The Real Story

I saw some Illinois friends at a Keller Williams conference in Austin earlier this week.  That was fun.  We all started something good and they are still at it.  I am forging ahead with a great opportunity as a result of the risk they took when they hired me.  With internet and cell phones and airplanes, we will keep in touch and even see one another again, without a doubt.

One of the younger of the crowd pulled me aside and, very seriously, asked me to tell him what “really happened” in Champaign to make Dave resign from pastoring.  I was glad to disappoint him by not having any juicy, “real” story.  The story hasn’t changed.  We were ready to go, we were free to go, and we went.  So simple that it must be complex. 

So here it is again.  Dave did not burn out and I did not burn out on ministry.  Dave did not have an affair nor did I  have an affair.  Neither of us is seriously ill.  We are not running away from debt or scandal or fears or relationships or responsibility or flat, corn-filled landscapes.  We simply were ready to move.  Now, we are in a new environment to continue growing into all God created us to be. 

I have no question about the wisdom of my move to Bucks County.  I have no secrets from my time alone here.  Dave is happy today in the mountains of Colorado, he just told me, but ready to leave there.  I don’t think he has any secrets, either.  And no question about his decision to spend the summer at Bear Basin Ranch.

So, the real story is that we are still, very simply, who we are–committed to sticking with our promises to God and to one another.  Committed to not assuming that the way things are is the way they will stay.  Committed to learning and laughing and leading while being sanctified.  That’s the real story, no lie.

A Whole Lot of Miles

In the past eight days, Dave has put 3200 miles on my little Mitsubishi and we logged another 1400 flying miles and drove another 1400 or so in Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida.  Oh.  And, we drove to Chicago and I had a flight to Pennsylvania if we add two more days to our log.  We are tired.  And optimistic.  And amazed at all our deep affection for and confidence in one another.

Part of our current journey is overcoming bad karma from our years of letting other people define success and spirituality for us.  We are done with that.  Now, we are celebrating the strengths that God has uniquely given each of us and we are intently and intentionally focused on finding the best opportunities to bring all of that strength out in the open.

We have met amazing people, have amazing opportunities, and are going forward with good options and, at this point, few guarantees.  Oh well.  If God is for us, who can be against us?

 Life is good.  God is good.  All the time.

Getting our Feet Wet

When Dave resigned his position in January, we honestly had no idea what he/we were going to do.  But we knew, without a doubt, that it was the step to take at the time.  We have had our moments of wondering which direction we might take, where we might end up, but we have not looked back, have not doubted the decision to move forward.

Now, two months into this, we see the waters parting.  I have often reflected on the Old Testament story of the second time the Israelites crossed a river.  When they were finally leaving the desert, everyone ready to enter the Promised Land, God told the priests to carry the ark of the covenant before the people.  When they got to the Jordan, it didn’t part for them until the priests had their feet in the water.  They had to wade in and get their feet wet, trusting that God would provide a way, before they actually saw a way through the river. 

We are travelling and actively pursuing opportunities now.  Our journey in two months has included California, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas, Colorado, Tennessee, Florida.  Dave is solidifying his path forward and it looks like it will involve wonder and wilderness.  I am focused on finding the opportunity that will bring out the best in what I have to give–and I am blessed and motivated by people I am talking with who recognize my strengths and who are creating opportunities for me.  We got our feet wet and now, we are seeing our way forward.

While we are moving away from professional “ministry,” we  both solidly understand that we are ministers of the grace we have received to everyone we meet.  We are confidently going forward, wet feet and all!

Dream of the Day

Today, I dream of working with people who are honest in their core selves.  I dream of having friends and colleagues who think deeply and wrestle with what the right thing to do actually is.  I dream of being in an environment where wrongs are righted and where offenses are acknowledged and forgiven.  I dream of relationships where the parties are secure enough that disagreements are fun.  I dream of having a daily opportunity to exchange ideas and share new thoughts and of being stimulated to go further, think deeper, run harder, laugh louder.

