When we first meet them on our travels, many people ask us “What’s your journey all about?” or words to that effect.
At first, we would just look at each other and reply with something along the lines of “We’re on a pilgrimage.”
That sort of sums it up but it’s pretty unhelpful huh?!
Two months in to our trip, it feels like things are becoming a little clearer. It’s not that our desires have changed - we are still passionate about His Presence, we still simply want to follow the leadings of Holy Spirit, we still yearn to encounter Jesus face to face - but God’s plans for us on this journey are slowly becoming apparent.
At first, we would just look at each other and reply with something along the lines of “We’re on a pilgrimage.”
That sort of sums it up but it’s pretty unhelpful huh?!
Two months in to our trip, it feels like things are becoming a little clearer. It’s not that our desires have changed - we are still passionate about His Presence, we still simply want to follow the leadings of Holy Spirit, we still yearn to encounter Jesus face to face - but God’s plans for us on this journey are slowly becoming apparent.
Rest
“What? More rest!” I can almost hear you exclaim. “But you haven’t worked for the past three years!”
That’s true, but it’s not that kind of rest we are discovering, and besides the response we would get during those three years when we went to Papa to ask if I should get a job was always a resounding “No!”
Anyway, I digress.
No, the rest we are learning is the rest that comes only in a place where we totally trust Him. You see, trust with any hint of doubt, any drop of anxiety, any shadow of fear is not really trust at all.
If we say we trust God, but harbour doubts about His goodness or ours for that matter; or worry about having nothing in the bank account or even our pockets; or are scared by the thought of not knowing what comes tomorrow, let alone next month or next year, is that really trusting?
It is only when we come to that place where our trust is absolute, or ‘ruthless’ as Brennan Manning would have it, that we truly find rest. That’s the place where we are learning to abide. It’s not that we’re there every minute of every day, but it’s the place we keep coming back to, the place where He keeps gently leading us.
“What? More rest!” I can almost hear you exclaim. “But you haven’t worked for the past three years!”
That’s true, but it’s not that kind of rest we are discovering, and besides the response we would get during those three years when we went to Papa to ask if I should get a job was always a resounding “No!”
Anyway, I digress.
No, the rest we are learning is the rest that comes only in a place where we totally trust Him. You see, trust with any hint of doubt, any drop of anxiety, any shadow of fear is not really trust at all.
If we say we trust God, but harbour doubts about His goodness or ours for that matter; or worry about having nothing in the bank account or even our pockets; or are scared by the thought of not knowing what comes tomorrow, let alone next month or next year, is that really trusting?
It is only when we come to that place where our trust is absolute, or ‘ruthless’ as Brennan Manning would have it, that we truly find rest. That’s the place where we are learning to abide. It’s not that we’re there every minute of every day, but it’s the place we keep coming back to, the place where He keeps gently leading us.
Reticulated
For the past few years I have had the joy of God using words to speak to me in my dreams. I’ve rarely heard of the words He gives me, if at all, and I never, ever know what they mean! In fact, I always have to look them up in a dictionary before I know what He’s saying. Cool huh?
So, the day before we boarded the plane to Canada, I had a dream. And I had a new word. Reticulated. And here’s what I found when I looked it up on-line:
re·tic·u·late
1. netted; covered with a network.
2. netlike.
3. having veins or nerves disposed like the threads of a net, or a leaf.
4. to form into a network.
to cover or mark with a network.
It seems God was telling us He was weaving us into a network, plugging us in, getting us connected. And it was only a matter of minutes before He started doing just that. Well actually, as it turns out, He started doing it 20 years ago!
Back then, a couple came from California with a group to visit a church in London, where they met Nic. To cut a long story short, Nic ended up visiting this couple later that year at their home in California.
Cut back to the day I had the dream, and that same morning Nic had been listening to a Bill Johnson podcast whilst out on her run. Bill Johnson is the pastor at Bethel Church in Redding, California, the destination at the very top of our list of places to visit on our trip.
Now you have to know that Bill never mentions names in his talks. But this morning, what does he do? He mentions the name of a couple who have been attending the church for over 50 years. Yup, you guessed it! It was the very same couple who Nic had met all those years ago.
I know, this was supposed to be the short version of the story, sorry!
Anyway, we find them on Facebook, they are delighted to hear from us and now we are going to be staying with them when we visit Bethel Church in September. But that’s not all, because it turns out that they are connected right into the heart of the church, to Bill himself - they are in fact his in-laws! How cool is that?!
And this is a story that has repeated itself over again on our journey. We are being reticulated, plugged in to a network, connected in at the very heart.
For the past few years I have had the joy of God using words to speak to me in my dreams. I’ve rarely heard of the words He gives me, if at all, and I never, ever know what they mean! In fact, I always have to look them up in a dictionary before I know what He’s saying. Cool huh?
So, the day before we boarded the plane to Canada, I had a dream. And I had a new word. Reticulated. And here’s what I found when I looked it up on-line:
re·tic·u·late
1. netted; covered with a network.
2. netlike.
3. having veins or nerves disposed like the threads of a net, or a leaf.
4. to form into a network.
to cover or mark with a network.
It seems God was telling us He was weaving us into a network, plugging us in, getting us connected. And it was only a matter of minutes before He started doing just that. Well actually, as it turns out, He started doing it 20 years ago!
Back then, a couple came from California with a group to visit a church in London, where they met Nic. To cut a long story short, Nic ended up visiting this couple later that year at their home in California.
Cut back to the day I had the dream, and that same morning Nic had been listening to a Bill Johnson podcast whilst out on her run. Bill Johnson is the pastor at Bethel Church in Redding, California, the destination at the very top of our list of places to visit on our trip.
Now you have to know that Bill never mentions names in his talks. But this morning, what does he do? He mentions the name of a couple who have been attending the church for over 50 years. Yup, you guessed it! It was the very same couple who Nic had met all those years ago.
I know, this was supposed to be the short version of the story, sorry!
Anyway, we find them on Facebook, they are delighted to hear from us and now we are going to be staying with them when we visit Bethel Church in September. But that’s not all, because it turns out that they are connected right into the heart of the church, to Bill himself - they are in fact his in-laws! How cool is that?!
And this is a story that has repeated itself over again on our journey. We are being reticulated, plugged in to a network, connected in at the very heart.
Retro Specs
Another night. Another dream.
And this time it wasn’t a new word I was given, but a new take on an old one.
In the dream, I was given a pair of glasses, or ‘retro-specs’ as the person giving them to me called them, and was told to put them on.
God was telling us that we might not be able to see or understand the real purpose for our trip while we are still journeying, but that in ‘retro-specs’ (retrospect) as we look back all will become clear.
So now, when we are asked what our journey is all about, we can respond with a little more certainty. We can tell them it’s about trusting, that we are being connected into a network, and that all will become clear when we look back in weeks, months or even years from now.
Another night. Another dream.
And this time it wasn’t a new word I was given, but a new take on an old one.
In the dream, I was given a pair of glasses, or ‘retro-specs’ as the person giving them to me called them, and was told to put them on.
God was telling us that we might not be able to see or understand the real purpose for our trip while we are still journeying, but that in ‘retro-specs’ (retrospect) as we look back all will become clear.
So now, when we are asked what our journey is all about, we can respond with a little more certainty. We can tell them it’s about trusting, that we are being connected into a network, and that all will become clear when we look back in weeks, months or even years from now.
Sounds pretty cool Mike!
ReplyDeleteLove and hugs to you both!