The Community I’ve Been Given

After a very long hiatus I am finally back! It would be fun to list out all the excuses I have for taking so long, but instead let’s just move forward. For my comeback article I wanted to write something so amazing that it would forgive my lack of posting. When I thought about some of the most amazing things that have happened, the word community kept crossing my mind. It’s been around nine and a half years since we moved to this community. It was such a huge decision to move. My wife quit the job she has been working at for over twenty-five years because she didn’t want to make the commute, and I decided to stay at the job and make the commute. For her it would be completely starting over and for me it would be an hour’s drive to work every night and then an hour’s drive back every morning. In the time that we have been here, so much has changed. I’ve always heard that God chooses to put you where you need to be. Looking back over the last almost ten years, I completely agree with that statement. Yesterday we had our Fourth of July town celebration. Activities all day long, finished at night with a concert and fireworks. I came home loving my country and especially loving my community. Over the last few months, I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on the last few years. God works in such wonderful, mysterious ways. We can make a move and think that it’s something small, but God sees a bigger picture. A few years ago, we moved into a new house. In my mind it was a very small move. I looked it up a few days ago, we moved a total of .3 miles away from the original house we had here. Google maps told me that it’s a one-minute drive by car and bicycle and a five-minute walk. How can that be significant? I’m not sure, but it has been. The move put us right across the street from the church. We have the perfect front porch that somehow makes me feel more relaxed than I’ve ever been. Since the house in on the corner it also seems to invite others to talk to us. The other unexpected thing is that for some reason it’s the perfect location to go for a walk. I walk out the backdoor and all of God’s beauty seems to be all around me. One thing that motivated me to start writing again was the pictures I would take on my walks. A few weeks ago, I had this brilliant idea and I drove around town and took pictures of different things. I’m going to start posting those pictures on Instagram with a bible verse. I want to share with everyone what I see on a daily basis. It’s been almost a year since I hit publish on my first podcast. I thought that I was ready, and God had given me something to say. When I look back on it, I guess I wasn’t ready. Soon after the podcast came out, a big challenge hit me. When I thought I finally had that challenge under control, another big challenge came at me. Having to deal with both of those challenges made it very clear that what I thought was the beginning of the story, wasn’t actually the beginning. So now here I am starting over again, hopefully this time I will get it right. I need to learn that God has a plan, and I am not in control.