Family road trips are the best!
Your children are only young for a short time, so don’t waste the chance to spend time with them.
When we began our business, we weren’t moving forward as fast as we hoped. We didn’t understand why. We kept going, but it felt very slow—like a snail. We didn’t feel like we were making any progress.
During this time, we went on a long family trip. We packed our four kids into the car and drove from Colorado to Red Lake, Canada. If you don’t know about Red Lake, it’s up north from where Minnesota and Canada meet, about seven hours away. The drive was great. We spent a whole day in the car and saw many amazing things along the way.
During the drive, we got a chance to talk and bond with each other. That’s why we enjoy driving—it gives us time to reconnect as a family, which is great. We discussed our business and what we wanted to achieve with it. Without even writing anything down, we made our business plan and set goals.
We had a fantastic week in Canada, enjoying every moment. We rented a small fishing boat and caught lots of fish. Our youngest son caught his first pike! Our oldest caught a small-mouth bass. We didn’t think it was a big deal, but the locals told us it’s a rare catch in those lakes. We also took a biplane tour of the lake, seeing bears and even two bull moose from the air. We laughed about the plural of moose—is it Meese? Who knows! One evening, my wife and I went for a drive on a dirt road until sunset. It was an amazing experience. And of course, we had to try poutine, a Canadian fry dish. It was delicious, eh?
After leaving Red Lake, we drove to Pennsylvania, spending another 24 hours in the car. Throughout the trip, our family continued to bond. Our kids got along well, and my wife and I talked about everything. As we left Wisconsin, we both had the same idea: why not make God the CEO of our company? It wouldn’t be ours anymore; we’d run his business! We were as excited about this idea as when we found out we were going to have kids! It felt like something out of a movie—we both said it at the same time.
After that, there wasn’t much to talk about. We decided: We didn’t own the company anymore; God did. Our job was to work for him and run it his way. We prayed before all meetings and included verses on all our web pages. It’s His company; we’re just here to run it as His stewards.
We began making changes right away. Instead of saying the company was ours, we called it what it was. I changed my title from CEO to COO and announced that God was the new CEO of Eclipse. Almost right away, things started improving, and the company began moving forward again.
We spent the next week in Pennsylvania at a family camp. It was so much fun! Our kids enjoyed it. If you ever have the opportunity to be a chaperone at a family camp, go for it. Bring your kids and let them have some fun while you keep an eye on them, join in, and have a great time together. We’ll always remember these moments.
Then we drove to West Texas for work, another 24-hour drive. We spent the week there and then headed back to colorful Colorado.
This trip changed our lives forever.
We made choices that helped us reduce stress. We bonded as a family and grew in ways we never imagined. I truly believe that if we hadn’t taken this trip, our business wouldn’t have God as its CEO. I’m grateful He guided us to prioritize family time. He showed me that time is our most precious thing. We can make more money and make new friends, but we can never get back a moment of our day.
Your kids are only young once, so don’t waste your time with them.
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