I'll get to our WEEKEND UPDATE for Crossroads in a bit, but I wanted to share a few quick thoughts with you about the weekend we just spent in New Hampshire. Leslie and I flew up to marry Chris Vincent and Allie Jette. They purchased tickets for us a couple of months ago, which was a real blessing.
The week leading up to leaving was kind of a slow crawl through hell. About Wednesday before flying out Friday, we knew we could fly up there, but we didn't have the money for rooms, or a rental car, or meals, or anything else. We were down to one car that worked, and we had to leave that for the kids, but our flight left from B'ham. The whole thing just LOOKED impossible.
Listen, me and Leslie are pretty independent folks. We've worked hard over the years, and did so to put some distance between us and financial difficulty. But we also built a little world for ourselves that had a lot of walls in it. Walls that would insulate us from other people. We NEVER stayed with other folks, or rode ANYWHERE with other folks. We valued privacy above all things. Oops!
Over the last couple of years God has COMPLETELY blown that up in our lives. And this trip was our recent life in microcosm. We have become (and ARE) totally dependent on God. For everything. Thursday someone gave us $500 in cash to cover costs for the trip. Humbling. Later that night, a group that was going to the wedding told us we could ride in their rental car. In fact, they upgraded to a larger vehicle to accommodate us and our bags. Then, they made arrangements for us to stay at their hotel. After that, they arranged to get us back to a hotel they were staying at closer to the airport. (We had planned on staying at the Roach Motel. They put us up - at their expense - at the Sheraton Four Points).
Here's where I'm going with this: During the trip, there was a seriously devastating medical emergency in the life of one of our traveling companions. We were there to pray with them. To comfort them with God's word. To share life with them. It was a honor to be there. And NONE of it would have happened if we had been able to insulate ourselves with our own resources. Beyond that, we made new friendships that I believe will last well beyond this weekend, with good people like Bo, Bobby, Cara, Austin and Trent! Thank you guys for everything you did for us!
Thank God, that He sees FAR BEYOND our own selfish desires. He sees Kingdom needs. And all He desires from us, is that we TRUST Him. His plan is WAY better than ours. He is not subject to the way things LOOK. He's God!
Oh...and the wedding? Well, it was one of the neatest experiences of my life to date, that's all. I have a feeling Chris and Allie were pretty excited about it, too!
Peace.
