Hotel

This devotion regards coming home from that same wedding early in our marriage. To recap, I flew to a professional conference and instead of going home, I joined my wife and in-laws in Austin, TX. They went there for my wife’s cousin’s wedding. The wedding happened at UT Austin and we all got into my in-laws van to go to Springfield, IL. If I mapped it right, that would be about an 18 hour drive today.

The route took us around Dallas and we were all tired by then. My father-in-law was driving but the idea was that all four of us adults would take turns driving.  We stopped for Gas and I grabbed one of those travel booklets of things to do and things to see in Dallas. I started trying to petition the other adults to stop for the night in Dallas (and see where JFK was shot) and then go to IL. 

I was losing the backseat quarterback call when I saw a hotel listed in the brochure that offered a $30 per night hotel room. It was a former Holidome which in Springfield had been converted into a higher end hotel (the former Ramada Inn West that was recently demolished was a Holiday Inn Holidome). So, I thought it would at least be a decent place to stay. This was the winning chip to throw in to get the majority support of my idea.

Holidomes were a popular update for Holiday Inns at one point. The problem with building a see-through dome over the outside pool to expand the number of rooms horizontally was that they tended to not have sufficient air movement to stop the buildup of humidity with its long-term structural problems.

We got to the former Holidome and checked in. We had to walk by the pool under the dome and got bitten by mosquitoes (so obviously not sealed). One look at the pool told us to cross that off the lists of options. We got to our room which to describe as dated would be a kind description. I’m pretty sure our son found a used prophylactic that the cleaning staff missed. At this point, we all resolved to get up early and get on our way.

“Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace! Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows. We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought. Our pursuers are at our necks; we are weary; we are given no rest.” - Lamentations 5:1-5 ESV

“Now Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And after this Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house, and I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money.” - 1 Kings 21:1-2

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” - Matthew 13:44-46

We did get up early, and after a brief stop at the book depository, continued on our way. I think about that experience every time we drive to KC.  There is a hotel right off I70 that when we moved here in 2000 had $29.95 per night listed on the sign (I am pretty sure the price on the sign is over $100 now). I often wonder what kind of hotel experience might be had from that hotel. Would it be better or worse than the experience we had near Dallas?

“The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both. Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread. “Bad, bad,” says the buyer, but when he goes away, then he boasts. There is gold and abundance of costly stones, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. Take a man’s garment when he has put up security for a stranger, and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for foreigners. Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel.” - Proverbs 20:12-17

Finding a bargain is hard. Usually, you get what you pay for.