Yesterday I surfaced into my blog after months of silence. My life has never been a quite one. Even as a little girl I thrived on activity and a longing for adventures. As an avid reader I loved Anne of Green Gables and Pippi Longstockings. Both of these characters lived outside the bounds of 'normal' day to day life. As a child I knew that there was more to life than living in Portland, Oregon and I wanted to know more about the world. I have moved beyond the adventure stories and real life has afforded me more adventures than most in my world. This 65th year has been over the top with adventures one could never script.
Of late my adventures I thought were decided by me and I asked God to bless them. He dropped the job into my lap. The perfect job for me at this time of my life. I loved travel. I loved travel that had meaning and purpose. I enjoyed traveling with people and encouraging them to step outside of their boxes, to enjoy God's world. I wanted people to see the real world not just a resort, which is a pretend world and in each of these journeys I wanted them to experience God on a new level.
The end of February I set sail on a women's retreat cruise. It became the craziest and most emotionally charged adventure of my life to date. The planning of the cruise took over a year. I had planned many events over the years, conferences, work cruises, etc. The planning came natural and I enjoyed it. This retreat cruise was cut from a different pattern. This was to be my first cruise event with my new job, I was excited.
From day one I ran head long into bumps and road blocks. Matters of The Heart was the theme. The speakers were put into place and the planning started. Out of no where I find out 'accidentally' that the cruise line had canceled the contract and filled the ship as a private venue. Someone charters an entire cruise ship! Who does that? It takes 3000 to fill the ship! Why my week?
This decision puts everything on hold, big time. I loose a speaker, as I had to change dates. I loose time promoting the venue. I was back to square one with a small window to work in. God had different plans and I was about to be pulled into a faith adventure.
As the months progressed I encountered other hurdles. Why? Why? Why? I knew I was doing what I was supposed to do. Why was this event so hard?
My next few blogs are going to be me unpacking this retreat journey. The cruise ended with one of my charges falling over board from the ship, he was on deck 10! It made national news. His body was not recovered. His mother, family and those of us traveling with him remain in shock. Things like this happen in other peoples worlds, not mine, not ours. A man we traveled with all week, a man we dined with, worshiped with was gone in a split second. Gone!
Tomorrow, I will begin unpacking the journey with the ending of the cruise. I will go full circle as I write. Why the end instead of the beginning? Our friends memorial service is tomorrow and I want to focus on the value of his life. God knew from the beginning that on March 4th, on the Matters of Heart Cruise, he would enter eternity. He knew that those traveling with me were to be part of a bigger picture that has yet to be painted.
The entire week was packed with so many 'supernatural' chess moves that started before the ship ever sailed, that I must recount the story. This blog may for me alone but write I must. I do know lives were changed, friendships forged, worlds expanded because of this week and this last closing event of what seems like an untimely death. God remains in control and He is moving in our world.
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