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We returned earlier today from a short trip to Oklahoma. It turned out that we somehow managed to spend an 18 hour period in Okie that corresponded with massive rainfall and flooding. We hung out at the hotel waiting for the worst to pass while Noah proved he can eat disgusting amounts of bacon and Phoebe showcased her ability to put away box after box of cereal. Hope focused most of her attention on map-routes that might take us around the flooding.
It was a quick trip north with three of our kids that blessed us immensely. Last week when I was feeling very down and discouraged I asked Troy if he thought we should cancel. He said, "Our yes has to mean yes." For many reasons, I am thankful Troy got us there.
On our car ride I read aloud from a book called "Radical - Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream" to Troy and the themes and things we've been wrestling with continued and even multiplied. What we read challenged us to keep wrestling and to keep asking hard questions of ourselves about the way we use the gifts and the time He has given us. If you're sort of restless and discontent with the same-old regular things our culture values, we think you'll enjoy it.
David Platt wrote: "In this book I want to show you that, with the best of intentions, we have actually turned away from Jesus. We have in many areas blindly and unknowingly embraced values and ideas that are common in our culture but are antithetical to the gospel he taught. Here we stand amid an American dream dominated by self-advancement, self-esteem, and self-sufficiency, by individualism, materialism, and universalism. Yet I want to show you our desperate need to revisit the words of Jesus, to listen to them, to believe them, and to obey them."
The combination of music and the book and the rolling roads of OK and TX made for a sweet time of soul-searching for us.
Thank you God for your love that will not let me go. Thank you God for your Joy that seeks me through pain, I cannot close my heart to you; What are you calling me to sacrifice?
tara
