Countdown

As I write we are approximately 12 hours from lift off.

It's one of those 2 am flights this time. Not a fan of having to try to stay awake that long, but once we get there, it's actually a little easier on the jet lag adjustment, I find, to arrive during the day. So there's that.

Meanwhile, I am packed and weighed. Abby is packed and weighed. Everything but the last shower and final tucking in of snacks is done. Time now to put my feet up, settle my soul, and give myself over to a nap if I can.

I am so grateful for the open hospitality of our KW hosts Karen Bowman and Roger Bowman, and the easy way they make room for friends. It's a little strange to be in town and have nowhere to call 'home,' except when I realize that's not entirely true. Not as long as there's a community that takes seriously the whole 'all things in common' idea from Acts 2. These past two days have been exactly what I've needed to leave behind the overwhelming tasks of the move, and change gears into preparing for both the travel to and the time at Hot Springs.

Yesterday it was SO good for my soul to be together with my Highview Peeps. In this transitionary period of time when I will be away for so many Sundays, not being with you to worship hurts a lot. But thank you for all the hugs, and the commissioning yesterday.

Today the morning was spent running errands with Ken to finish off business with the sale of our house, and keep things moving in the construction of our new home. Got a few Taiwanese dollars for our layover. Did some banking of my own. Picked up the aforementioned snacks. Checking off all the things as I go.

And now the best thing I can do for my still-healing-post-op body is keep my feet up and enjoy the quiet.

What a summer!
What an adventure!
What a life!
What a God!

"Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am He.
I am He who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you.
I will sustain you and I will rescue you."
Isaiah 46:4

Oh Father..
It's Your reputation that makes us outrageously brave.

Next post will most likely be of Abby and I once we're through check in and security. But hopefully all of you, (maybe not you Travis Golem) will already be asleep. :)

Carry Me

 

Even to your old age and gray hairs

I am He,

I am He who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you;

I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Isaiah 46:4

 

Definitely time for some cozy by now, and that’s okay with me.  Summer held on for more than one go-round of a last hurrah, and I for one soaked it all in.  Now the temperatures start to come down to seasonal.

That’s when the candle gets lit in my little office space down here.

 Right now the candlelight flickers up toward the carved image of a shepherdess carrying a lamb that sits on the mantle behind me.  It was a gift from a friend when I was first officially called pastor; a moment in ministry that I had waited a long time for, and was navigating all the feels about.  I loved her all the more for so ‘getting it’ with this gift; that this was about loving and caring and serving and carrying, and not about titles.   Not at all.

And of course, as shepherds in any context, we only image The Shepherd.  The One we in turn have been carried by.  And the humility of it all.  Of Him, a God who would identify with the lowliest of vocations in order to upend the status quo and expectations to deeply comfort and reassure us all.  And perhaps this being “Pastor Appreciation Month”, I might acknowledge the absolute necessity of being carried.  Anyone in that role in any capacity whatsoever knows this.

I noticed the carved shepherdess this morning when I lit the candle.  It prompted me to look up the word ‘carry’ to find again this exquisite prose from the prophet Isaiah, forming these breath-snatching words of God.

And also the word ‘carry’ was in the prayer I sent off to Suradet, Yupa and Bell as they embark on the long journey to visit us here.  “Please carry my family safely here.”  Oh yes.

This is the last day to get ready.  Glad for it.  There’s still ‘enough’ left to do. But really, all we want now is for them to arrive safe and sound.

So, if you have a pastor, please say thank you at one point this month.  Unless you’ve done it, you really have no idea.

If you are a pastor, I pray you will feel carried by His strong arms, always.  Because the people you carry, they really have no idea.

And since it’s Friday too and the beginning of the Thanksgiving Weekend on top of that – Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  May the blessings of all you are grateful for carry you through all that you aren’t.