June 14, 2022

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.

17 comments:

  1. Dear Sharon, thank you for this delightful glimpse of the adventure you and your husband have begun. I look forward to reading what God has prepared for you two to share with others. Enjoy!
    Blessings ~ Wendy Mac

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  2. Yay! I loved this post! such fun and delight the sense of learning and adventure that await! thanks. In honestly, I think it felt like a breath of fresh air! Also, you will love your trip to the Yukon and Alaska. Folks on that highway are very VERY used to "trailer people"! You'll be in good company and you'll start making friends along the way! (We lived in Watson lake Yukon for years - the famous "Signpost forest" and met many fine trailer folks while there! )

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    1. Thanks, Tracy! We are certainly looking forward to it.

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  3. I LOVED this post! We have become trailer people, too, and heartily agree with all that you've written. This summer (beginning the end of July) we are packing up our trailer with all the STUFF, including kayaks on the truck roof, and heading to the Yukon and the Arctic Ocean. Adventure awaits! Maybe we'll see you enroute!

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    1. Thanks, Lorrie. Wouldn’t that be something if we ran into each other!

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  4. What a delightful post, Sharon! I feel the pressure has come off your shoulders with the selling of your farm and becoming trailer people. It's a high learning curve, changing a house for a moveable trailer, and changing the known for the unknown. (May adventure be your guide!) God's blessings to you as you share God's love with those you meet. And right now it's beautiful along the Arctic coast, with sunlight 24/7. My niece just sent a photo of the sun at 2 am and says it feels like she's working the perpetual early evening shift. (She's a consultant on an oil rig.)

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    1. Thanks, Sandi. I love ‘May adventure be your guide.’ Sounds like your niece is on an adventure of her own. Glad we still have the home base of our farmyard to come back to once the our adventure meter is full.

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  5. Thanks, Sharon, for posting something to give us all a break from the weighty "ethics" theme. My day for posting is coming up soon and I still haven't decided what to write about. I'm sure ethics comes into deciding which thingamajig you need next for your trailer, even if it only involves ethically not getting into an argument with your trailer mate!

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    1. Many thanks, Valerie. May God inspire you and His words flow out of you for your post. ‘Thingamajig’ - you speak my language!

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  6. Ramona Furst8:46 am GMT-7

    Oh you made me laugh!?! I try so hard normally to stick within the guidelines of a submission when I’m reality itching to get derailed and say something else!! Thank you for being YOU. Can I hitch up my kayak and come along for one your treks?

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    1. I try as well but, what can I say. And the more the merrier!

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  7. Thanks, Sharon, for such a delightful post. I love the way you wrote it.

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  8. Anonymous8:34 pm GMT-7

    Loved this! I pray too that you will enter into the opportunities you have to sprinkle salt into conversations and stir up some thirst for Jesus. Safe travels! And dont always “take care”. Take some risks instead. 😉

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    1. Anonymous8:34 pm GMT-7

      That’s Pam commenting above. Not sure why it says anonymous.

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    2. Thanks for the ‘risky’ advice, Pam. Hope all is well with you and your family. Good to hear from you.

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