Aside from the less-than-desirable food limitations, this trip to Illinois has been a blast. We have reconnected with family and friends, some of whom I haven't seen in years. It has been great.
Yesterday we connected with Brian and Tina, my best friends from my first ministry in LeRoy, IL. Brian and Tina were my best resource in that youth ministry, as they live out in the country and have all kinds of animals. We were reminiscing about the time we used their indoor riding area as the boundary for a ghetto laser tag game where we Velcroed alka-seltzer tablets to our chests and went wild with water guns. We also hid like 100 pennies in the dirt of the stable and gave the kids kitty litter scoops to try and find the pennies. Tina reminded me that most of the kids chose to use their hands instead, not really thinking through what the dirt in a riding stable might contain. We also turned their pasture into a 9-hole putt-putt course, which was a hoot as well.
Even though I hadn't seen Brian and Tina since Grace was 1-1/2 years old (meaning that none of my other girls had met them), we picked up right where we left off, laughing and joking and telling stories. The girls got to ride a horse (which was awesome), pet a cancerous donkey named Abraham (there's a story there, too), and ride a four-wheeler (through the mud, which splattered a little bit). It made me smile to hear their cheer as they arrived back at the house from the four-wheeler excursion. "Auntie Teen-Teen! Auntie Teen-Teen!" What a memorable day!
But what struck me was the conversation that the adults had while the kids were in the basement making a mess. We talked about some of our common frustrations with how the church is. We filled them in on some of our plans and dreams. We heard about what God has been doing in their lives. It seems that a couple of trips to Uganda have changed how they view the world. Their hope is that they will move to Uganda on a more permanent basis to run a clinic for the people there. They are questioning their own legacy and realizing that maybe, just maybe, God is calling them to something really risky and life-changing. Something that might really represent kingdom breaking out among us.
And I am amazed at the changes that God is orchestrating among us. It seems that everyone that I come into contact with on this jaunt is being led in a direction that involves more risk, less stability, and real world change. It makes me smile to see what God is up to. Maybe He really is up to something that is immeasurably more than we could ever have imagined. I can't wait.
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