Praise God Through it All!

When Rachel and I were working our way out of Alaska, we came up against struggle after struggle. Things like a furnace cracking the heat exchanger, having to repaint the entire interior of our house AFTER we had already signed with a realtor to sell it, having my arm in a sling after tearing the rotator cuff and hyper extending the elbow and wrist, not being able to help pack the uhaul and do anything in the house before we left. The key to all of this was that through it all we were practically giddy saying, "Praise God". We knew that we must be on to something good in our lives if we were encountering so much interference.

This past week the cycle began again. On Wednesday, as Rachel and the kids were going to the post office, they managed to lock themselves out of the Durango. It was 100 degrees outside and they were about 4 miles from home. They walked about 1/2 mile before someone saw that one of the kids was having a meltdown emotionally and offered to help. In the end, everything worked out OK. Thursday, we pulled a most delicious lasagne that we had prepped out of the freezer so that we could eat off it during the conference here at IHOP. Problem was that when my boy pulled the pan out of the freezer, no one knew that he didn't get the door closed. The week prior, my dad had dropped off a lot of moose, halibut and salmon from Alaska. Luckily, the freezer wasn't unplugged so everything was at least 'cool', but it had thawed completely. But the story doesn't end here. Friday morning, Rachel went to wash clothes, problem was, the washing machine broke. It wouldn't do anything other than pump water IN. NO spin cycle, no churn mode, nada. This made us purchase a new washing machine because we literally had no clean clothes. Off I went to the bank, withdrew the funds necessary to reopen my account in Sam's Club, and buy the machine. (side note- SAMS NEEDS TO ACCEPT VISA). I get home, drop off the machine, go to the conference that night, we wake up and go to church Sunday morning, and practically pass out Sunday night. We wake up Monday morning and discover that we are missing $100. Oh happy day! But through it all, we were saying praise God! None of these things were life threatening or really even all that bad. Granted it was a good chunk of cash that is missing, and all the other stuff sucked to varying degrees, but in the end, no big deal.

We knew that we knew God was up to something good. Then the phone rang. A friend of ours here in KC left a message for us. Upon returning the call they ask us what we are doing Wednesday-Friday of this week. I tell them that really other than work, nothing. They ask if would like 3 free nights at BIG CEDAR. I could not believe my ears, and then I looked at the web page and could not believe my eyes. What a gift. Our hearts are longing so much for a real piece of nature.

The last night of the conference. Lenny asked me to be talking to the department heads of the CEC at our meeting today about small groups and the lack here of community. How together we can make a difference but if we are not a true team we will accomplish nothing. It is funny to me how when I asked my pastor in Fairbanks for a good scripture to share with them regarding cell groups/small groups he gave me Acts 2:42-47. This is the same scripture that I got to bring us here in the first place.

God is moving not only in our life, but in the life of so many people that we know. Through it all we praise God. Thanks to Lyle G. in Alaska for giving us a great example to follow and an infectious smile to remember to this day.