{"id":4476,"date":"2012-01-17T13:47:32","date_gmt":"2012-01-17T13:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=4476"},"modified":"2012-01-17T13:51:52","modified_gmt":"2012-01-17T13:51:52","slug":"my-favorite-travel-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=4476","title":{"rendered":"My Favorite Travel Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Today is my favorite day of any trip, I’m flying home! \u00a0God has given me a wonderful gift, I love what comes next! \u00a0If I am having to leave home, He gives me anticipation for the trip that is starting. \u00a0When the trip is ending He gives me anticipation and joy that I’m going home. \u00a0You may be saying Duh! \u00a0Actually if what you do for a living requires you to be in the road over 200 days a year, that is a valuable asset!<\/p>\n

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I spent the first dozen years of my career with jobs like most people have, worked all day, was home every night and weekend. \u00a0Then I took a job that had a fair amount of travel, maybe 60 or more nights a year were spent away from home. \u00a0It was an adjustment, but it went fine. \u00a0A few years after that I started a workshop company and the real travel began, approximately 160 to 200 night a year. \u00a0It was at that point that Sherelene and I had to really adjust to being apart. \u00a0 \u00a0We both learned that even though we missed each other, we couldn’t dwell on it, night and day, it just made us miserable. We had to live in the moment. \u00a0If I was in Olympic National Park teaching a workshop, I had to concentrate on my students and enjoy the great opportunity God had given me, \u00a0Sherelene had to do the same thing back at the hospital where she was a Nurse Practitioner. \u00a0 We prayed for each other and talked each day by phone (now we text, can’t believe, I’ve gotten that modern!! \u00a0We still talk too!). \u00a0Anyway I don’t love her any less, I probably love her even more, but I have work to do, she has work to do, and we “just do it!”<\/p>\n

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What won’t work is to simply not think of each other at all! \u00a0That won’t work with God either. \u00a0A relationship is on going, it’s constant, and to keep it alive and healthy, it has to include constant communication. \u00a0Paul said, “pray constantly.” \u00a0He wasn’t kidding! \u00a0I find that to keep my relationship with Christ vital, I have to be constantly taking my petitions and concerns to Him in prayer. \u00a0I don’t have to get on my knees in an airport terminal or behind the counter at a show to pray. \u00a0I simply talk to Him in my mind. \u00a0I’m sure everyone is different, but I don’t pray “King James” prayers anymore. \u00a0I don’t say, “Our Father who art in Heaven…..” \u00a0(of course I do still recite the Lord’s prayer), but in moment to moment communication with Him, I think and speak my prayers in a much more natural way. \u00a0I embraced a friend yesterday who was sharing a very touching story relating to his family and how God miraculously intervened, as his eyes filled with tears, I hugged him. \u00a0I said, in my spirit, \u00a0“Father thank you so much for making yourself so real to my brother, bless him and keep him close to you! I love Him so much I know he is precious to you!” \u00a0 Simple words, profound request! \u00a0I believe that God hears our prayers, real time, right now, and He always answers them. \u00a0It may not be the answer we were expecting and it might not be apparent immediately that it was answered, but I know the moment we utter a prayer, God puts things in motion. \u00a0One wonderful revelation is that He never makes a mistake! \u00a0Whatever He does in response to our prayers is “always” the right answer, and if we wait, He will show us why it was in His good time!<\/p>\n

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So this morning as I finish packing, (another of my favorite activities), I will be thanking Him for a great show, for my wonderful Nikon friends, for the people I’ve gotten to meet and visit with, the old friends that work for other companies that I’ve enjoyed seeing again. \u00a0I will thank Him for my close, dear friends that support me in prayer, and love me in spite of my being who I am! \u00a0I will thank Him that we have some exciting new products that will make my job a pleasure for months and years to come. \u00a0I will thank Him for allowing me to love photography so much, for getting paid to do something I still do when I have a day off! \u00a0 I will thank Him for protecting Sherelene while I’ve been gone, for watching over my family, for giving me things in the future to look forward to, and for knowing, when I go home to be with Him, I will hug Him, and this time the tears will be in my eyes! \u00a0Oh how I look forward to that embrace! \u00a0I don’t deserve it, but like everything else in this life it will be a gift from Him!<\/p>\n

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Be blessed,<\/p>\n

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the pilgrim<\/p>\n

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  Today is my favorite day of any trip, I’m flying home! \u00a0God has given me a wonderful gift, I love what comes next! \u00a0If I am having to leave home, He gives me anticipation for the trip that is starting. \u00a0When the trip is ending He gives me anticipation and joy that I’m going […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4476"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4481,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4476\/revisions\/4481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}