Da-Benchers Da-Bodessy

God bless the Josephs.

I had to drive down to San Jose this morning. Long drive. And when running on just four hours of sleep, one can tend to be pretty incoherent. Needless to say, I was nervous about manning such a huge vehicle. My dad always says, "A car in tired hands is a dangerous weapon."

And I'm a driver-talker. I like to interact while I drive so that my mind stays sharp instead of drifting off into a daydream. That's when the car starts to veer off the highway. And since the only person I had to talk to on the way down was a thirteen-month-old who latest vocabular acheivment was saying "geck-um" for "your welcome", I knew I was in for a long four hours.

But God bless the Josephs.

Growing up, my siblings and I used to listen to "Adventures in Odyssey". It's this radio show put on by Focus on the Family, a Christian organization that appeals to young families. It follows a group of characters living in a town called Odyssey (go figure), and chronicles their adventures and the Biblical lessons learned along the way. Cheesey? You bet.

But I recently learned that our family wasn't the only one following the happenings at Whit's End, and what Connie and Eugene were up to day after day. The Josephs, Candace's family, grew up listening to the same cassette tapes, and actually still own every single episode on CD.

So I decided to borrow a couple series and see if it would make my time in the car go by any faster. My freakin' goodness. I got so wrapped up in each episode that I was actually kind of bummed when I pulled up to my parents' house. I wanted to sit in the car for a couple extra minutes to find out what the Indian Prime Minister thought of the Edulink that John Avery and little Marvin created to bring both education and the Gospel message to millions in Asia.

Mission accomplished. Thanks to a certain little radio show, I actually enjoyed my long drive, and look forward to the ride home.

Of course, I feel a little silly admitting that I got so much out of a children's program that originated sometime in the 80s or early 90s. But if I can rock an Amy Grant "Heart in Motion" CD without shame, I must be more confident in my love of the Christian oldies than I realized.

I mean, who doesn't love a good Sandi Patti or Twila Paris tune anyway?