (Ephesians 4:2).  It took a lot of patience and tolerance to endure driving 1,000 miles to Arizona, and another 1,000 miles back to Texas,

You may find yourself in an unexpected or uncomfortable situation that you did not foresee.  You may have people leaning on you.  It may be that the only thing you can do is be humble and patient as you endure the situation.

Ask God to give you the strength to complete the journey.

Pastor Mark Hopper is from the Evangelical Free Church of Diamond Bar, 3255 South Diamond Bar Ave. Sunday services are 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. For more information, call (909) 594-7604 or visit http://www.efreedb.org.