Where He leads...: May 2011

So I've never really given hail storms much thought. Obviously I knew that they were capable of causing some damage, but I'd never had my own serious personal encounter with a hail storm. Even just a few weeks ago when we had the "bad storm", I only got dime-sized hail at my house and that's a cake walk. (Though I will say that in other areas of town there was a lot more damage from bigger sized hail.)

All that changed this afternoon... I knew there were hail storm warnings because my step-mom had just called me and I could hear it pounding all over her car. Then my dad sent a text that it was hailing at his house. I had actually just laid down for a breather after cleaning my kitchen post-flood last week. (Always an adventure!) Then I heard a couple hail pellets coming my way...

I went out to put some towels on my front and back windshields. Then I decided I'd move my car as close to my house as possible. My world has always been a world of no carports or garages. Of course my parents have garages... with their cars in them. I moved the car so close I had to climb out the passenger side. Then it really began to hail and I noticed these were quite a bit bigger than dime-sized and I went into emergency mode... Operation Save My Car! I started running around throwing anything within reach on top of my car... bag filled with garbage, the actual garbage can I had just washed out, an old towel... On the way to get more towels, I decided instead for this big thick blanket I keep on my bed. I threw that over the top of my car. Then I put three floor mats on the hood of my car. All the while my car was getting pelted with giant hail pellets and I could see some dings already. But all in all, my fast thinking saved my car from even more damage. Unfortunately, I've counted around 30 dings on my car anyway, but I'm just thankful my windshields didn't break as that's often what happens in these ridiculous battles with nature. (Frank's truck has a crack in the windshield. Bummer!)

Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure. And I'm sure any of you in this area of the world saw the same thing...

Hot dog, Jake! Look at the size of that thang!

Bombs away!

This is my attempt at saving my car. It was pretty effective! The lump under the blanket is a bag of trash. Don't ask!

The two biggest dents on my car

Another shot to give you an idea of how big the hail was

(Sorry to anyone who doesn't like feet...)

The hail on the ground at mom's about an hour after the storm

This past weekend took me up north to Chicago for my good friend Adam's wedding. Adam was one of my co-workers at MissionLab down in New Orleans. I met Adam in 2006 and over the course of my time in New Orleans, our friendship grew to the point that I count him as one of my best friends. When he started dating Kelsey in 2008, I told him that I would for sure be at his wedding. Thankfully, the wedding was planned for the perfect time for my own travel schedule... considering that this time last year I was in Africa!

While I was in the Chicago area, I also got to meet up with my friend Kitty. Many of you will remember Kitty from my time in Namibia. She was present for that exciting weekend when I burned up my clutch, click here. And she was with me on my very first trip to Cape Town, hereand here. She picked me up from the airport on Thursday and treated me to dinner at this cool stir-fry buffet type place. Then we headed into Chicago for a surprisingly chilly walk around the city. On the way back to her place, I spotted a White Castle and insisted we drive-thru so I could see how they compared to Krystal. :)

On Friday Kitty dropped me off at the train station and I headed to Naperville. I helped with some of the reception set-up, but mostly just enjoyed hanging out with all my buds from New Orleans. We had a great weekend laughing with and at each other, and retelling some of our unforgettable memories from when we all lived in NOLA... most of them still live there. It was such a joy to hangout and be a part of the wedding celebration! Oh... and Adam and Kelsey are heading to Gatlinburg for their honeymoon. :)

Here are some photos from the weekend. You can see more on Facebook...

Sadly, this is the only photo we got together...

Hanging out at the train station

I jokingly made a big deal about eating potato salad out of a carton! I can say that was a first!!

Adam getting his first look at his bride

Adam and Kelsey have placed God in the center of their relationship from the beginning. I'm so excited to see where God takes them together in the years ahead!

Me and my NOLA buds

Congrats, Adam and Kelsey! Thanks for letting me be a part of your special day!!

Aside from entertaining visitors, I’ve been busy with other great stuff! When I was on the airplane on the way to Israel at the end of 2010, I felt God leading me to teach a study at my church on the book Radical by David Platt. Our enthusiastic Minister of Education got on board and approved the study. Finally, after months of talking about it, the class has begun! We cover a chapter a week and this week we’ll hit Chapter Two. It’s been exciting already to see the energy among those in the class. Over 20 adults signed up and during our first week I told them how humbled I am to teach this class and to have so many make remarks about how eager they’ve been for the class to begin. A big reason for that is I’m the “teacher” and yet, I’m the youngest person in the class! (I put teacher in quotations because I know that I have just as much to learn from this book and from the other members.)

Like I said, this is a humbling experience. It’s also very challenging. I must fully depend on God for the wisdom and strength I need to effectively lead this class. And I must constantly check my own life against what I’m teaching and the challenges I’m urging my friends to accept. During that first class, I told everyone that I have only one expectation… that God will change each one of us. That He will transform our minds and lead us back to the Jesus of the gospel, away from the “Jesus” that we’ve fit into our lives and pretty church buildings. I have no desire to predict how that transformation will look in each of our lives. I don’t want my human imagination to limit what God wants to do through this study. We will be changed, and I can’t wait to see how that change plays itself out and ignites a new hunger for God and living out His gospel.

It’s been a busy but exciting last couple of weeks! I’ve had some special visitors at my house lately who have really livened things up! Fun fact: Out of those three guests, only one was human… I’ll talk about her first. :)

My dear friend, Linda Macdonald, came to stay with me for five days. Many of you will remember Linda from other blog entries. She was an AIM missionary with me in Namibia. Linda served in Namibia for 4 years and returned to the States shortly before I did at the end of last year. If you’ve ever moved to a new place or job where you don’t know anyone, you know what a blessing it is to be befriended quickly by those who are already there. I don’t remember the details of when Linda and I first met. All I remember is that from the time I arrived in Namibia, we were friends. Linda has such a servant heart! She’s the kind of person who does something for you before you even think to ask. She is so in tune to the needs of others, which made her a very effective missionary on the field. I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone with more energy and more creativity when it comes to children’s ministry. It was such a joy to be reunited with her again on this side of the world and what a week we had together!!

Before I show some pics of our wonderful time together, let me mention the two 4-legged visitors I had. One was Linda’s dog, Ellie. She’s a dachshund Jack Russell mix and competes with Linda for who has the most energy at any given moment! Linda got Ellie just one month after arriving in Namibia and their bond was so great that she brought her back to the States from Africa. :) My other visitor stood in stark contrast to Ellie… Roman is my friend Tiffany’s great dane. I offered to keep Roman for 11 days while Tiff and her husband Patrick went on their honeymoon. We had a wonderful time together! He’s one of the sweetest and most well-behaved dogs I’ve ever encountered. I miss him already!