Yesterday, I started sharing my pop-up camper story with you and as promised, I’m going to share the rest of the story of the true beauty I saw in my new pop-up camper.
Let’s pick up where we left off. 
I left off with me standing in the parking lot of the RV repair place being humiliated by two guys. The men who worked there had just told me to drive my camper to the back of the lot, drop it, and buy one of their new campers. They said mine could not be fixed and it wasn’t worth the repair bill.
damaged cable system
When I refused to abandon my new investment, I asked them to tell me what they thought the problem was.
“It looks like the cable system is broken.”
“Ok. Well gentlemen, do you think you could lower the top down for me so I can be on my way?”
“Yes. Are you sure you want to keep the old girl?”
“Oh, I’m sure. I don’t have the money right now to buy a new camper from you boys, so I’ll take the old girl back home and think about what I need to do next. If you could lower the top down for me, that would be great.”
They asked me to pull my camper over to the repair bay so they could climb inside the camper and lower the top down, which they did – for free.
As I stood there, I thought to myself, these guys don’t know me at all and I am not going to accept the fact that it can’t be done. I’ll find someone to help me fix it. I’m not giving up. I gotta have hope!
In less than an hour, I and my daughter headed back home with the old girl. Driving home was much more pleasurable. What took me almost two hours to get there, only took me a half hour to get home because it no longer looked like a hybrid sailboat.
When I got home, I made a few calls to some friends. By the next weekend, we manually raised the top up again and began the task of repairing the cable system.
Crank System
A pop-up camper top is raised by turning a crank that lifts the top. When you turn the crank, the cable system activates the poles in each corner of the camper. The poles raise the camper top with each crank. The pop-up camper top is very heavy, so there is a lot of pressure on the cable system.
It wasn’t long before we figured out the cable system had popped loose from one of the corners and was the reason the top didn’t come back down.
Corner of camper
These guys knew this when they lowered the top but said nothing nor did they offer any friendly advice on how to repair the system. That’s a little disheartening, but I suppose it was more about trying to make a big sale. When we figured this out, I was a happy camper once again. Pardon the pun. The repair was pretty cheap and easy and my excitement for my new investment grew again.
Have you ever felt like you couldn’t fix something? Have you ever had someone tell you it can’t be repaired or it can’t be done? How did you respond? Did you drive your broken heart to the back lot, drop it off and leave? We can feel that way sometimes.
Often times, we get caught up in everything going on around us and we get ensnared. We can’t see a way to repair what’s broken. Sometimes we think there’s just no way. We look at the situation and feel hopeless. And so we don’t even try. We tell ourselves it can never be repaired – too much damage has already occurred.
I often ask people, “Who or what are you putting your hope in?” They look at me kind of strange. “What kind of question is that? What do you mean, who do I put my hope in? I never thought about it.”
Don’t lose hope!
It’s a legitimate question that begs for an answer. Who are you putting your hope in? Is it in people or things?
In today’s society, many put their hope in what they can see. They look at those things that are beautiful, costly or popular and they put their hope in those things. Others look at famous people, friends, and loved ones and they put their hope in them. The problem I see with that is this – those things and people will always disappoint you on some level eventually if they haven’t already.
Today we look for how many people are following this person or that person. How many likes did the post get? How many followers do they have? If they have 10,000 followers then surely they must be right because so many people are following them. But that’s not necessarily the case.
It reminds me of an old saying I heard a lot as a child – “If someone jumps off the bridge, would you jump too?”
Friends, I put my hope in the one who saves, not the one who has a star on Hollywood Boulevard or has thousands of followers on Facebook or Instagram. I put my hope in Jesus because He offers eternal life. I want to live in heaven when I die. Have you thought about where you will spend eternity? I can assure you it won’t be in a beat up pop-up camper.
Hebrews 10:23 says this, “And let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess, for the one who made the promise is trustworthy. ”
Are you holding on? I hope so.
Lord, we come into your presence today. Some are broken and hanging on. Some are loosening their grip on you. Father, I pray for resolve. I pray for steadfastness. I pray for healing Lord. Father, thank you for your love and your grace. We have a heavenly Father we can bring our pleas to, who won’t stand before us, laughing and mocking us for our current condition. Thanks, Lord! It’s in your Son’s name I pray, Amen.
In His Service
Jeanette
#camping #popupcampers #hopeforthebrokenhearted #hope #Jesus
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