Conundrums and hope
I have no real explanation for a 2 month blogging silence except that sometimes I feel that there are too many words. Too many blogs. Too many voices. The din is overwhelming. So why am I even typing this...? I imagine myself talking to an empty room, my words just spilling out into the void. Maybe I am tapping this keyboard to send missives to the ether... does it matter? Nah. So if you're reading this... thanks. And if you're not... then... I have nothing to say to you.
Ok... I clearly need to get into a different space. So here we are in New Zealand. There are birds chirping away outside my window. Summer is coming. Sand flies are real. Some things here are hard to get used to... like the lack of salsa. (it basically doesn't exist here) And some things are just lovely, like the price of dates (the dried fruit... not going on a date... that's actually expensive!). I really love to eat dates and at home I feel they are quite pricey, so it's nice to find dates cheap. (Ha ha! Just realized how that could transition to cheap dates! LOL!) Are you questioning why you're reading this blog post yet? You should be.
Ok... I'm going to try again. You know, it feels slightly daunting to try to bring you up to speed on what has been happening here with this particular group of Treats... but I guess I'm gonna give it a go. Let's see... we left our rag-tag adventurers while they were floating in the state of Limbo (it's a real place... I've been there). They spent a few weeks in the land of the unknown (also very real and perhaps slightly scary) but at the end of all this uncertainty found they were granted visas to stay in the lush garden lands of New Zealand... but of course you know all this. So what happens when a family of 5 misreads their flight regulations and thinks they can only bring one bag each on their international flight to New Zealand and then finds that they are allowed to stay for 20 months? Hmmmm. Did said family pack all they might need to sojourn in a new land for this amount of time? No.... no they did not. Enter the body of Christ. (Also real!!) Yes! Not a myth as some might imagine, the body of Christ is the church in action as it was meant to function and very much alive! This is good news indeed for our crew... as they have needed a lot of help recently. Through miracles and more miracles this slightly worn out family found a home to rent and were given all that they needed to set up an entire household! Imagine! Stop and think about all the things you need daily to function as a family! Pots and pans to cook in? Check. Beds to sleep in? Check. Fridge? Check. Washing machine? Check. Sheets, blankets, towels, plates, cups, silverware, chairs, a table, .... the list is not endless, but you know... it's pretty long! All that the family needed to function was supplied by the hands and feet of some amazing souls who know how to put shoe leather to the gospel. Pretty awesome. Do the miracles end there? Hardly! Money given, gifts of labor and time, many lovely people standing in the gap for our small band of Treats...there have been glimpses of glory sure enough!
Has the path since limbo been strewn with roses and heavenly fragrances and felt like lilting through a cloud all the while...? No. "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed..." Romans 4:18 "And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5: 2b-5 But we keep walking forward in hope... because He is the God of hope, and He does not disappoint.
I pinky promise I will try to be more consistent in blogging...so... if you're one of the 2 people who read this blog... thanks for listening... you're a gem.