How not to doom

It's going to work out

A week ago today I was figuring out how to return a rented SUV that I’d used to drive from Massachusetts to our home in Georgia, while my wife’s car was stranded at the Park & Ride at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. Long story short, Southwest Airlines earned my distrust by first stranding me and my family, without luggage, in Baltimore. I had to play the hero, rent a hotel (so far they haven’t reimbursed us), go back to the airport at 3am to retrieve checked bags, then wake up to catch a flight to Boston. Then, on the way back, the airline cancelled our flight out of Boston and wanted us to overnight in St. Louis. Fool me once…

So I rented an SUV and drove through the worst thunderstorms I had ever encountered on the road. But the drive was beautiful, if not long. We took the western route through Pennsylvania, a touch of Maryland, West Virginia, down the spine of Virginia, then to Charlotte and I-85 to home. The world barely missed us.

Image: Grok

To break up the trip, we did a short detour to Gettysburg, on Juneteenth of all days, but couldn’t stay long. That place deserves two or three entire days to explore, but we did our homage in a few hours. Then the AI-powered GPS took us through Catoctin Mountain Park, which is flat-out beautiful. God’s country. I can understand why many U.S. presidents enjoyed their time at Camp David, which lurks somewhere inside the park.

The storms hit while I drove on I-81 through the Blue Ridge Mountains. The mountains seem to have a maximizing effect on thunderstorms, giving them a malevolence and power I had not experienced, and I’ve driven through the eye of a tropical storm, and both eyewalls. This was worse and it’s not even close.

We made it home late Thursday night, just past midnight Friday morning actually. Then I had to spend the better part of the day returning my rental car, driving my wife down to the airport in heavy Atlanta traffic, and both of us driving back home in the same traffic. It’s a toss-up whether I’d trade driving in super mountain storms over that traffic.

In a world where unfortunate things happen, our little setback was a first-world problem. I’m out some cash, which I hope Southwest will decide to reimburse. There was no nuclear war, and the AI-generated scenes of shot-down B-2 bombers over Iran didn’t actually happen.

It took me all week to settle back down into some kind of normal rhythm of life. But this week, my wife and youngest son spent four nights volunteering at our church’s vacation bible school, so I barely saw either of them. And we’re doing our side-gig of boarding dogs to make some extra money for the boys’ marching band fees. So life is busy.

The older I get, the more I realize the truth of long days and short weeks. The days sometimes stretch into infinity dealing with all our scheduling conflicts and challenges. Then, poof, another week is done, then a month is in the bag, and wow, it’s the end of June and half of 2025 is gone. Soon we’ll be past July and the kids will be back in school, and I still remember the beginning of the 2024-25 school year. Where did the time go? That’s the question that, when asked, signals one’s brain to understand “I’m getting old.”

It’s easy to focus on doom, and the fast ride to a sudden stop, meaning we all die and then we’re not here anymore. At my age, it’s very easy to lose focus, to stay dedicated to the dotted-i’s and crossed-t’s of daily life, then dwell on the big picture that it’s all over too quickly.

But that’s not healthy, nor is it true. The big hands of time will take care of themselves. God has a plan, and He has not put down his rod and his staff to lead and guide. Our time here on earth is, by any measure outside our own eyes, terrifyingly short. It is only through our experience of life that we slow down and through grace, find joy.

A young man, born in 1994, named Tanner Martin, died of terminal colon cancer on Wednesday. He spent his last years documenting his life, and in March he recorded a video where the intro is “Hey, it’s me. Tanner. If you’re watching this, I am dead.”

“Life was awesome. I really enjoyed it while I was here,” Mr. Martin says. “I believe there’s something after this. I’m excited to meet those people, and hopefully we’re hanging out now and making fun of all you nerds.”

His advice to us, from the story: Be kind to one another and assume good intent from others. Good advice.

We are all here on this same journey, and it’s no accident we are living together through it at the same time. Our forebears lived through their journeys, and our descendants will have their time. Until the end, whatever you believe of that. But unless the end is here, and this is doom, we don’t get to see it from the perspective of the living here on earth. So don’t get caught up in doom, because it leads to the exact same place we all eventually go if we decide to pursue joy instead.

Some of us die too early. Some don’t make it past infanthood. Some die in terrible ways. Some by war; some by crime; some by sickness; some by accident. We don’t have time to dwell death because time is the one thing we don’t get to make more of. What we do have control over is how we live and the path we choose.

I got reminded of that on my 20 hour drive, and then reminded again looking at YouTuber Ryan Trahan’s latest journey. He and his wife are traveling across all 50 states in 50 days, spending one night in each state at an AirBnB. They’re doing it to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. So far, he’s raised $1,785,564. The initial goal was $1 million; now $2 million, 18 days in with 32 days to go. I expect Ryan, who has over 20 million subscribers, and runs the Joyride candy brand, has planned stretch goals up to $10 million. I know if it was me, I would.

Let me challenge you: I’d love to see The Racket News™ readers donate a bunch of money to St. Jude. Let me know in the comments if you give. I don’t have a lot of money, but I am willing to match $1,000, if you can post your giving receipt and note in the comments #TheRacketNews. I figure if God wants kids to get treated for cancer, He will figure out a way to get cash to match your donations and generosity.

Donate using this link: https://tilt.fyi/kQbpQ5wIDv to do the matching challenge.

There, doesn’t it feel good to be kind, to give some joy to people who might be in difficult situations, have health challenges, or have sick children?

We are all passing this way only once in life, so making it count is the key to avoiding doom. You know, a big theme of Ryan’s posts is a suitcase containing “The Wheel of Doom” that he can spin to get all kinds of travel challenges. His doom is his reward, even his joy, in a way.

Another thing: I live in Georgia. Ryan has hit all the southern states but skipped Georgia. He drove through the short I-95 corridor between Florida and South Carolina, and seems to be continuing north. Perhaps he plans to take the route I took last week (avoiding Charlotte), through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and the mountains. He’s got to spend a night in Georgia to complete his challenge. Maybe I’ll see him here.

There’s more to this journey than doom, I can tell you that. And at the end, I hope I can embrace it like Tanner Martin, who said “Death is scary, but it’s also like a new adventure, you know.”

“I’m excited to see what the experience is like, and hopefully it’s good.” God says it is good, for those who seek His peace and joy. It is all going to work out.

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