Notebook: August 12, 2011

Tyler had to go to California for work. I was blessed to be able to join him. On Sunday morning, we drove two hours north from Long Beach to Santa Barbara to see David Guzik, a pastor we like to listen to at home. To our disappointment, David Guzik was out of the country, and a fill-in pastor from the area was speaking instead. Little did we know, it was God's appointment.

The man speaking was a missionary who had been living in Africa with his wife and three children. He showed a slide show, explained missions work, and urged us to go full-out with whatever God calls us to do. Tyler and I just sat in the pew in tears knowing Jesus set this all up. We knew this was His confirmation. The missionary prayed over us, and gave us resources and people to contact.

I spent the week in the Southern California sunshine while Tyler worked. On Wednesday, I was at the ocean praying and writing stuff down. "I'm safe as I sit here on the shore. Would You keep my feet sure if I stepped into the water? Would You keep my balance if I went knee-deep into the waves? Would You hold me up if I went into the deep? What if I went beyond all that was explainable, logical, acceptable? Would You hold me even then?" That night we went to church in Costa Mesa. Another guest speaker. Another missionary. He taught about Peter walking on water. He did the impossible as he responded to Jesus' call to "Come." Yes, he got wet when he looked down at the waves. We're ALL going to fail and "get wet" sometimes. But Peter's main goal was not to walk across the sea. It was just to get to Jesus. No matter how impossible something seems, if you obey Jesus' call on your life, He will do the miraculous.