Ethics and the Trailer People by Sharon Heagy

       Okay. Let me be honest. (That’s ethical, isn’t it?) I know we were supposed to write about ethical dilemmas but I am having trouble. The first draft started off in all seriousness trying to define ethics and how ethics for the Christian might differ from ethics for business or society or other individuals depending on their philosophical bent.  About how we need to speak truth to others and hold fast to God’s word, but as we share to remember 1 Peter 3:15 which says to “do this with gentleness and respect.” That’s where it started to go off the rails.

            It went off the rails because my husband and I are a couple obsessed. We have recently become what we refer to as ‘trailer people.’ You may know them as people who travel with truck and trailer across this vast country of ours and hold up traffic. The ones you zoom by on the highway in a burst of speed only to find another truck and trailer dawdling along in front of the one you just passed. Yes, we have become – Dun Dun Duuunn – trailer people.

            

    We have never had a trailer like this one with such a wide variety of systems and a steep learning curve. It has grey water tanks, black water tanks, propane tanks, 12-volt, 110 volt, 

30-amp hookup, furnace, and air conditioning. Air conditioning for camping? What happened to my days of a tent, a canoe and a backpack? There are all kinds of flushing of lines and switching of switches and hoping we are doing things correctly. (Yes, I do think we’ve rolled up the awning backwards dear.)

            

    We’ve had to stock it with all kinds of supplies and paraphernalia that other trailer folk tell us we need. And most of it needs to be unbreakable. You think the load shifts in the overhead bunks of an airplane. That’s nothing compared to a trailer cupboard that’s been bounced across the yard from the shop to the house. Open the storage doors and cupboards at your own risk! We are thinking that wearing hard hats and catcher’s mitts may be in order. 

            All this preparation has consumed us. We talk about it, dream about it, fuss about it and debate what we need to do next. We have become hunters and gatherers of pieces to the puzzle of necessary trailer needs. There have been heavy sighs and shaking heads along with triumphant whoops given with great gusto as we have used our God given gray matter to figure out how something works. We have been at this for a couple of months and have yet to go anywhere. Oh, we have a trip planned. Off to see the Yukon and maybe Alaska with dear friends, an amazing adventure that has been long in the planning.

            But I fear the first time we back the trailer into a campground site. Well, when my husband backs the trailer into a site…with me giving directions…. I am praying in advance for peace upon us both.

            There is hope that much fodder will be gleaned for writing from this amazing trek and, all kidding aside, we know that this journey and the truck and trailer are gifts from God. We are but stewards. We pray He will use us along the way as instruments of His love. That there will be opportunities for discussion of, well, ethics, among other spiritual matters. We pray we will “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks [us] to give the reason for [the] hope we have.” (1 Peter 3:15) We surrender the voyage to Him with thanksgiving and pray His presence will be apparent and perhaps tangible every step of the way. Thanks be to God.