I didn’t leave the house today. It was actually kind of nice. I spent the day babysitting my niece and just taking it easy during nap times. It’s been nice to be with family during this time and I feel like I can actually rest for a little while. With that said, I’m going to write about someone I met last night because it was just such an incredible opportunity that I want to tell you about. Yesterday, my friends Warren and Jessica got a call to come speak at a parents’ meeting, but Warren was working, so then I got the call to join Jess. We went to speak with a group of parents that home school their kids and our topic was living missionally. I guess we had a little to say about that.
Katherine is the president of this organization and welcomed us with open arms and was so excited to hear what we had to say. I have to be honest, I didn’t really plan anything. When going into things like that, I usually like to go in open and just gauge the audience to see where the talk should go. Plus I had Jess there and thankfully she’s super organized. The audience was all moms, and one dad. So I decided it was just time to share stories.
At first I was a little nervous to talk with all women and kind of just wanted Jess to take it, but then I realized that these moms didn’t see me as some random guy, but as an example for their sons. That challenged me a little. Over the span of about an hour, Jess and I told them about the World Race and our year traveling, but also tried to encourage these moms and dad on how they can apply it. After all, I wasn’t there to give a could talk, but I was there to challenge and leave them with something they could practically do.
We ran a little long with our talk (surprise surprise) and so instead of a Q&A, we told the parents they could find us after. Pretty much every mom found Jess or I. I sat and talked with Katherine for a little while after and tried to apologize for going long, and how our video didn’t work, and I felt like I rambled. She quickly stopped me and told me how encouraged she felt by the two of us and also that our talk was such a blessing to their group. These moms all want to get involved, but don’t know exactly how to go about it. Also, some of them have older kids that want to go off on a foreign mission field, but the moms are scared. We were able to help calm some of those anxieties.
Honestly, this was a last minute deal for me and I just wanted to be there to support Jess since Warren couldn’t make it, but I was so moved. These moms LOVE their families and come together for meetings like this one to learn from each other, but also encourage each other. Me getting up and rambling about my stories for an hour may have seemed insignificant to me, but God chooses how He moves in people. I always love to watch Him use stories.
Our storytelling with enough true passion and one huge God (well mostly just the last one…) can move generations. Tell of the great things God has done and people can’t help but be amazed.
