Being back in Midland is so great, but everything is different. Everything except the community of people God has built around us! Although we no longer have a house we came right back home. Over the last few months we’ve learned that home is where we are loved, and we have felt a great deal of that this week.
We spent our first few days with my parents and it was so nice. The electricity for our trailer had not yet been turned on so we got to rest in my childhood house and Truma got to spend a lot of time with her Bunny and Birddog. We also had a family friend here from New York so we got to take him out for all of our favorite food spots in town.
Monday night we went to The Petroleum Club with my grandmother and it felt pretty strange to be in such a nice place. I grew up in that kind of environment, but its weird to go to a private club with a dress code when you live in an RV. Nonetheless, it was great and we had a fantastic meal. The next day we took our Yankee friend for some Oscars Superburrito and went to shoot guns at the ranch—much more fitting for our RV lifestyle.
We had a great board meeting this week and are so excited for our future plans. We’ve scheduled many meetings and the Lord continues to provide connections and people that want to walk with us in our calling. It is truly amazing to witness this all coming together. We have also made steps towards building our tiny house model and many have offered to help us build it. This week has been full of potential land leads, big meetings, and dreaming. I am also preparing to speak to the Philanthropy class at Trinity School.
I told our board that the goal is to have land and lift 10 people off the streets before winter this year! It is an ambitious goal but attainable, especially with help from the Lord. I will admit that it is hard to find the balance between planning and getting ahead of God. Not only do we really want to start getting people off the streets, we also desire a degree of permanence for ourselves. Living in an RV and being in limbo is giving us a very small dose of the unsettledness that must come when one doesn’t have a place to call home. For that bit of perspective, we are grateful.
With another child on the way, we also envision what a winter in our RV will look like. Two kids and two dogs are going to make for really close quarters. We are also about to go against everything I was raised to believe and get a cat for Truma’s 2nd birthday on Saturday. My how things have changed.
There’s something about an RV that just doesn’t feel like a home. Part of it is the feeling of the interior with everything designed to be ultra-light. Nothing feels solid, but mostly it’s just hard to put roots down and get settled when there are wheels between us and the ground. Everything we own can be moved in a matter of minutes, and to the modern nomads on HGTV that is what freedom looks like. For us seeking to cultivate home, it is not the ideal setup.
Regardless, we are learning to be content in the present as we do our best to patiently plan for the future. The Lord has been reminding us a lot lately that this isn’t about us and that everything good in us is from Him. He has also been pointing out things in our hearts that do not glorify Him. It’s our fault, because we often pray for humility knowing the danger of pride. The process of being humbled isn’t painless, but it is well worth it.
Each day in this journey we see the Lord. We see Him in His word. We see Him in our family, our friends, and those He has called to help us. We see Him in the sanctification of our hearts. We see Him in the eyes of our pastor while he leads us and remains steadfast through cancer treatment! God is everywhere and it is glorious to stop and look around.
We are prayerfully seeking people to walk alongside us. The work ahead is too much for us to do alone and we are so excited to see God bringing people into His vision for The Field’s Edge. Specifically, our board of directors is working to select a steering committee. We need financial planners, fundraisers, real estate developers, builders, and entrepreneurs to help us craft our “business” plan. If you would like to be considered for the steering committee, please send an email telling us what draws you to this ministry along with your resume to john-mark@thefieldsedge.org. Nominations are also welcome.
Prayer Requests:
· For Dr. D who is in the hospital with an infection.
· For JM to point to Christ during his presentation on Wednesday.
· For a very important meeting on Thursday.
· For the assembly of our steering committee and future board members.
Comments