I washed my hands again. I enjoyed the soothing hot water that was absent in my life the past couple months in the jungle. It kept my nerves cool or at least gave me the illusion of it. How many times have I gone to the bathroom today? 30? 35? 40? Yeah, I don't know but it feels like it!!! It must be the parasites kicking around in my stomache. It might be the stomache infection I picked up around the time we cut a tree down to catch our pet sloth. Well, the doctor did just tell me I had giardia…that's probably it.
OR
I'm about to have a conversation with a woman I've only talked to a few times before in life for a total of like 10 minutes and ask her to move countries to come live near me in Marquette, MI. Yeah, that might have something to do with it. I compose myself and walk out to find her walking towards me on her way to the bathroom. A casual happenstance of meeting eh? Hmmm…I keep my cool, give her a hug and a smile and add…"Oh, remember the 'word' I shared with you at training camp? Well, God's been sharing some more things with me and I'd love to have a conversation with you about it after we send all the participants home…k?"
She was down for it and who knows what all had to have been racing through her mind about that lead in. Haha, all I knew was my heart was about to explode from two weeks of trying to grasp what I was about to do and the consequences it held on the rest of my life. There are a few aspects in my life that don't exactly go by the books and I was about to write another page.
By the next morning, I felt a bit like a frog finding it's way to the perfect lilypad in the midst of a windy, wavey day. I knew where I wanted to go and I was excited to get to my flower, yet I had to figure out the right path and time my jump to refuge. Everything around me seemed to be fluid and moving quickly I was just trying to stabalize my world…so I put on a little tunnel vision and focused on my flower and waited…and waited…and then jumped.
I led Ang and her coffee out the door of the hotel and over to poor which was blanketed with enough air traffic noise to cover any conversation…Ever!
"Ang. This is crazy! What I'm about to share with you is crazy, crazy!! Like, really crazy!"
"I get it. It's crazy."
"No. No you don't, but that's ok."
"So what is it?"
"I just ask two things of you. Please just give me grace and please ask God about this…ok?"
"k"
"Well. I really don't know you. I don't know how old you are. I don't know your middle name. I don't really know any of those details of your life. I do know some deeper things about you though. God's been telling me about your heart and trust and did you know how much He loves to linger in your presence?…Anyway, you don't really know me either…at least I don't think so."
"No. Not really."
"Well…God has been drawing me into a new season and one of the things He is bringing me into is my inheritance. I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to get that in a spiritual way yet but that's a step He's bringing me into. He's wanting me to become more bold and courageous and I don't know where everything is going to go with this, but one of the things He's asked me to do is to invite you to come live in Marquette with me."
PAUSE…How about that for a conversation starter? LOL!
"Well. I am surprised…but I'm not shocked."
***WHAT!!! WHO ARE YOU?!?!? HOW ARE YOU NOT SHOCKED THAT SOME DUDE YOU DON'T KNOW JUST ASKED YOU TO MOVE COUNTRIES FOR HIM? (that was what was going on in my head)***
"God has been actually working on me very particularly this past year asking me 'Angie, how would you respond if I gave you something crazy, something out of your paradigm?' The more I get to know God, the more He does this sort of thing so yeah, I'll pray about it."
"Well good. He's faithful. He gave me something to be bold about and you something to respond crazy to!"
"You know, the way you encouraged me at training camp told me a lot about you and I trust that…"
***Thank You Jesus for prodding me constantly until I talked to her at training camp…(also in my head)***
"So…tell me a little about Marquette…"
The conversation coninued for what seemed like 45 minutes and it didn't once get awkawrd!! How that conversation never got awkward has to be a God thing because that's just stupid crazy. What's even more nuts to me is that it didn't get awkard really in the brief passings that evening or next morning. I promised to get back with her and chat in about 10 days. I wanted to give her a chance to let our convo sink in a bit and give her a chance to ask God what in the world was happening…
I didn't really know what to do with myself that evening as we all went out to eat and get ready for our last night in the hotel. I found myself flittering around like a butterfly in a stiff warm breeze. I felt good…real good…yet, I had no clue where I was supposed to land. I was being refreshed by this vibrant breeze of color that overwhelmed to the point of not knowing which direction I was supposed to hover before making a landing.
Where was this going?
How would she respond when it was time for a response?
What did I just ask her?
Who is she?
Who am I?
haha…well…time will tell. 10 days. I'll give her 10 days and then we'll see what God's been saying to her…Maybe I should write my next blog in 10 days so you'll have a clearer picture of how long that feels!!
