Less than ten minutes across the border, it hit me with all the speed of a Peruvian microbus: I'm not in the United States any more. And from the name of the roads (King George St.) to the traffic layout (tiny signs with tiny letters) to the unassuming friendliness of her people, I know that I am no longer in the Federal Republic of my birth, but in her Majesty's Dominion of Canada.
I am sitting in the computer lab at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, recovering a bit from my travels the past few days and enjoying my time with old college friends before I continue searching for partners in this mission to Argentina.
To be honest, the two days of my travel to get to Vancouver from San Diego were long and aruduous, and I have much for which to thank God and give him praise. For starters, on the first day of my travels (from San Marcos to Redding), I encountered two major difficulties. First, I had to get my car's registration renewed, my hair cut, a razor bought, and the car's oil changed before I could make the 12 hour trip to Redding. The Lord graciously helped me expedite all of that, and I was off on the road before 11 AM.
Second, and what was more difficult, Southern California experienced record highs the day before and the day of my travels through the center of California. My trusty automobile does not have air conditioning, and the Lord protected me during my travels as I made it through the strong heat of the San Joaquin valley.
The following day of travel was longer than the first, but the heat was by no means equal to the first day's magnitude. The big concern of the day occurred at the beginning: would my car start? It had not the night before. But the Lord showed his goodness and she started right up and purred all the way to Vancouver.
So, I thank God for his provision, for his protection, and most of all for his "pre-vention" (in the old sense), his going before me on this trip. As I round out my vacation and return to my vocation (to borrow my friend Alex's turn of phrase), I know that he is with me, before, behind, and beside me, and that though I may have left a Republic and entered a Dominion, I have never left his Kingdom.