Water Walking Shoes, Not Required

October 2012, JR and I arrived in the wake of hurricane Sandy as she left South Florida (from here on known as SoFlo) and headed up the coast to do some grand damage on the Jersey coast.  I took a walk along the Atlantic shore a couple days later, enjoying the surf show locals were putting on.  The waves were magnificent.  I had no idea this was not just another day at the beach for the masses of people in wetsuits hoisting surfboard off their cars and into the water.  Turns out, there were a lot of people too “sick” to go to work that day.  Waves like those produced by Sandy’s departure didn’t come around often.  I love the ocean.  

We moved from Colorado to SoFlo that October, just missing a storm, though our nearly three years living there seemed mostly stormy.  We left Colorado in a rented RV as I thought it might be fun to road trip, enjoying the country and taking this big transition slowly.  We left our house and less than 10 minutes later, our RV was stalling in the middle of an intersection just yards from the gas station.  HOURS later, we exchanged RVs - unpacking one and repacking the new one.  HOURS later we left on our adventure.  Again.  In our first two weeks, we would lose three contracts on our Colorado home and lose three contracts on places to live in FL.  We did not end up renting a house with a backyard and plenty of space.  We did rent a small apartment and had to give away more of our worldly goods - more than we already had when we packed up to move away from Colorado.  Within six months the corporate company JR had moved with started to show some ugly colors.  We were not adapting easily to a rough, rude, overcrowded, untrustworthy culture.  The ocean was great. 

I did not keep track of how many times I wondered or asked God outright - did we make a mistake?  Was this not your will for us?  Did we miss something?  Each time I asked, I felt a check in my spirit saying:  “Why do you ask that?”  

My response was always:  “Because this is so hard.”  

The question that followed:  “So difficulty = mistake made?”

I know better.  I have not only studied the Word enough to have been taught this, but have also lived through enough to know God doesn’t call his people to an easy life, to simple assignments, to a comfortable cozy country-club stroll through the park journey.  Yet here I was, having left the safe and familiar of many years; many friends; many places I knew how to get to; many jobs I knew how to do; many circumstances I knew how to navigate.  And It. Was. Hard.  So I doubted.  Though really, living within walking distance of the ocean was nearly nirvana.

My favorite story in the Bible is Peter walking on water.  Because he got to actually do that - walk on water, without water walking shoes; without previous water walking experience; no years of water walking training, and don’t forget, no previous human water walking ever recorded. He saw His master, wanted to be where He was, asked to come and do what His Master was doing and got the thumbs up.  I want to do that.  

Back in SoFlo 10 1/2 months in, JR came home from work and threw a piece of paper on the table, walked off to the bedroom.   The paper was filled with the inference JR had not been doing the job they wanted him to do and he would no longer keep the title nor the pay that he moved to Florida for.  He would have his previous job back.  In Florida.  What was written was so clearly  CYA language and not truth.  He just got handed this paper, no warning, no questions, no commentary, no conversation.  Over our tasteless dinner he said, “That’s it.  I’ve had enough.  I’m pushing the eject button.”

I simply nodded my head.  We were one week away from closing on a townhouse.  

After our tasteless dinner, I picked up reading  Isaiah in The Message from where we left off the previous night, chapter 40.  Its a good chapter - go look it up.  I’m not sure we could really ‘hear’ the Word, but we certainly ‘heard’ from the Lord as i began to read Eugene Peterson’s commentary on the chapter.  

“But God’s word about the future is a little different . It isn’t delayed but is rooted in the present.  He has us prepare the way for him in the desert of our present existence. 

That is to say, don’t build castles in the air, don’t construct an elaborate fantasy life about God’s future for you.  In the desert prepare the way of the Lord.  Right here where the going is roughest.  Here in a foreign place.  Here in exile.  

In this passage the geographical present is emphasized.   This very  dry, colorless, arid existence that seems to characterize the life of the sufferer - here is where the highway of God is to be built.  Don't’ look for some ejection button to push for an immediate escape.  Instead, build a highway, which takes time.  Build it well. And build it where you are.  EP” 

JR:  “It did NOT say that!”  

Me:  “uh, yes it did.”  And I handed him the Bible.  

We stayed for nearly two more years.  We met some fantastic people.  There were some delightful little people we fell in love with.  And of course there was more really rough going.  I stopped asking the question though.    We did our share of crying out to be saved.  The Lord did not always make the storm calm down.  He doesn’t always change our circumstances.  But He made it clear He heard us and that we were not alone.  

Truly Jesus is the Son of God  I say that with confidence, with honesty, with experience.  I’ll hang my hat on it.   

We moved to Grand Rapids in September of 2015.  The story has changed.  We like it here.  Though I have to be honest, 

I do miss that ocean.