A long short trip

Do you have a picture in your mind of the “typical missionary family”?  If you do, I hope it’s not the picture many people have – of a frazzled mother with hardly any control of her wild kids, while her oblivious husband talks with a variety of important looking people in the church, apparently not hearing the chaos that his children are causing.  And if you do have that picture of a typical missionary family, I hope it’s not the way you see us – even after last night.

Yesterday we went to Three Hills.  We had a typical time of packing – actually, better than most packing times, in my opinion.  We left after lunch and met some friends in Three Hills for a delicious supper.

We had a good time with our friends, but as we started to get ready for prayer meeting, things starting to go just a little wrong.  We had one or two of your normal minor childhood injuries as we got ready, and one or two more minor problems, and pretty soon time was running out.  By the time we arrived at the Prairie Tabernacle and started to set up, time was really getting gone.

As the meeting was just about to start, I had the worry in the back of my mind that we ourselves were becoming the above mentioned imaginary family.  I had an armload of stuff that I needed for my presentation (don’t worry, no slide presentation ending in a sunset), and I was trying to watch Hannah and get her under control at the front of the church in front of the crowds.  They started singing the hymn…

No, I didn’t miss the irony as I tried to sing along, find my notes, and pull out what I needed for my presentation.  Were my notes in order?  Was my guitar tuned?  Was I ready?  Er..no no no…

I fumbled with the hymnbook (remember, I’m in the front of the church here), kept singing, and got my Bible ready, trying to catch a breath.

It was one of those times when I simply asked God to use me in spite of myself.  I certainly felt in need of a steady Guide!  But I wasn’t really worried or upset or frustrated.  Just rather…out of time.

I shared from my heart last night, but I did scramble around with my notes, flub my song, and forget important things that I was going to say.  These are gracious people – this church family has prayed for us since we started in full time ministry – many of them have been praying for us even longer.  They gave nothing but encouragement afterwards (one person gave me some suggestions for my singing – and she was absolutely right.  Someone else was there who gave me some guitar training 12 years ago – perhaps he was shaking his head wondering why I’ve lost so much ground!  But everyone was very gracious).  So this was a forgiving crowd, and I hope they know how much we appreciate them.  We had a great time of prayer together and a good time visiting.

We got to see some other friends in the evening, which was great.  When we went to go to bed we did make a discovery.  Nathanael is at that stage where he simply won’t sleep if he’s in the same room as us.  He sees us and thinks it’s time to get up.  So time and time and time again we got up and tried to quiet him.  Hannah was not feeling well and was coughing, and I ended up with a tremendous headache in the middle of the night.  So…not much sleep for us.  So…we’re a little tired.  We were going to try to see some more people, but other than a brief stop we decided we’d better get home.  But in the end, the trip was a blessing for us – I hope a blessing to others, in spite of it all!

As I reflect, it occurs to me that God really does understand real life.  Somehow through His Spirit He can allow us to learn holiness – even when life seems to be out of control.  We can commune with Him and let Him speak in any situation, no matter how crazy.  And perhaps it’s those times when we need Him most – and those times when He can teach us the most.