The journey that will be 2012

I don't suppose that I'm alone in feeling, especially on New Year's Day, that there is a path stretching out ahead of me for the coming year. The photo above (taken in the city park behind our place) illustrates my thoughts pretty accurately. I can see the first part of the path, but then there is a turn and, although I know there is a path there, I can't see exactly where it goes.

The year 2012 seems a lot like that path, particularly with regard to St. Andrew's faith community and the changes that will continue for us in the very near future. I found it very encouraging this morning to hear recollections from various people in the congregation of how they have seen God at work over the past year, either in their personal lives or in the life of St. Andrew's. Once again, Don Moen's words come to mind:

God will make a way where there seems to be no way.

Happy New Year!!

A long absence explained

Anyone who is a regular visitor to my blog will have noticed the very lengthy gap between my post in June and the previous post in October. Last spring, it was my intention to record a second CD in July and I did, in fact, have studio time booked to do just that. But in mid-June plans suddenly changed. My family had been living in a side by side (duplex) home for over 12 years and through most of that time, we had really good neighbours. We got along well, respected each other's noise tolerance levels and had a friendly relationship. Two years ago that changed and the noise level became a point of unresolvable tension. My breaking point came with a confrontation that made me realize 'compromise' was not in their vocabulary.

We had planned to move in 2012 and had been keeping an eye on the housing market for awhile, just to know what was out there. Suddenly, our efforts were put into high gear and within 10 weeks we looked, bought, sold and moved. (A note to readers not in my part of the world: it is a seller's market where we live. We bought 1st knowing we would have no trouble selling afterwards; we lived near the U of Manitoba and affordable housing is hard to find.)

Right from the day of our decision, I began to pray that God would lead us to the right home for us. The song that kept coming to me was Don Moen's "God will make a way where there seems to be no way." It became a litany of sorts to get me through a process I knew would be stressful and tedious. The first day we looked at homes, we saw one we really liked. We made an offer and knew we were not the only ones offering so were not really surprised when we didn't get the house. Two days after closing, our agent called us. "You won't believe what happened! The buyer's financing fell through. The house is yours if you want it." Yes! We matched the previously accepted offer and that house is now our home. The amazing thing is that we were not the second offer in line - we were the fifth! God made a way where there seemed to be no way!

Some of the lovely walking paths in the park directly behind our new home.