"This is Crazy"

“This is crazy,” I said to my friend, Ben, as we ate chicken sandwiches at Zaxby’s.   Ben just laughed and said, “Yeah.”

Ben is one of my oldest and closest friends.  For as long as I can remember, Ben has been there for me.  When I got dumped by my high school girlfriend, it was Ben who called me up, took me to a movie, and tried to lift my spirits.  When I graduated from college, I rejected some pretty tempting ministry offers in order to move to Michigan to work as a youth pastor in a small country church.  Most everyone I knew thought I was making a huge mistake, but Ben never questioned me on my decision, but rather trusted that I was following God’s leading.  When I started the church in Traverse City, Ben and his wife Tabatha encouraged us, prayed for us, and supported us.  When we moved back to South Carolina (I grew up here), Ben and Tabatha welcomed us, accepted us, and loved us.  Ben and I have had some pretty intense conversations over the years.  In fact, apart from Crystal, Ben probably knows more about me than anyone else.

I continued, “I mean, we are making plans to move to Idaho in six weeks and I don’t know how we are going to do it.”

“When is your scheduled date for departure?” he asked.

“I don’t know, exactly.  We close on the sale of our house on the 15^th of June, and then we will leave a few days after that.  Well that’s the plan anyway.  But unless God provides a miracle, I really do not see how it can happen.  We are just trusting him, and moving forward.”  Then I laughed and said again “This is crazy.”

  Now I know that people move across the country all the time.  People get new jobs, or retire.  Others move to be closer to family, or further away.  It’s really pretty normal. 

But I do not have a job waiting for me.  We have no family or friends waiting to help us unpack.  We have no connections to Coeur ‘d alene, Idaho at all.  All we do have is the conviction in our spirits that our God is not just releasing us to go, but compelling us to go. And go now.

Now here’s the thing, I have thought this thing through and planned it out carefully.  Before I took my family to Idaho, I wanted to be financially prepared.  So while in South Carolina, I wanted to pay off all of our debt, buy a trustworthy vehicle, and save enough money to make the move, start a business, and have three months worth of living expenses.  Well, we have paid off our debt and paid cash for a reliable vehicle, and after we close on the house, we should have enough to make the trip.  But no matter how I crunch the numbers, I am not sure how we going to live once we get there.  Common sense says, “You are not ready.  Wait until to have all you need.  This is crazy.”  And I totally agree, except for one little problem, God has said, “Go.”  So do I trust common sense or do I trust the Creator of the universe? 

Now there are some who would say, “God would not ask you to do something like that.  Use wisdom.  Think about your family, your kids.  You need to wait.”

I wonder what Abraham’s friends and family told him as he was packing his bags to leave home:

“So where are you going Abe?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know.”

“I don’t know.  God said that he would show me.”

“Abe, this is crazy.”

How about Noah’s friends:

            “Hey Noah, what you building?”

            “A boat.”

            “Looks like a pretty big boat.  What are you putting on it?”

            “Animals.”

            “Animals?  Really? Why?”

            “Because it is going to rain.”

            “What’s rain?”

            “Water falling from the sky.  God is going to destroy the earth, and only the people and
                     animals on this boat will survive,”

            “Noah, This is crazy.”

I wonder what Gideon’s men thought as he reduced his army from 32,000 to 300. Or how did Joshua’s army feel when Joshua said they would defeat Jericho simply by walking around it.  In the Bible, God told his people to do some pretty crazy things.  And when they obeyed, God did the impossible for them and through them.  That is the God we serve today.  He still calls us to do crazy things, so that He can do the impossible.  In fact, God lives in the realm of the impossible, because that is where He receives the most glory.

I am not attempting anything quite as amazing as these great heroes of the faith.  I am simply answering the call of God and trusting him to provide what we need for the journey.  I am so excited to see all that God is going to do along the way.