Thought #1
I love my husband. aLOT. He blesses me and serves me waaay more than I deserve. He does irk me sometimes in little ways, too like while driving, but he says it's just because I'm not in control. I say it's just because I don't want to die. But that's the adventure of living life with him. He takes me for a ride that usually scares me and is too far out of my comfort zone, but teaches me to let go and trust God to take care of me at the same time. His adventurous spirit is why we are here. It's also a reason I married him.
That brings me to yesterday, in our DRIVE series at RiverPoint; (now THAT's a segway!) he preached about giving and while talking about giving sacrificially, he brought up our call to come to Kansas. It is the first time I really remember crying during his sermon... tears of joy. (The first time I cried tears of mourning was Christmas Eve 2007, when I dreadfully missed our beloved church in Plano.) God has been working out my discontentment and I realized at that moment that He'd brought me a long way, if I could actually be thankful as Brad spoke about our move. I was happy and content, and that was an answered prayer of mine. God did that in me.
I remember sitting in our comfy living room on Eldorado with butterflies in my tummy knowing that things were about to change and my ground was shaking... again. Brad was talking to Tom about coming to pastor a new church plant in Kansas, without a name, without a place, without knowing anything about planting a church, and without any funds. with 4 other people. 4.
Now I was used to listening on the other end of the phone calls when another church was asking him to come be their music minister. I was getting used to the idea of moving. I was sorta used to meeting new people. I was used to him asking the question regarding his salary. I got used to the answer increasing with each phone call. So that probably made all of those other things I had to get used to....a lot easier. Amazing the balm that money is on the nerves of a material girl like me...and Madonna apparently. But that phone call was much different than all of the others. The answer to the question about our salary, our well-being, our family's future was, as Brad said "I. don't. know." He hung up and my ground stopped shaking. But he was wrecked. God was stretching Brad's faith and I was along for the ride. And just like in the car, I was whining and screaming and slamming the imaginary passenger's side brake. I'd never seen my husband take that big of a leap of faith and I was so proud, but then -hold the phone- he wasn't the one managing our money. He had no idea what kind of miracles it would take to say yes to a call like that. He had no idea what kind of commitment he was getting into when we had accrued so much debt, living on the salary that we had been living on. He stepped out in faith. I stepped in something else and left the footprints of it wherever I walked, sure that no one would notice if I were wearing designer shoes and a smile....
to be continued.
