Tuesday, October 28, 2008

It is good here

It is difficult to believe we have been here only one week. There have been so many experiences already that it feels like a month or two have gone by.

Tonight Lauralea and I popped open a bottle of sparkling white wine someone had given us a while ago, and we went out to the dark landing/deck area off the sun room and in the starlit warm night we toasted and gave thanks for the sale of our house. The conditions were lifted today, so by next week we won’t own any land or houses in Saskatchewan. So that means we are here to stay. I say that nervously, with hope that our next ten years of ministry will be as great and blessed as the last ten were, and the ten before that.

And we gave thanks for good memories of great friends who have cared for us and loved us well, and who let us love them too.

We are thankful too for this place, this field, and for how God has led us here for this time. I have come a long way from that late evening when I received that email asking if I would be willing to maybe consider coming here. I believe my emailed response was, “Oh Crap.”

Its been a good exercise in remembering who is god or God for that matter, in my life. Who leads, and who follows. It intrigues me just how gentle he is with me. He really knows who I am, and that I don’t just swap allegiances with haste, so he gently moves me forward. Quite amazing really, when he could just command or call forth my obedience. But no, with determination and strength and patience, he just begins to invite me to this new thing, pointing to the place this will lead and inviting me to go along with him. And so we follow, because he is good, really.

He is good. Really. And it’s really good to be the follower, and let him be God. In spite of the difficulties of life, of which we’ve experienced very little, he is simply good. And letting him be God takes a huge amount of pressure off of me, because honestly I just don’t have the energy or ability to be my own God. Yeah, sometimes I may try it out for a bit but pretty quickly I realize those shoes are too big for me to wear. So I repent and get back to my stuff, which is being a follower of the living God.

And yeah, I am nervous a bit about this work. There are some visible wounds around here and some people who have been caught in the blender of broken relationships. It will take some time to build bridges to those people. Time and patience. And there will be testing, lots of testing, although they won’t realize they are doing it. They will need to test me to see if I am who I say I am, to see if they can trust my care for them. The testing will take many forms, but it is the hard stuff of this work with people that really needs to happen, so that they can see that I really do care. My prayer is that I can make it through those seasons, consistently caring in the right ways.

 

Now if I can just find my beard trimmer, and my dental floss, which someone else packed for me and I just can’t find yet. Then things should be ok.

 

Nite, from The Field.

14 comments:

  1. When we step out of God's way and we turn ourselves over to the Power Greater than Ourselves it all comes to pass as it will, without our help or assistance.

    In order to do you must be, and in order to be you must do. Start with the works of your hands and that will lead you to the works of your heart. Begin where God begins, in hope, gratitude and thanks.

    Make the most of the time you are given and be the Jesus they who need to see him, See.

    That field, it comes to mind, may be another "Liminal" place for you to commune with Heaven and Earth, like IONA.

    Let Go and Let God and know that you are in my prayers. How wonderful it must be to be you tonight. And we begin ministry with gratitude. For the good, the bad and the in-between.

    Love of God and Love of neighbor is the code. If you can follow those two commandments from the get go, then you are halfway there. I would like to hear your first Sunday service and wonder at the words that God will speak though you to those you have gone to serve.

    God Loves you and so do I.

    Pax
    Jeremy

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  2. Randall

    they will be in the last box you will look in...

    no matter what order you look in the boxes.......

    but you know that already.

    enjoy your "new" house and your new position.

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  3. Great news about the house. I'm so happy things are settling down for you and that you can begin next week with that load off. Sounds so good. Hugs and Hi to Lauralea and Micah too.

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  4. What! You've gone a whole week without the dental floss?

    They probably sell it out there in the hinterlands of Alberta too.

    So thankful your house has sold.

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  5. Great news about your Saskatchewan property!!;-)

    You won't have to go far for Gatecrashers now, either.

    It's Wednesday morning and off I go.......praying for all of you.

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  6. Not to take away from the real content of the post...

    But when I was cleaning your bathroom that Saturday I put all of that stuff from the medicine cabinet on the counter. I remember holding your beard trimmer in my hand. (I think Lauralea made some comment about shaving your back hair into the "v" which made me shudder.)

    I didn't put it in a box though. I'm sure Lauralea packed that stuff while I was cleaning in there. So it would've been in a box you took in your car. And is probably in a box of misc. crap -- those boxes are the worst (I still have a couple of those to unpack a year+ later).

    There were also some big bottles of Avon bubble bath on the counter, so maybe it's in with those.

    (Is this going to be one of those comments that I regret b/c I've posted it just after waking up?!)

    Anyway... hope that helps.

    And, no, I did not steal your beard trimmer.

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  7. Hi Randall, Glad to hear that things are going well and you are settling into The Field. It sounds like there may be a bit of a challenge for you but I know that you guys are up to it...

    Very glad that your house sold for you finally and that you both can get rid of that shadow hanging over your heads...

    Good luck to you guys! I know you will enjoy living out in the country!

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  8. Congrats on selling the house. Sleep well.

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  9. The house sale must be a load off your mind.

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  10. Thanks Dixie, for the clue. I found the trimmer!

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  11. thats ok but did you find the "floss"

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  12. Oh my! God is good. Really.

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