For good?

I don't like traveling.

I realized this yesterday. It wasn't so much the traveling I suppose as what happened on this trip.

We left Thursday evening to go to Fort Myers, Florida for a piano competition. We decided to only go halfway Thursday so Mom didn't have to drive at night. The trip was great on Thursday, we were having fun, and the hotel was mostly clean. ;)

And then came Friday. 

We were about an hour out from our hotel when the engine started to overheat. We had to pull over for a few minutes to let the engine cool down. It was hot, and buggy, and generally not pleasant.

We made it to an exit just a few miles out of Ocala and found a mechanic, who told us basically that IF we made it to Fort Myers without further trouble, we would have to get a major system replaced in our van. (In other words, lots of $$$) We put some water in the radiator and pushed on towards our destination. We had about three hours still to go, and we had to turn on the heat to try to keep the engine temperature down. So it was hot, and cramped, and buggy all the rest of the way to Fort Myers. Then came the joy of trying to navigate through strange territory. We made it to our hotel and got to a repair shop, where we found that we had to have some things replaced, cleaned, etc...

We rented a car and found that the rental place closed at 12 on Saturday and wasn't open at all on Sunday, and we couldn't get the car back by noon, but we didn't want to be stuck down there until Monday. Thusly, we had to try and figure out how to get the car returned and our van picked up while also stressing about rehearsal times, checkout times, and all the other lovely things that go along with a trip. We ended up eating lunch at about 6:30 on Friday; however, we did make it to Geoff's rehearsal with plenty of time. 

We had the rare opportunity to get a recording of Geoff's concerto on two beautiful Steinways, but unfortunately in the middle of our recording, a teacher rudely barged in and interrupted our video and essentially kicked us out of the recital hall.

I cried.

And then we got tacos and found a jazz station on the radio and things got a little better.

The competition came and the rude teacher's student won. We had a not good experience; however, the campus was pretty and it's always nice to hear such awesome performances (even if you personally dislike some of the people) 

We've now gone to this competition a total of four times and each one has proved more and more that at this level of musicianship, the more you're willing to sacrifice personal morals and impose on other people and sell your soul and abandon any hope of life outside of music competitions, the better you will do.

And we decided that we're never doing this competition again. Because every year we leave feeling like losers, and that's not right.

Despite the bad things (which I'll admit were numerous), we could see God right there with us, helping us through it all. He sent the right people to help us everywhere, and they all were kind and understanding of our situation and were very helpful (right down to the workers at all the fast food places we stopped) Everything really worked out exactly the way that we needed it to happen. Although it certainly wasn't the most convenient, or the most preferable, or even the most fun, it helped us to learn and grow as people, and more importantly as Christians.

Some people might call it luck, or karma, or anything else, but I know that it was my God being there for me, just as He always has been.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  (Rom. 8:28)