“Driver and Co-Pilot in Action”

So today was an interesting adventure to say the least. Our morning started off similar to most, except for the fact that all of us were half-asleep since we weren’t going to any of our work sites today. Sister Donna shared with us an analogy to consider as we prepared for our road trip to Niagara Falls. Our life is a car and we are the drivers, and Jesus is trying to get into our car. Sometimes Jesus is standing on the street corner asking for a ride, sometimes we throw Him in the trunk for when we decide we really need Him, sometimes He’s in the backseat (where He’s not much of a backseat driver at all), and sometimes he’s in the front seat co-piloting or even in the driver’s seat. It’s up to us. Personally, I reflected on the fact that right now I feel like Jesus and I are in the middle of a Chinese fire drill: the car is stalled and I’m crawling out of the front seat into the passenger seat, and Jesus is outside running around the car because I just can’t drive it anymore. It feels as if I’m out of control of the situation, but it’s only a matter of time until Jesus takes the wheel (Carrie Underwood shout-out).

Our day then took us to Bethany House, which is a house of hospitality serving women. We were put to work cleaning the house, unpacking diapers (a task taken on by all three of our boys on the trip), and unloading boxes and boxes of food. One of the interesting things that came to mind while working was the fact that there was SO MUCH. Pantry shelves were packed, freezers were full (thanks to some awesome toss-and-catch abilities) and there were bags and bags of diapers. I was shocked at the fact that this was considered “not very much” and that the Bethany House has food delivered on a weekly basis and is constantly short on diaper and baby donations. It just made me realize just how many people are in need in this city, and it was a very humbling experience overall.

Enter driver and co-pilot. With Dan in the driver’s seat, yours truly received the humble honor of being the co-pilot, which carries a lot of pressure! I was in charge of directions, the car DJ, potty-break coordinator, and more. We made it to Niagara Falls successfully without getting lost (yet). We took some pictures, and then the majority of the group went to visit Ben’s homeland. I went with a smaller group who stayed on the American side of the border, and we wandered around across the bridge to the island where there is a smaller falls called the Bridal Veil Falls. This might have been my favorite part of the trip so far, because watching Dan’s excitement and then disappointment with seeing the Bridal Veil Falls and then realizing that they were closed was truly beautiful. It’s not very often as a college student that I’m able to see an honest example of true love and devotion to one’s future spouse. So shout-out to Brittany, who I have yet to meet, because you two are already a role model for me of the kind of love that I hope to one day experience.

But enough for the sappiness. So the rest of our day was spent partying (with respect to dance of course). As the car DJ, we ended our trip rocking out to some satellite radio, including KE-dollar sign-HA and multiple occasions of fist-pumping. We learned that numerous members of our trip have quite the vocal range, that Dan enjoys a good knee-slap or wheel-tap on occasion, and that there is nothing better to bring a group together than some good old tunes and shuffles in the seat while driving.

Peace everyone!

Rachael