Hey Friends,
So, I had today’s post all written out about the two Benedictine vows that inspired this series, and then my laptop crashed. And burned. All of my writing is gone and it’s now a lovely Apple paperweight. My husband is now sick in the next room, but when I called him at the church office, he rushed home (after writing his sermon and homework notes for the small groups) to let me try to recapture the post on his laptop. It’s going to take more time and brainpower than I have at 10:30 at night, so here’s part one of the “Friendship Project: The Vows” Tomorrow, I’ll dive straight into The Vow of Stability and the Vow of Conversion. The Sunday prayer cards will start a week from tomorrow.
Love to you, my dear friends,
“Maybe courage is what I’m missing. I don’t want to put down roots in this city. I don’t want to make any vows right now. I want to get out.” Micah Boyett, “Found”
“Babes, ” my husband called to me from our Cambridge bedroom.
“Babes, what do you think of L.A.?” he asked me when I finally made it up the stairs. I leaned in the doorway drying my hands with my favorite white and blue checkered dish towel and waited to hear the next biggest thing that excited my husband.
“I don’t” I said, not missing a beat.
I flung the towel over my shoulder and turned to leave the finish the pots.
“I just got the oddest message from Kevin,” He called back, using this tidbit to lure me back into the conversation, “he wants me to submit my resume for the associate pastor of New City L.A.”
T.C. met Kevin at a church planter’s conference in Orlando right at the beginning of plant our New City in Boston. They clicked almost immediately, sharing similar visions for their churches and appreciating some of the same theologians. When TC told me about meeting Kevin, I was glad for his assurance to my husband that he’s not alone in this crazy idea of planting a diverse community in a large city.
That moment in the doorway, I wasn’t so sure about Kevin.
L.A.? Really? Maybe the timing of the ask was all off to contemplate a move. I was on the coast I loved, in a city I adored, gearing up for my favorite season- Autumn. Boston in the fall. Perfection.
Technically we were open to a change. Months prior we said “goodbye” to our church plant. Since my husband was finishing up his Masters of Urban Missions, we could easily move to any big city. Sure, we had talked about leaving Boston if the right opportunity came along- I just didn’t think I’d be asked to consider it so quickly.
Sensing my hesitancy, my husband reasoned, “What’s the harm in submitting my resume? If I don’t make it to interviews then we know this wasn’t God’s best for us. If he continues to open doors, then I think he’ll give us the grace we need to walk through them? Right?
I twisted the dish towel in my hands, “Right. If this is God, he’ll make it clear to us.”
“If this if God!” He exclaimed in agreement and pulled up his resume on his laptop.
I turned and took sixteen steps slowly praying at each step for grace, courage, and hope because I knew God was going to move us to L.A.
Finding Stability
The van was loaded, our snack bag well stocked, and we set our faces to the west with a hurried determination; the third, final, and projected biggest snowstorm was set to pelt the East Coast the next day and we did not want to get caught in it. We had barely gotten out of Massachusetts when I got the message from my SheLoves Editor,
Were you still planning to write a discussion post for, “Found”? I know your family is moving so if you need a month off the RedCouch let me know.
No! I texted back immediately, No, I really want to read Micha’s book. We have two weeks in the car, I can read it on the road.
She gave me a thumbs up- which to be honest, I never really got. I mean, we don’t thumbs up our friends when we agree with them in real life. But on Facebook we have wide toothy smiles on round yellow faces to show our pleasure and blue thumbs to show our agreement. Whatever’s clever, I guess Zuckerberg!
Emoji rants aside, she gave me her Facebook stamp of approval and I downloaded, “Found” on my Kindle.
Reading “Found” my road trip was like Jesus patting the ground next to him and saying, “Come, sit, listen. You’ll need this in a few months…”
I hope to see you tomorrow for part 2.
Seeking Shalom for my husband’s sick body and my broken heart over my computer,
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