The Power of Words

Day 2 of travel has went relatively well. No one really slept well the first night, so we were very thankful for the extra hour of sleep. According to Kim, we found the middle of nowhere (while traveling through southern Utah desert). We are over half way through the distance we need to drive--and thankful for a bit of a lighter day tomorrow.

It was sometime near midnight that I recalled an interesting event in our lives. Close to 9 years ago, Kim and I packed up our kids for a very unique field trip. I will never forget the puzzlement in the border crossing guard's voice as she questioned us, "You're going to Shelby (Montana) for ice cream?". Once we explained that we were homeschoolers, she understood and invited us in to see what a crossing station was like. We drove on down to Shelby, had some ice cream, explored the grocery store and headed home. While looking on the map, the kids asked where the road (Interstate 15) led. I told them it went to California. Abby immediately asked if we could follow it someday. I said, "Yes, someday we will take this road down to California".

Memories of this conversation came flooding back as I was pondering this amazing journey. What power there is in the spoken word! Scripture reminds us that the tongue has the ability to speak life or death.

Little did I know at the time that by speaking out in faith that we would drive that road, we were planting seeds of faith. This was long before a family mission trip was ever considered.

Never underestimate the power of our words. Maybe once we realize that we hold the power of life and death (of dreams, hopes, self-esteem, etc), we will consider how and what we speak more carefully.

My prayer for this journey is that despite fatigue, stress, uncertainly and more, our words will be chosen carefully and used to bring glory and honour to God.

On an interesting side note, we have seen license plates from 24 states and 6 provinces:)