All Roads Lead to Rome

Another week has passed, and that means seven days of drifting, taking our bearings, and watching the horizon for a glimpse of Terra Firma.  I feel like a kid holding a treasure map and trying to work out the markings only to realize that I have been holding it upside down.  Turn it around and suddenly your eyes focus and you can get your bearings.

This whole journey started with Coen's "You should come to Zambia!"  and then was clinched with Mike's "Oh Yeah!  And then you should go to Italy!"  We could all see how Zambia could provide a time of great personal growth for us, as well as help solidify a vision and a foundation for our future work in Italy.  Since the idea for Zambia came first, logically, we assumed that time in Zambia would be a precursor to our move to Italy.

Last week we felt like we were standing at a crossroads with about 30 signs pointing every which direction and our heads were spinning.  I can't even begin to describe all the different scenarios that presented themselves to us when it came to the different possibilities in regards to the who/where/when/what of applications and order of events when it came to dealing with one organization (Operation Mobilization) in three different countries (Canada, Italy and Zambia) with three different time frames.  I will spare you the tailspin and tell you about the day that we got clarity.

I have lost all track of days, it may have been Wednesday last week.  I was going about my day feeling like I was carrying a house on my shoulders.  All of a sudden I had this realization.  "This would all be SO much simpler if we just moved to Italy after the house has sold, got set up there in home and ministry, and then pursue the possibility of Zambia at a later date together with them." (our leaders in OM Italy).

No sooner did I think this thought and I felt like that house lifted right off my chest.  I took a huge breath, let it out in a cleansing sigh and smiled for the first time in days.  I sent up a quick prayer that God would continue to give confirming clarity on where the road sign was pointing.  When Pietro got home I told him about the thought I had had.  His eyebrows just about hit the roof and he exclaimed, "I was just thinking the same thing as I was driving home!"  Not only that, but that very same night we got one phone call and one email from two influential people in our lives who suggested this exact same course of events.  As we discussed it with friends, it was continually confirmed as "just making sense."  We both went to bed and slept like babies for the first time in a whole week.

So amidst the jumble of people and places and processes, one road sign stands out.  And lo and behold, it points to (463 miles northwest of) Rome.