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I'm in Round Rock, Texas for a Ministerial Leadership Conference.....and I feel like I'm back home....
It's funny how things work out in life....how paths cross....how God directs....
Round Rock, Texas is a happening place these days....a few years ago it was the fastest growing city in America. There is growth on every corner.....new houses, new restaurants, new stores.....
Twenty five years ago Round Rock, Texas looked like the opening scene on "Green Acres"(If you are too young to remember that show, see if there are recorded for posterity on YouTube....) Readers my age can sing the opening song with me...."Green Acres is the place to be. Farm living is the life for me. Land spreading out so far and wide, keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside!"
Hardly anyone had heard of Round Rock, Texas back in 1990....but I had!
Some very good friends of mine had moved from Tempe, AZ to Round Rock, TX with their three adorable children....and I had come to see their home while it was in the process of being built.....
I remember my dear friend describing what each room would be....how the kitchen would be laid out, where her office would be, which bedroom would be the girls' and which would be their son's......but I'm not too good at "seeing" things like that, so I still remember just nodding my head and smiling....."Oh, that's nice..."
Time went by. They acclimated well as Texans. Their kids were active in church, school, and athletics. They got involved in their community....and I was busy with life in the ministry....in Arizona.....then in Michigan....then in Arizona....then in Michigan...then in west Texas....
We would send occasional Christmas cards, birthday cards, and eventually wedding invitations to one another.....but, you know how things are.....people move on..... I didn't know if I would ever see them again......
It seemed so coincidental......so strange....... so odd......when....in 2008.....my pastor announced he was opening a church....in Round Rock (not Austin)....Round Rock, Texas!
So....very....odd
I came to the church in Round Rock to sing a few times, and my friends, although they were committed to their own church, attended the service to support me....we reconnected....still....they had their busy lives and I had mine....
Then a crisis hit my life...... I had to pick up the pieces and move with my daughter.....
from west Texas......to Round Rock, Texas.....
I sent my friend a Facebook message....telling her I was moving to Round Rock in a crisis situation....she's too busy to be on Facebook often, so she didn't respond immediately....a day or so before my move, I called her....when she heard about my situation.....she knew what I meant about it being a crisis situation.....(You know, some people consider everything a crisis--this was legit!)
She and her husband opened their home.....(and I hate to use cliches).....but..... they opened their hearts as well....to a newly single woman going through a monumental challenge and her daughter....who was being forced to move in the middle of her Senior year of high school.....
We spent our first night in Round Rock at that house that I had seen when it was only barely framed....some 20 years earlier! It was a cold, wet January night when we pulled in...the night of the BCS College championship.....which I fully intended to watch....but out of sheer exhaustion, I fell asleep on the love seat in front of the blazing fire in the fireplace that welcomed us...
Those were difficult days.....very......very difficult....
I remember walking up their staircase one day after trying to decide where to send my daughter to finish her Senior year of high school....I had invested in a Christian education for her for 11 1/2 years....someone said, "Oh, it's just a few months...put her in the public school there..." I visited the public school....she spent a morning there.....I....JUST....COULDN'T DO IT......there had already been too much upheaval, too much change, too......much......hurt.....
I climbed the stairs of my friend's house that day with extreme effort.... holding in the tears....the sobbing was about to erupt.....I dragged myself into one of those bedrooms my friend had pointed out to me over 20 years earlier...... knelt down.....and cried.....and prayed.....
When the moving truck came with all of my earthly belongings....it was my friends' daughter and son-in-law's missional group from Austin Stone Church that came to help....they spent the entire day helping us move in......they even built a fire in our fireplace for us!
I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have THANKED GOD for those young couples!!!
Moving is stressful...the WORST day is the day the truck brings your stuff...they unload it so fast....and you have to figure out where to put those 350 boxes....along with all of your furniture, clothing, and yard tools!
No one else was there to help us that day....except my one brother who had flown in from Phoenix....and he had recently been injured....so he was basically there for moral support....and to order pizza! :-)
Thanksgiving......Christmas.....Birthdays......even my daughter's high school graduation....were all celebrated at that house that I had walked through over 20 years earlier....before it had really taken shape.....
These friends....are no longer friends.....THEY ARE FAMILY!
Who knew.......those twenty some years ago.....when they moved to Round Rock that my daughter and I would need a family......some support.....some encouragement.....some people of faith, hope, and love.....and we would need them in ROUND ROCK, TEXAS!?
God knew.
WOW. I stand in awe and deep, deep gratitude.
God sees what is ahead of you. He is the God of pre-vision....and the God of provision.
Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
10 I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand'.... Isaiah 46:9-10
Thank you, dear friends for being the hands and the heart of my Father God.
Thank you, dear God, for my dear, dear friends....and for moving them to Round Rock, Texas....those many years ago!
Trust God, dear reader. Trust God.
I'll blog ya next week...in the meantime, do something today to fulfill your purpose.....
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