The LeFlore’s set out Sunday afternoon, April 23rd, and headed east. We made our first stop in Hot Springs, Arkansas and stayed at one of only two hotels that we’ve been able to locate that will allow seven people in the same room.
We explored Hot Springs National Park the next day, which, I explained to the children used to be something similar to the Pool of Bethesda account from John chapter 5. I don’t think that people went there that couldn’t walk with the hopes of being healed by the hot spring water, but I was surprised at the amount of ailments the establishments claimed could be cured with hot water and steam.
We went from there to Mammoth Cave National Park just outside of Glasgow, Kentucky. It was here that we had to tell the children to not make a fuss when the park rangers talked about the age of the cave. It was also here in the depths of the cave that the scripture came to mind, from Psalm 138:8-10,
8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.
In other words, there’s nowhere in the world or beyond where God cannot see me and where He is not with me. Then I went from spiritual to anything but when we had to go through a very tight section of the cave called, “Fat Man’s Misery.”
As I write this, I’m sitting in bed in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee while the rest of the house sleeps.
I tend, in hindsight, to choose to remember mostly the good from trips like these, so in the heat of the ongoing moment, I’ll share with you what I’ll likely choose to forget later.
I get frustrated too easily. I yell too much. I am selfish. This is the short-list of things that I recognize and am actively trying to overcome. I will say this though, I have prayed some of the most earnest prayers of my life on this trip! I’ve been begging God for help. Help for me as a parent and husband. Help in raising my children to be more like Jesus and less like me.
As Kendall was loading up the kids in the van today, I was paying for our purchases at Buc-ees. The cashier was a sweet lady who was saying some very kind words about my family, and I can’t remember what I said, exactly, or maybe she just saw the strained look on my face, but I was quickly reprimanded. She said, “Listen young man, children are a gift from the Lord” (Which is a quote from Psalm 127:3).
I told her that I agreed and that I needed to be reminded of that from time to time and thanked her for doing so. We made small talk for a couple minutes as I hoped she didn’t ask me what I did for a living and thankfully she didn’t.
It’s so difficult to live proactively and not merely reactively. In other words, it’s easier to just hope for the best and not learn and not grow and not seek wisdom from the Scriptures and help from God when the going gets tough. But as followers of Jesus, we must. We must always fight the temptation to be less than what He desires us to be, which is, just like Jesus.
I’m a forever distance away from being anything like Jesus, but I’m closer than I was when I started!
Much love!
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