Being wide awake and dreaming of being in a place where our strengths are valued and celebrated and used for good is a nice way to start a Saturday in the middle of a life-changing job search.  While Dave and I are very different in so many ways, we have truly become comfortable in how we fit together.  The dream in the paragraph above exists between us….most of the time….and that is probably why I’d like so much to expand it. 

There is a good place for us that we are closing in on.  We are enjoying the process, secure in the belief that God is leading and we are willing to go–wherever.

Reality

This morning, Dave is off to San Francisco to network, something he would not have thought to do a month ago.  The morning began with him checking his voicemail at 6:10 to hear that his flight to O’Hare was delayed enough that he wouldn’t make his connection to CA.  But….if he could make the 6:39 flight to Dallas, he had a chance to catch a flight that would get him to San Francisco in time for his appointment this afternoon.  I said, “There’s no way we can make it….call AA and see what they can do.”  He said, “Let’s go and see if that flight is delayed.”   Usually, I am the realistic optimist….he is the more realistic realist. 

At the airport, sure enough, the Dallas flight was loaded and closed and the check-in line was long with all the frustrated Chicago travelers needing to reschedule and re-route.  However……as we stood there, the Dallas flight was pulled back to the gate to wait for better conditions.  With only carry-on luggage, Dave got on the re-opened flight and is on his way by 7:26…through Dallas, not Chicago where he surely would have spent his day waiting for a flight. 

So, we continue to know that God is leading us to a good place.  There are so many evidences of God’s love and provision and blessing all around us.  That is the reality we live in.  This morning, Dave could have given up and resigned himself to a day at O’Hare, but instead, he has a deep sense of God leading and providing for us.  So he is off to CA with scheduled meetings with men (and woman) who have agreed to talk with him to help him go onward and a late-last-night new amazing lead that connects other dots in the picture.

Reality is that we can focus on the reality that God loves us and has a plan and just heaps blessings on us…..or we can choose to be distracted by the normal bumps in relationships and/or circumstances that can also become our reality.  Today…I choose blessing!!

Life mission statement and the big why

   One of the workshops I created and have presented is on writing your own personal mission statement.  Of course, I wrote my own in the process of developing the training.  It has stuck….no questioning in the ten years or so since.  My mission is “to live a life so full of grace and truth that others will be compelled to follow Christ.”  That’s it.  Grace and truth.  I will blog later on the balance of grace and truth. 

 Now, I am challenged to also have a big why.  It’s different than a life mission.  Gary Keller challenges the internal work of coming up with a “big why” in his book on simplifying real estate into four models (that work, by the way).  The big why here is WHY? do you go to work every day and do the same thing over and over?  I’ve thought about this alot in the past year.  Similar to GK, it’s about doing the best I can and being the best I can…..the best, of course, at being so full of grace and truth that my life compells people to Jesus.

What’s my big why with being a of Team Leader with Keller Williams?  It is that it makes my heart beat fast to help other people succeed…..let me help you find what is strong about yourself and make it work, understand what gives you energy and get going, use the information that works and personalize it into your own success.  That’s it. 

So, my “big why” as a Keller Williams Team Leader is “to be in a position that helps me learn to be the best I was created to be, using my strengths to add value to others.”  The challenge of stretching and growing myself, then passing that to others is a good fit for me.  It’s the “big why” of my work.

Here we go!

We have had quite a journey.  Greg Mengden, Texas Tech budding herpatologist at the time, asked thirty-five years ago if it would last.  Wondering if he was asking about following Jesus or staying together.  Both are still true.  here we are …..  still together and wondering what’s next?  five kids, deep memories, lots and lots of experiences, addictions and abuses, and now loving one another more than ever in the past. 

What does that say about following Jesus, about sticking together, about loving an adventure? 

 I’m still figuring that out….but I am glad we have stuck it out…and glad to be finding grace in an easier way as I learn to fight less.