We have just entered our final weekend in Portland. It's still hard to imagine that next weekend, we will be in Petersburg.
We had dinner this evening with a few friends at Romano's Macaroni Grill in Bridgeport Village. The waiter we had during the dinner has been to the area we are going. He has family in various locations in Alaska, including many of the communities in the Inside Passage. He spent this last winter working in Skagway. Was this a coincidence...? Or was it yet another one of the small mileposts along the path of our journey that reminds us that we are still on the path laid out to us by our Lord?
We had an unpleasant surprise today that could have turned out much worse than it did. After the movers took all of our stuff and weighed it, it came in at 11,500 lbs.! This was 3,000 lbs. more than the estimate. The moving specialist, Marcy, with whom we've been working was reluctant to share this unpleasant bit of news this morning. We both fully expected the total moving cost to go up another several thousand $$$s.
When she called back a few hours later, it turns out that the initial quote overestimated the insurance, and the ocean freight didn't increase all that much. So the actual increase over the initial quote was just $500 -- a much more manageable increase. We were both very surprised at this turn of events and could only conclude that God is still working things out for us.
A number of people have mentioned to us how brave and courageous we are. It may look that way externally, but inside we are anything but. Even while the movers were working the past two days, the thought was always there that we should still abort the mission. I would like so much to stay with people and surroundings we've grown comfortable with.
After I had sent out a brief e-mail update this morning, I received a reply asking if we were certain we were making the right decision. Were we doing this for the right reasons. Were we being pressured into this? Even though we were close to the point of no return, we could still hit the abort button.
As I contemplated why we were going to make this move, I reflected upon all the things during the past two years that had led to this point. And in the midst of doing so the two stories of the Israelites approaching the land of Caanan, the Promised Land, came to my mind. In the first, they could see no human way of conquering the land, gave in to their fears, and ended up wandering about for forty years. In the second, forty years later, they couldn't see how the land would be theirs, but trusting in the God that had led them this far for forty years, they faithfully stepped into the rushing waters of the Jordan to see God work.
What I've been realizing is that I may make plans based on the best information that I have, but my ability to predict the future is worse than bad. But making those plans gives me the courage to take the next step. That is all God wants from us -- to take one step at a time. God provides just enough survey of the landscape around us for us to go in the direction that He wants. When we take that step, He opens up just a little bit more of what true reality looks like. And it often looks very different from what we thought it did.
The Israelites didn't know how they were going to cross the flooded Jordan. All they had were instructions to step into the river. And when they did, the waters were parted.
As we go off to Petersburg, we don't know how God has already planned to provide for us. All we know is that He has been faithful so far, and so there is no reason to doubt that His faithfulness will stop after we arrive.
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