When I was growing up, I lived very close to my grandparents. We spent lots of time with them. Not only Sunday dinners and weekends at the lake but vacations and traveling trips as well. My Dad always said my grandmother was a great backseat driver. She always sat right behind him in the car. She liked to tell which way she thought was best and if it took longer than she thought to get somewhere she would always ask him if he was lost. They had a great relationship so the banter was fun and playful, however at times I'm sure it got under my Dad's skin.
I feel like at times I've played a great backseat driver role with God. I've questioned Him along the way. I've told Him how I thought things should be. I've told Him the direction I thought we should go and the shortcuts that were available. And more than once I thought I was lost along the way. One thing I've learned is God cares very little about shortcuts. He's into the long haul. He sees time differently anyway. And we never get lost following Him!
Today marks two years that my husband became lead pastor at Fairview. God took us on quite an adventure ride to get us here. At the time I would've preferred a short cut but now I wouldn't trade the long way for anything. It set the stage and the pace for all He had in store. And we both had a lot we needed to learn. We knew for several years before that He was up to something and that probably included a move but we just had no idea. We wrestled with what He wanted for us. Was it an established church? Was it planting a church? What type of church? What type of ministry? Legit questions. And once we totally let go and just went along for the ride, He began to answer and the joy and fun hasn't ceased. He did end up leading us to an established church that was headed in the same direction as our hearts! And now we are starting a new campus which has been much like planting. You see what we thought had to be one or the other, God was thinking both. Sometimes He's a both/and God because He is the immeasurably more God. We've learned not to put boundaries on Him, He's just gonna move them anyway!
I've never understood people thinking that the Christian life is boring. Life following Christ is never boring because He's not boring. He's doing a new thing. I'm not sure why we so often settle for the same old thing. Maybe that's why we are bored and assume He is too.
It's been anything but boring these past two years. I'm so thankful He loves us enough to keeping doing a work among us. I'm so thankful He's not bound by time or age or what we think. I'm thankful that at a time in life when most people settle in and begin to coast, God looked at us and said "no way, not having that". I'm so glad He's not done with us even when people seem to be. I'm thankful for the vision He gave my husband and for the burn He put in both of our hearts to follow Him to Fairview. It's been one God sized thing after another, providing all that we need to do what He's called us to do and I'm believing Him for even greater things. He ain't done yet, and neither are we!
