Lead On O King Eternal

Last week I was in a ‘pick-a-theme-song-for-the-season-of-life-you’re-in’ kind of mood.  I picked one for me and some for my friends who are going through difficult things.  But I thought that was weird so I didn’t tell my friends that I picked a theme song for their life.  If you need that kind of help, though, I’m happy to assist you in picking an appropriate song.  🙂 So, I think Lead On O King Eternal (the Enfield version) lines up spiritually and practically to our current situation of RV life.  In case you want to hum along for the rest of the day here’s the version I’m talking about: link.  Every lyric is my favorite but for the sake of time and space I’ll use the first stanza as a jumping off point:

“Lead on O King eternal the day of march has come. Henceforth in fields of conquest, thy tents shall be our home. Through days of preparation thy grace has made us strong; and now o King eternal we lift our battle song.”

Well friends, the day of march has come.  If by ‘march’ you mean packing up your stuff in small loads over the course of 5 days and cramming them into your small but spacious hatchback, then yes, the day of march has definitely come to the Lanotte household. We marched our stuff up and down the loveliest stretch of road in Florida (in my humble opinion) probably upwards of 7 or 8 times, but I lost count.

And an RV is pretty close to a tent, so henceforth in fields of conquest  (or highways across the USA) Your RV will be our home.  We’ve had many days of preparation and we continue to have more, my Mom is preparing some things right now, actually and we still have to learn how to tow this big lady.  But the spiritual preparation is also palpable.  Preparing to learn how to serve each other in a small space with less modern machinery (like dishwashers) is definitely ripe with opportunities for practicing humility, patience and kindness.  So far I’m not living triumphantly there but I am very grateful for forgiveness and a husband with a knack for dishwashing.  And when I think with an eternal perspective these are key lessons if I choose to take advantage of them and choose obedience because being more like Christ is a life goal.  So I’m arming up for battle with my spiritual weapons. Currently I’ve got prayer in one hand and my Ephesians study in the other (I’m learning about how to live a life of love right now, sounds perfect, right?).

So we had a fruitful week:

• Picked up Nonni from the airport 
• RV delivered
• Moved all our non-essential items onto the RV to see what fits
• Making final last minute decisions about what to donate and sell
• Still truck shopping (saw two but liked neither)
• If we pass the appraisal then we can go ahead and move onto the RV for the reals (this one is a long story and we are still waiting for the appraisal, so we just pressed forward with the moving)
• Prepare for and have an estate sale
• Buy a hitch and get it installed
• Practice towing 🙂

So we are basically full timers now, except for our cats and our Nonni they are still at the Sticks & Bricks (RV lingo for ‘regular house’). It’s day two of full timing and things are shaping up pretty well- at least Levi is playing, sleeping, napping and asking to read the ‘My First Truck Board Book’ lots of times, so that’s pretty much normal for us.

So what about you, how are you doing following God’s example of walking in the ways of love?  (See Ephesians 5:1-2).

With future humility and patience,

Keri-Rose