SO you know how sometimes God pieces together stories over a
long period of time, sometimes unknowingly that this piece matches with that
one? Well I have one of those stories (of many) to tell…
Piece 1:
Right after university I had the great blessing of being
part of TBarM’s Timothy Team. As a discipleship program, we went on an
evangelical mission trip at the beginning of the year. Our trip to
Nigeria/Cameroon was one of the greatest adventures I will ever have in my life
(that is a whole other super crazy story). But the curriculum changed after my
year and all the following Tim Teams after ours now go to Israel instead of an
evangelical trip like we took. Throughout the years my teammates and I have
discussed whether, if possible, we would have traded our trip to Africa for a
trip to Israel. Both being super awesome, we have all concluded that our
experience in Cameroon was once in a life-time so we wouldn’t trade it. But we
would really love to go to Israel one day.
Piece 2:
One furlough Janece and I borrowed some CDs of Ray
Vanderlann’s teaching. As we listened, we started discussing how we would love
to go to Israel together. Much discussion and dreaming later we said, “Ok,
2014.” But 2014 came and went and Dad wasn’t very enthusiastic about us going
over there due to safety issues. So we didn’t go and Israel remained on my life
bucket-list.
Piece 3:
Last year during one of my calls with my parents (while I
was in Uganda) they told me they opened an interesting piece of mail on my
behalf.
Piece 4:
Throughout my childhood my grandparents and aunt would send
me CD bonds for Christmas and birthdays. These went into an account to pay for
University. And when I graduated in 2005 I paid off my student loans with the
CD bonds and part of my inheritance from my mom’s house. Finished. Done deal.
Debt free. Amen.
Back to piece 3:
They told me I received a letter from a certain company. The
name rang a bell but I had to go into the deep recesses of my brain to piece
together why it sounded familiar… it was the account where I had my CD bonds.
Apparently I had some money remaining in that account.
WHAT?!?!! I thought I spent it all to pay for school. Why
haven’t we received anything from them all these years? How did they even know
my address anymore since we had moved? What in the world?!
I remember thinking that I would love to use it to take a
memory-making trip.
Piece 5:
As you know, I am on my sabbatical. This has been a journey
to get to this place and the Lord has kindly gifted me with this time. This is
the longest amount of time I have ever been back in the States since 2007 when
I moved to Uganda.
Piece 6:
Back in July 2015, Janece sends me this email:
And my response:
Janece had read about the trip in the church bulletin and it
obviously caught her eye, especially that it coincided with when I would be in
America on sabbatical. Another time at church, the leader of the trip walked up
to where my parent were so she mentioned wanting to go but Dad’s concern about
security. The leader’s answer settled Dad’s worries and he gave the go ahead to
pursue it.
Piece 7:
So in 14 days Janece and I are headed to the Holy Land. We
are beyond excited to see the places we have read about in the Bible all these
years and to walk the paths that Jesus walked. Please be praying for us and the
other 32 people in our group as we depart January 26. Pray for unity and safety
among the group. And pray that the eye of our heart would be enlightened and
that the Word would become alive as we gain deeper understanding.
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| Drawing from one of the LCH boys during a summer team activity. |
(I also want to acknowledge the generosity of my parents for my Christmas and Birthday "gifts" going towards this trip.)
As Keith, the Tim Team “boss” always says, “God writes some pretty amazing stories.”
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