I'm in North Bend, Washington right now (just Southeast of Seattle) working with some friends from Trinity and some other friends who were formerly Trinitians. Bobby and Kelli Higgenbotham and Curtis Lilly moved here from good ole Ada, OK to work with Lifepoint Community Church, a church plant in the Snoqualmie Valley.
Let's just say that the work has been hard and rewarding, but the circumstance is everything but what I expected it to be. Being at Falls Creek basically all summer, the high 90's days have gotten old. I expected to come up here to these beautiful mountains (which they most definitely are), and catch a break from the heat for a week.
Au contraire, mon fraire. It seems that we packed the heat in our carry ons, and let it out when we got off of the plane. The weather has literally been record highs for this time of year here, with temps in the upper 90's, and probably triple digits tomorrow, while it has been in the 70's and raining in Oklahoma. This, as you may imagine, is qutie frustrating. Who comes to Washington, in the mountains, and expects 90 degree weather everyday? Not I. And how does it decide to rain at home the week we're gone?
It's been a struggle to keep a good attitude, to be honest. I wanted something completely different than what I've been presented with, but God has been teaching me, the hard way as usual, some very important lessons.
1)My mission/job/call as a Christ follower is the same, regardless of location, circumstance, or expectation. I'm to tell people here about the love of Christ just the same as at home, which the heat so frequently has reminded me. My work is no different here than in Ada, it's just very different people and surroundings.
2)God does not have to get things done the way we may think is best. It's His mission, He calls the shots.
In the midst of this hard/hot/sometimes-frustrating trip, God has continually made Himself known by the things that He has made. Here's a little taste of what we've been working amongst.
http://twitvid.com/CF909
I'm not sure what's going to happen, but I think God might be drawing me to this area of the country. Maybe not the valley, but the Seattle/Tacoma area. It blows my mind and breaks my heart to think that people here are surrounded by such magnificence, and are so opposed to the Gospel.
Pray for the work that's being done here, and for the people who are living here, clueless to the love of Christ.
