Be it ever so humble...

....there's no place like home. I must say…rumors of my death are a bit over exaggerated. Well, maybe the talk of the town didn’t get quite that far, but it’s too good of a line to pass up even a near miss opportunity to use it! =) Chad and I are back in Los Angeles now, his speaking tour was truly a wonderful experience for us both and we met some very lovely Godly people along the way. We also saw some very beautiful country along the road. I saw snow for what must be the first time I can actually remember ( there are pictures of me in snow when I was about 2 but I don’t remember it), I saw tumbleweed ( ok so it exists it isn’t just in movies), I saw a baby bear (thankfully no momma bear around too close), and I saw the awesome power of nature as several tornadoes came across our path ( we were very glad to hear that the churches we visited made it through the storms ok).

But in all that beauty came some very tough lessons. Lessons in pain and in trust. Pain (mostly in my knee, MRI is scheduled for Wednesday so lets keep our prayers up) and trust that God would work it out. I’ve often hear people tell of the trials they went through as they were doing something they truly knew was God’s will. Chad and I are both certain that this speaking tour was right where God wanted us to be but someone sure didn’t want us there.

In the course of the speaking tour my niece had surgery ( she’s doing much better now), we had to stop a presentation to huddle in a stair well as several tornadoes came through Pawnee Illinois, I hurt my knee, Ashland City where my brother and his family (including the two year old niece from before) was hit hard by a line of tornadoes (my family is all ok), my brother from Memphis was in the emergency room, and finally to really add a kicker, I was greeted at LAX by some lovely paramedics after becoming gravely ill on the flight home. Apparently most people ingest the toxin created by the bacteria in a case of food poisoning…I being the lucky gal I am, ingested the bacteria it self. Happy to report they have my potassium levels back to normal and other than weakness from about 5 days with a mostly pure Gatorade diet, I’m doing better. Now, I don’t want you to think I’m complaining, as I’m not. I have an amazing husband who takes better care of me than I could ever dream, and a truly awesome God who saw me through it all.

The old gospel song “The Lighthouse” has been in my head quite a bit. Because I do thank God for the lighthouse…the many ones I saw as we traveled from beautiful Texas women who cooked up a storm to dear war veterans who had their stories to tell and all them lighthouses for God giving comfort, love, and cheer to two travelers who just wanted to show them the way God is in so many things and we often overlook Him. I hear Christ in the Passover many times in this tour but more and more with every hearing, I realized that Christ is in everything, from smiling strangers, to helpful doctors, to might prayer warriors who give you some of their strength when you feel you have none.

I wonder who has been a lighthouse for you? I know many of you reading this have been one for me….Shabbat Shalom to all of you!