God in Who-Knows-Where-We-Are, Indiana

The last few days feel monolithic...they feel like stones, moved with weight and significance that is largely lost on me. It is all moving so quickly, and with so many things to try to think about, that I have not really been able to think much about any of it.  It is happening.  

Today we hope to land in Iowa.  

Yesterday we left our home, our friends, family brought together by a community of faith where being yourself is encouraged and people grow as they find a space to breathe in, wrestling God's grace the whole way down in their lives.  

Two days ago we packed up everything we own into a space the size of one large room with the help of a flock of people angry to have to let us go but loving us enough to help.  

Hopesprings in Bangor. Asher saying goodbye to little bros I know he will be asking about today or tomorrow. Even the coming beauty of the fall in Pennsylvania. Leaving what we know for what we don't.  It is all hard and scary and fun.  

As we are heading for the hotel last night, I turned on the radio. I had been listening to podcasts all afternoon and wanted to listen to something old-school. Switching it on, I expected to have to switch stations, as I don't believe they carry 91.9 from Centenary College in Who-Knows-Where-We-Are, Indiana. They don't, but they do carry Jesus Radio.  Hmmm.  Interesting.  

There was someone preaching, and so I thought I would listen for a bit. (Because preachers love them some preaching...) And then the pastor did something strange...he read the passage I preached on THE DAY BEFORE. (There are quite a few passages in the Bible...this is a flag you missed something or need something) It goes like this:

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us -Ephesians 3.20

Sunday I preached that verse as part of an encouragement to Hopesprings in Bangor to keep on track. To not lose heart at sending their pastor halfway across the country. To know God was at the center of the story, to know He is abundant beyond what we could even dream of...

Apparently I forgot to preach it to myself. I have been cautious (hahaha! Me! Cautious!) throughout this process...much more than is normal for me. I have weighed, measured, calculated, and tried to be as practical as I can. It is easy....SO EASY...to forget that as much as I could dream, God's dream is better than my small ones. As much as I could plan, He is meticulous on a cellular level. Literally. 

I have some fear. I have some grief. These are real, and ok, and I need to deal with these stones in my head and heart. But last night, in Who-Knows-Where-We-Are, Indiana, my heart in some small-but-powerful way, felt God with us, guiding us, protecting us, planning for us, and preparing things I could never dream up. 

Surely God was in this place, but I did not know it...

Because honestly, who could dream this stuff up?