Dreams. Desires. Destinations.
Bora Bora, Tuscany, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Machu Picchu; we all have that elusive place that calls to us. Maybe you’ve heard about it, seen it in a picture, gone there in your mind. Perhaps you’ve written it down on your “bucket list.”
Where would you go if time or money didn’t hold you back?
For me, it’s Baja California. The remote, wild, coast below continental California, has held an allure for me that will finally be realized in the next few weeks. While many, if not most, tourists head straight to the picturesque (party town) of Cabo San Lucas, it is the untamed vistas of the Carretera Transpeninsular (Hwy 1) that interest me.
With temps this past week dipping down below freezing here in New York, the thought of 80 degrees and sunny has all of a sudden made this the perfect time to get away. That my daughter is wrapping up her mostly seasonal position at ACE (American Conservation Experience) and can take off on this extended road trip is a BONUS BABY.
We plan to cross the border at Tijuana and traverse the roughly 800 miles in our old Toyota van that my daughter and husband modified into a sleeper camper before she drove it out west last spring. Once considered a treacherous trip, the roads are now paved – or so I’m told. Actually, you can “google” Baja and come up with a vividly detailed road trip itinerary.
Kind of takes the adventure out of my dream of crossing the dessert, but certainly (at my age) makes more sense – at least for my first foray into Mexico ;)
While I won’t be able to post the blog the next couple weeks, I hope to bring back loads of flora and fauna pictures from the second longest pennisula in the world bordered by the Pacific on it’s west coast and the "Sea of Cortés" on the east. I have heard tell that one can catch whales calving (though we will probably be a little early for that), majestic sunsets where the two waters meet at the tip (“cabo” in Spanish) and many forms of cacti. Whatever it brings, it will be a dream come true.
You see, I started this journey 34 years ago. I packed up a Chevy van and “headed to Baja.” Funny thing, resources ran out by Texas and life would take a lot of twist and turns. The Army, marriage, family and faith became my life. Yet tucked back in my heart, the desire never left.
Desire: a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen.
When I think of the elusive nature of desire, I am reminded that the Lord promises to give us what we need – not what we want. And for the most part, we take great strength from that truth Paul writes in Philippians 4:19 – “My God will supply all your need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Yet our Lord knows our heart. It says in Psalm 34 that He know the desires of our heart. And I don’t think that it’s any coincidence that this year – the year that I put aside life as I knew it and came to New York with my husband to help care for my mother-in-law, to gain my strength and purpose solely from the Lord in a new place with no friends or familiar activities, that He made a way for me to finally see the place I’ve only dreamed about.
So friends, I say with the utmost assurance, God sees what you’re going through. He knows the desires of your heart – however old or intangible they may seem. Trust Him today. Delight in Him right where you are. Stand firm on the Word. Don’t stop dreaming and believing!
