The Last Day

Today, we get on a plane and fly across an ocean. We have sold or stored everything we own except for the seven suitcases we are taking with us to the airport today. We sold our car yesterday. It was the last piece of the puzzle. Our world has already changed in so many ways, but today we step off into a huge pile of brand new things. I can't explain what it feels like to be here. I really wish I could. Overwhelming sounds like a really great explanation, until it happens to you. Then it gets a little more complicated.

The question we have received most often recently is, "what does it feel like?" I wish I had a straight forward answer to that. It feels like so many things. When I reach into my "feelings bag", so many emotions vie for my attention. I am somewhere between excited but not sure what to expect, afraid of the unknown, and saddened at the loss. Most of the time I'm not sure how I should feel.

All of this brings me to yesterday, where I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. We had just sold our car, and I was feeling the weight of all that was going on around me. I have been reading through Isaiah (more like slogging through it...reading all of the oracles concerning this people and that people was challenging.) In chapter 40, Isaiah launches into a very poetic expression of the character of God. Much of it Handel grabbed for the Messiah oratorio. The end of the chapter was exactly what I needed.

Isaiah 40:28 - 31
²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
³⁰ Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
³¹ but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;    they shall walk and not faint.

The whole chapter is about how frail and weak we are, reminding us that we serve a God that does not change. Reading this passage was an important reminder for me. This journey fits into the context of God's plan and He will care for us.

An Invitation to Breath

I just read Marshall Shelley's most recent Leadership Journal newsletter.  He was reflecting on the week between Christmas and New Years as a chance to slow down and catch a breath.  When I was working I looked forward to this week as a time when no one else would be in the office.  I was one of the few hold outs that had used all my vacation days through out the year, and I was using that uninterrupted time to sort files or take care of those things that sank at the bottom of my "To Do" list.


Life can feel like a train we got on years ago, one that has gathered momentum with every small decision. And when we reach for the break leaver, it comes apart in our hands. With the life changing steps we have taken, we have the chance to re-imagine things like this.  I get to ask the question, "How do I want to spend this week between Christmas and New Years?" I don't think I expected that preparing to serve Christ is Austria would push life so off the rails that I'd have this much of a chance to rethink how I invest my time. I am thankful for the opportunity.


What do you want for this week of quiet time?