From PA to MO

“Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you: For wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge;  Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.” Ruth 1:16-17

We made it! We set out on our journey from central Pennsylvania to Springfield, Missouri on Friday afternoon, and after 1,100 miles, six states, and 18 1/2 hours of driving, we arrived at our new home late Saturday evening.

Traveling is always quite the adventure..but traveling with a 75 lb. German Shepherd “pup” and all of your earthly possessions gives adventure a whole new meaning!  After spending most of the day loading our gargantuan Uhaul we drove off into the sunset towards the next chapter in our story. Sam drove the Uhaul towing our car while I drove our pickup truck with the dog. Gerti did fairly well…she only tried to climb in my lap a handful of times and her need for more frequent stops were a welcome break from driving. All in all, the trip was as uneventful as it was long.

The past week has been spent unpacking the plethora of boxes that have taken up residency in our garage, cleaning, making our new house a home and adjusting to the insanely humid Midwest heat!  The latter of which has been the most difficult for all of us…but especially the dog! 

While driving, I had a lot of time to think (and I did a fair amount of singing). Most people where we are from have never lived outside of the county. Most people couldn’t imagine packing up and moving halfway across the country (or even across the state). And while not everything about our new adventure went quite as planned…my thoughts kept drifting to the Book of Ruth, a beautiful story of love and devotion and faith, and how it relates to my life.

In a nutshell, Ruth was devoted to her mother-in-law, Naomi, and she left her family and homeland behind as she followed the will of God.  Ruth took a leap of faith into the unknown, and never looked back to what felt safe and familiar, and because of her faith and courage to follow her destiny, she was blessed. Ruth made a vow to Naomi to do six things: to travel, dwell, claim her people, worship her God, die where she dies, and be buried where she is buried. Plain and simple, Ruth was all in. About a year and a half ago, I made a very similar vow to Sam when I married him, to not only love, honor and obey, but to follow him and be his partner in life and love, because I am all in.

We could all take a lesson from Ruth when it comes to our commitments, especially to our spouse. A lesson to be all in, no matter what happens, no matter where you are called to go. All in…the mountains, the valleys, and the adventures.