It’s fun hiking on a mountain trail until someone yells, “Avalanche! Run for cover!”
It’s fun swimming in the ocean until someone yells, “Shark! Get out of the water!”
It’s fun living in a minivan, exploring the country until someone yells, “Pandemic! Stay at home!”
Especially if you have no home to stay at.
Hi everybody,
God bless you…
It’s Mike and LuAnn. It’s been a long time.
As you might imagine, this past year has had a dramatic impact on LuAnn’s and my nomadic lifestyle.
Let me assure you, we’re good. We’re well. We’re safe. We found shelter.
Sadly, like most of you, we’ve lost loved ones. So we mourn.
We have also found hope and rejoice in the birth of our second grandchild. Nathan and Kirra have a son, Ashton James. Born last October. That’s him up there at the top of the page.
My last posting (so typical of me) was exactly a year ago. To say a lot has happened since then would be a colossal understatement.
LuAnn and I were boondocking around the gulf shores last February when the virus began to change everything. We abandoned our travels and headed for familiar ground.
We went to Michigan for a short time to see Annie and Farrah and John and were at my childhood farm in Northern Minnesota by early May. Back then, the rural Midwest was the safest place in the country. Not so much anymore.
We stayed on the farm for six months. It was wonderful. I was able to help with everything from seeding to harvest. I worked hard under the summer sun. It was good for my soul.
We returned to Michigan in late October for the holidays and then back to the farm for the winter. I’m sitting in the living room gazing out across snow-covered fields as I write.
I wish I had something profound and encouraging to say to you all. I wish I could find words to strengthen your faith and bolster your courage and give you hope. But here’s the thing. Words aren’t the things that ultimately strengthen us or bolster us. They help. Words can be wonderful tools. Words can describe what’s happening around us and even define our feelings about faith and courage and hope. Words can provide direction and encouragement. Sometimes, finding the right words can be like finding a light to brighten even the darkest path. But, at the end of the day, the thing that strengthens and bolsters us is endurance. It’s perseverance. It’s hanging in there. It’s making it through.
“Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” Romans 5:3-4
With so much suffering in the world a lot of us are tempted to give up. I have felt that.
But don’t.
Please don’t give up.
Hang in there everybody.
We can make it through.
We will make it through.
There’s hope. There truly is.
If you don’t believe me, just look at the face of that new little baby.
Mike Sollom 