A Funny Thing Happened on the Way...

It was last Thursday.

I dropped David at the airport, Walker had already been taken to Uncle G's Bed and Biscuit, and I was on the road to Pawleys Island for a few days. Most days I enjoy driving, especially driving from Florida to the LowCountry where my spirit is at home and at peace. North up 95, then finally off to 17 through the marsh, big oaks, the smell of pluff mud and salt air. I was in great need of this trip alone to try and clear my head and heart of the sadness that has hung on since Trey's death and the tragic loss of our minister and his son. The questions that I have asked God have almost put me into a crisis of faith - not a place that I like to go. I just prayed that I would be able to come to terms with all of this over the next few days. I was hoping that being physically away from the sadness would help. Driving up 17 through Charleston - just a little further north to Pawleys - I opened the windows and the top to take in the smells that bring me home. Then it happened. A song comes on the local radio station - a song that I haven't heard in a long time. A song that defined my faith after we survived Hurricane Hugo and stood shoulder to shoulder with friends and neighbors to put our lives back together. A song that played in my mind as we lost David's Dad just days after Hugo. A song that was dedicated to our community by Ray Boltz when he performed in Charleston shortly after Hugo. As I listened, the tears came...and came...and I realized that this anchor, just like the anchor of our boat would keep me strong and would keep me from moving out and floating aimlessly and lost. It's this anchor that has brought me through 54 years of ups and downs, doubts and fears, and personal loss. It is only this anchor that I can count on holding strong when those winds and storms of tough, tough times come roaring into my life. It was this special time on Highway 17 heading to Pawleys that I felt this anchor grab hold again.