Southern California and Spiritual Lessons

We arrived in Southern California on Friday and have been staying with our dear friends, Ben and Jannel James. Saturday night we went to the graduation banquet at the seminary. It was a wonderful dinner. We enjoyed our time reconnecting with the Spokane folks who are graduating also-the Dykstras, the Tobins, and the Hochs. (Pictures to come...)

Kailyn and I went to a baby shower for Jessica on Saturday morning while Roland spent the morning taking our (new) van to two different repair shops. We have been having problems with it since the second or third day of our trip. It's making a very loud clunking sound. One mechanic said it's the rack and pinion steering system that needs to be replaced. (Not a cheap repair!) So, we made an appt. to have it serviced when we arrive in Fairfield on Tues. We're gonna need to pray it up there.

This vacation, while it has been a wonderful time together as a family, has been very spiritually challenging for us. The house. The van. The Lord continues to stretch us through trials. It seems to always come back to dependence. How I long for an easy road, yet I know that would only cultivate in me a heart of prideful self-reliance, a heart that lacks compassion for others, a heart that sees no need to cry out to God for His sustaining grace. Roland has been encouraging us, in the midst of tears, to "consider it all joy when we face trials" and to "give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for us in Christ Jesus." Letting go of my will and embracing the Lord's will ...it's been my constant prayer.