A New Traveling Friend

A New Traveling Friend                   

By John W. Vander Velden

When it comes to traveling I guess I’m old school.  Maybe you don’t know what I mean.  Well when I plan a trip, I get out the atlas, remember those, and go over the route.  I take some time before we leave and write down a list of roads and directions and hand them to Jackie my navigator.  But we did things a bit different this summer.  We invited a friend to come along.  I think her name is Alexia.

Alexia doesn’t take much room in the car.  She rides inside my tablet.  But she has very strong opinions and voices them at any moment whether you’re ready to hear them or not.  There are times she is downright rude.  But overall not obnoxious.  Sometimes she rides on Jackie’s lap diligently tracking our progress.  “In one thousand feet turn right on to exit 283A, stay right at the fork and…”  Ooops, I missed that exit.  No problem, if Alexia is one thing she is patient…and persistent.  “In one half mile take exit 284A turn right make a U-turn…” Yeah...maybe.

But all-in-all Alexia is true enough that I come to depend upon her…maybe too much.  Throw the atlas in the back seat, give Alexia an address and off we go.

But sometimes we have a conflict with her.  Friends do that you know.  There are times I would want to travel by a route Alexia feels is less efficient.  Then her persistence becomes a bit annoying.  “Turn right make a U-turn...” “At the next road and make a U-turn...”  You expect the voice to say, “for crying out loud, go back.”  Now, now, now, Alexia, time for your nap.

Jackie puts the dear friend to sleep and sets her on the back seat as we trundle along only to hear her instructions, “turn right and make a U-turn,” her voice calls out from behind us.  Talk about a backseat driver!

Yet it astonishes me how she knows EXACTLY where we are.  It’s not to within a mile or quarter mile for that matter, it is within feet.  FREAKY!  Even when the wi-fi is off, it’s like the car talks to her in their own secret digital GPS language as we watch our progress on the screen.

So Alexia like all friends has some good points and well...other points.  To get the most out our friendship I overlook the annoying aspects of her personality.  I also have to accept her knowing our every move.  A bit voyeur-ish don’t you think.  But I ignore those quirks because Alexia is our friend… 

(431 Words) 8/21/2018

Summer Wind/More Than Clouds

The Summer Wind 

By John W. Vander Velden

 

The hot air in motion…a summer wind.  From where it comes?  To where it goes?  Do we take the time to consider?  It is after all just a summer wind.  The breeze that rearranges our hair that makes the heat almost bearable…nothing more.  Yet the sun bears upon me.  As I wipe my brow and adjust my cap, sweat stinging my eyes and causing my shirt to cling, I reflect.  Watching shadows pass over the open land while the wind chases the high puffy white clouds across the pale sky.  Reminded of my own journey, of life’s wind scurrying me along.  Few know or care where that journey began, only God knows the road ahead.  No, I am like the summer’s wind.  Some will notice my presence others will ignore.  But as I pass I must do what I can…to love…to laugh…and to care.  For just as the hot breath of summer moves on and does not return…so must I.  

(166 Words) Posted 9/7/2012

 

 

More than Clouds    

By John W. Vander Velden

 

Have you taken the time lately, on a lazy hot summer’s evening to look at the sky?  Often great masses of white float casually on the breeze.  Do you see…truly see…see more than clouds?  Oh, a childish pursuit, you say…. Reserved for the young or foolish dreamers, you say…. For the responsible, time wasted, you say….  Perhaps.  Maybe we are surrounded by walls blinding our vision.  Walls, of time clocks, bills, promises, future plans, that limit our view.  Our focus upon reality…is there more?  For the world hurls reality in our face…the news…TV…at work…at home…all around, numbed yet feeling strangely content.  Secure that we understand the facts and facts are all that matter…facts make us wise.  Foolish to see great sailing ships, castles, or grand ranges of white and gray mountains; ever changing as leisurely they drift past.  Life is too intense…too demanding.  We are grownups…met our obligations…made the sacrifices.  But have we surrendered the ability to see more than clouds?

 

(168 Words) Posted 8/24/2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flawed                           

By John W. Vander Velden

Within the human condition it is easy to overlook our own imperfections.  How simple to scan past our mistakes when we focus on those we feel blunder far worse than we.  Besides we know how we came to fail.  We know that there were reasons for our actions…logic led to the minor disasters of our lives.  Perhaps we had the best of intentions, but left the actions undone.  We like to think we were good enough and better than we could have been.

There is a logic to those thoughts, yet there is something faulty within that logic.  I, for one, recognize my imperfections.  I understand that I am flawed.  But that honest assessment doesn't remove my responsibility for my errors.  No, I must recognize that my actions result from my failing rather than my failings are caused by something beyond my control, that I just couldn’t…no matter how hard I tried…have done better.

No, I am an imperfect man, stumbling along, driven at times by less than stellar, selfish desires, placing my needs ahead of someone else’s…sometimes everyone else’s.  I should be ashamed, and at times I am, just not as often or as deeply as I ought to be.

But there is the redeeming factor that should not be ignored…faith.  For within faith there is an acceptance of the flawed, as I am…if…  If I take responsibility for my actions.  If I strive to learn from my mistakes.  If those errors are used to teach me, and learning I improve.  Faith does not make me “instantly” perfect.  Faith does not erase the stupid things I will do tomorrow…or the days after. 

For I know that GOD loves me flaws and all.  And my love of GOD drives this flawed man to try just a little harder, doing my part to over come my weaknesses.  I will never be perfect, but I should never stop my journey on the road toward perfection…even flawed as I am.  

(334 Words)  6-21-2017