I remember January 1993, almost 17 years ago…was it really THAT long ago??? Being on a plane headed towards Amsterdam, I was in the last row of that plane…not such a big deal these days but 17 years ago an international flight still allocated the back of the plane for smokers…I was not a smoker, but I was one of the last people to buy a seat on that flight…hence my plight. That was the picture…me on the last row, asphyxiated, and wondering, “What in the heck have I gotten myself into? I have no idea where I am going, what it will be like, maybe I will hate it? What am I doing?...cough, cough. Did I really just rearrange my whole life because God said to? Oh Boy. :0”
Well, if you know me you know that this leap of faith turned into a long stint in Amsterdam. Those 10 years changed me, defined me, stretched me and made me, in big part, who I am today. So when I left Amsterdam and YWAM, 5 years ago, I settled down into a calmer life…ok, not so calm, I got married, we trusted God for a baby he said we’d have…got two….life was good. I’d left those crazy YWAM days behind and though I missed it at times, life was crazy in a different sort of way.
But sometimes I did yearn. I remember my second summer back, wanting so bad to live a more daring life…how could I do it? All my journal entries were about getting the adventure back…all my prayers…not wanting to settle for an ordinary life. And then I forgot about it. Went on with my routine…but God did not forget. At least, that’s the only thing I can figure out about why this happened…
It all started with a simple little thing. Our family doubled, we were cramped in our little house…Scott walked in one day, looked at all the baby junk in the living room and said…”This house is too small we need a new house.” Now I had thought this thought too…but that’s just the difference between my husband and I. I would just live in that world because its too difficult to think about getting out of it…the house is too small, make it work. Scott sees things as easily changeable…I guess that a visionary for you. So a small cramped space turned into a call to Scott’s mom, a realtor, and there it was, a sign in our front yard…our house was for sale. But it was just a little test…we didn't actually think it would sell in this market. We’d be gone for the summer, and we’d let her show our house while we were in Montana. Test the market…No harm, no foul. Easy peasy, right?
Well...that house sold in two weeks and suddenly we moved from rooted people to uprooted people with decisions to make….Here we are...Lets just make this easy decision…and ok, we’ll put a dash of adventure into it by considering some different options…but we both knew we’d probably land right back where we started in Savannah.
So we packed up the house, put our stuff in storage, packed up the U-Haul and started the 12 day drive to Montana stopping along the way to visit people and also, stopping to check out Ashland, North Carolina as a possible place to move to. Long story short. Ashland, this wonderful little town we both KNEW we’d love…ummm, well it just didn't click... and we both knew it. And somewhere between Ashland and Montna it hit me. This wasn’t really our decision…there was a place for us and God was going to show us where it was….even if our path led us right back to Savannah. And that was that. I carried on with trying to get two 6 month olds across country, sleepless nights, stress…We hopped across the country stopping to visit my sister in West Virginia and friends in Kansas City along the way. Plans of the future on the back burner… we were in survival mode.
So here’s the bottom line, what Ashland wasn’t ….Kansas City was. Visiting friends at the International House of Prayer something seemed to click…I didn’t say anything to Scott…Scott didn’t say anything to me…but we were both thinking the same thing. Then I overheard Scott and Tim talking about our moving to Kansas City and what life would be like for us being a part of that community…and I knew…this might be something. We didn't sell our house with an intention to go on an adventure...We didn’t go to Kansas City looking to find a place to live…it was just a house, Kansas City was just a pit stop. That’s all. And as we drove away we both knew we had a lot to pray about. And I knew...if God could get my warm- climate- loving husband to consider Kansas City..then...well, it was God.
A month of so later we’d made the decision that we were moving to Kansas City. And there you have it. Adventure is not dead…and of course I remembered what I knew already, it did not live with YWAM. It lives in the heart of God. And here I am again, the excitement of the decision behind me…and I’m sitting in the back of that plane, barely able to breathe… and wondering, “What in the heck have we gotten ourselves into? I have no idea where we are going, what it will be like, maybe we will hate it? What am I doing?...cough, cough. Did I really just rearrange my whole life because God said to? Oh Boy. :0” And once again, I’m just trusting …that He won’t steer us wrong. Its like Mr. Beaver said to Peter, Susan, Edmond and Lucy… "Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. Hes the King. I tell you.”
To be continued...
