As I begin to fondly think of our little farming community as the shire, and look back on that unexpected party, tears well up in my eyes. Who knew. Who knew that just a few short months ago as we sat around that fire listening to tales of faith and fun from two fresh, inspiring young people, and as we let them in on our secret that we, too, had our yes on the table and were waiting for directions; who knew that our paths would end up being so intimately intertwined. They had no way of knowing. We had no way of knowing. In our wildest dreams I don't think we would have or could have mapped out the arrows of the journey the way God has clearly done and has been doing for YEARS.
Flashback to I don't know when exactly. The seventies I'm guessing. My dad is still in school in his hometown of Waldheim, SK. He invites a buddy from school to a bible study. That buddy becomes a Christian and grows up to be a world shaker and a kingdom builder and a global visionary. That man is Mike Hack.
Flashforward to the 80's. My foster parents move to BC and "get" me.
Flashforward to the 90's. I leave home at the age of 17 and head off to OM ships ministry. On the way I spend a week in Holland at the GO conference. While there someone introduces me to a fellow Canadian, a Saskatchewan fellow. I tell him my dad is from Sask. Where in SK he wants to know. Oh a very small town I say. Where? He persists. Waldheim, I say.
"Waldheim! I'm from Waldheim! Who is your dad?"
"Robert Bueckert."
"Robert Bueckert!" He exclaims... "Your dad was instrumental in leading me to the Lord!"
My introduction to Mike Hack.
Flashforward to 2005. Pietro and I buy an acreage in Waldheim, SK and become members of Mike Hack's home church. Crazy coincidence? We thought it was :)
Flashforward to 2013. We have had the privilege of watching Mike impact the lives of many youth in our community and mobilize them to get out and discover the big wide world and ways they can make eternal difference. We love to hear their stories and see the fruit of their experiences impact our community. On just such a night, we connected heart to heart with two young people whose worlds have been rocked and whose lives are forever changed. We invited them to pray for us as we too, waited to see what story God would unfold for our family.
And today as they share a part in this story, we all marvel. To think that my DAD who is not even my dad but who took me in and raised me like a daughter was part of this story, from the very beginning... that the circles have gone out, and come back and gone out from Waldheim, and interconnected and overlapped... from my Dad, to Mike, to Larissa, to Nic, to Coen, to us, who came from Italy to Waldheim, who will return to Italy FROM Waldheim, but all the richer, all the readier, but how this journey will first lead us to Africa and Mike and Larissa and Coen again along the way. What a party that will be. What an unexpected party indeed . And what a privilege to have an invitation. We are truly, truly humbled and overwhelmed to be characters written into God's plot and purposes and to have the privilege to watch His story unfold.
"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6,7
We Give Thanks!
Pietro's meeting with his boss could not have gone better. He received the news with grace and gave us his full support. The timing of the meeting was remarkable as that very day he was giving notice of acceptance to one of the four men that had interviewed for the department, but had wrestled to decide which of two men to hire. After Pietro spoke with him, he contacted and hired them both.
In discussion with OM Italy, the timing of our desiring to come work with them is an answer to prayer. The person who has been working with their discipleship program until now has given notice that this will be their last term.
Last night we met with the E & M committee from our church. The timing of this was also remarkable. The night before, very late in the evening Pietro all of a sudden stopped short and said that the E and M budget was most likely already finalized and submitted for 2014. We quickly popped off a text to the chair of the committee asking if it was too late for us to apply to serve in 2014 and he said "be there tomorrow at 7:15 and we'll take care of it." At the meeting they told us that the funds have been there and they have been praying and waiting for someone from our church to GO. Of course that made me all weepy again. To think of all the people that have been part of praying us to this point without even realizing it.
2 years ago, one of my friends was seriously getting ready to go and serve with OM Italy. God has his timing and plans and they didn't end up going. But she has often thought of that place with a pang in her heart and prayed for whoever God would send there , that things would all work out for the best. When she found out that we were going she was just in awe that it was us. In essence, she also has been praying for us.
We give thanks for EVERY person in our life who has helped to shape us and mold us, through good times and hard times and who has supported us through those times and who supports us now as we move forward on this journey. Above all we give thanks to our Heavenly Father who is the author of this story and who has invited us to be characters in the plot of His Great Adventure. It's kind of funny, our family theme song has always been "The Great Adventure" by Steven Curtis Chapman, even though our life has not REALLY been that great of an adventure but we just like to see life through that lens. Now those words are ringing in my ears, burning in my heart, and I laugh as they do: "Saddle up your horses, we've got a trail to blaze, into the wide blue yonder of God's amazing grace. Let's follow our leader into the great unknown. This is a life like no other, oh yeah, this is The Great Adventure!"
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