All my years of crying has made me a pretty good crier,
which is to say I cry pretty easily nowadays.
Today I cried hearing a man tell why he was in Seattle.
Turns out he's a fireman by trade,
but he has realized that many of those he serves
on the worst day of their lives
experienced many things prior to then that led to this sad day.
He wondered how he might help.
and God led him to The Seattle School.
(and his sweet wife came too, for support.)
Everything he experienced today at The Preview
told him that this was where he belonged
(and his wife felt so, too. How good is God?)
and, so, he came
not knowing how it would all come together,
but believing God had sent him.
What a gift for me to hear this,
for I, too, have come sensing God's call.
Despite the objections of others
and the battle within that says it's impossible
and will probably never happen,
I have come believing God has called.
Later I cried
as I realized that although I've been lonely and whining about it for years,
I have, in fact, been experiencing the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
also for years and years,
and that the courage I have to do this crazy-seeming thing
(and other crazy things which I have done)
comes from the strength and the encouragement
that I have received from The Holy Spirit.
God humbles and He lifts us up,
often in the same breath.
Later I met a guy in his mid-seventies.
He honed in on me because of my grey hair.
He's overseen the building of hundreds of homes in European counties
with Habitat for Humanity,
and now feels like he could benefit from a bit of education.
What a gift listening to him was.
And what a pleasure to be able to recommend The Seattle School.
Both of us marveled at the privilege of living life with God is,
and both of us realized how incredibly lucky we are to know that.
I'm staying at a hotel on the water across the street from The Seattle School.
And, believe it or not,
I was almost exactly here thirty-three years ago.
I'd hopped a freight train from Northern California,
the very train that runs between me in this hotel and the school.
So I was here then
questing after God as a hopeful hippie child.
How amazing is that?
All things, ladies and gentlemen.
He makes all things work together for good
to those who are called according to His purposes.
