I’m writing this post, but I don’t really want to. There isn’t time to do it, but I’m making time. I should be cleaning the kitchen, making dinner, and attending to children. It’s my turn to write, though, so here we are.
This few minutes of eloquence (ha ha) is a microcosm of the past few weeks for me. Here’s how things have looked:
July 19-20 – Middle School Lock-in
July 21-28 – Young Neighbors in Action – Worcester, MA
(this trip included the airline misplacing my guitar for a day and my car not starting when I got back to airport parking.)
August 1-3 – Kansas City getaway with the family
August 3-6 – Erin and I serving on team for a Teens Encounter Christ (TEC) retreat.
August 7-present – dizzying mix of meetings, putting my classroom and religious ed stuff back together after a summer school-renovation project, leading a staff retreat, and leading a full-afternoon Confirmation session
Stretches like these are hard on me and hard on the family. Spending fourteen of twenty-seven nights in a bed that isn’t your own would take its toll on anyone. Routines are disrupted. Tummies aren’t happy. Things are generally thrown out of balance.
And yet, I know that Jesus was there, walking with me and my family through all of it. In fact, I’m fairly certain that Jesus grabbed me by the collar and dragged me to that TEC weekend. It wasn’t originally part of our summer plan, but when we received word in mid-July that this particular retreat was in desperate need of team, I knew we had to try and make it work if we could. To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever felt so strongly called to serve on a TEC retreat. I knew it would only work out for both of us, though, if Erin could get off of work for one of the days and if her parents could take the kids for all four days. Also, as you can see above, we would be leaving for the retreat the day we got back from our getaway. That meant, we would have just a few hours to unpack, do laundry, repack, get the kids to Erin’s parents, and head to the retreat.
Well, somehow it worked out. I say “somehow”, but I know Christ was leading us, clearing the path for us to do what we were being called to do. This isn’t to say it worked out perfectly. Signing on to the TEC so late meant very little time to get to know the team and prepare for the weekend. Arriving at the TEC the day we finished our family getaway meant being more frustrated with our kids than they deserved and getting to the TEC later than what is expected. Still, though, I know that’s where we were supposed to be. I know Christ called us to that weekend.
Erin and I don’t always hear and answer Christ’s call like we should, but this time we did. I pray that all of us listen for Jesus’s voice at all times and go where we’re called, regardless of the assignment or how our saying yes might turn our lives upside-down.
-Shannon