A song of ascents.

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

We are currently staying at a family friend’s house in the town of Rustington, which is right on the beach. It was actually sunny and beautiful here yesterday (though a little cold for swimming) but we walked down to the beach just to check it out before having my first try at fish and chips. I absolutely loved that meal! Not sure I would eat it very often because it was GREASY and really heavy, but I am definitely going to have it again before I leave!

Also, as another first, a wonderful and generous neighbor brought over a feast of roast lamb for us for dinner. It was so good! She has stuffed the lamb with garlic and rosemary and then made a gravy with the same stuff. There were roast potatoes, honey glazed parsnips, and some other great veggies to go along with it. I’m not kidding…it was like Thanksgiving dinner…but with lamb.

So here are a few shots of my surroundings, just in case you are curious!

This is the house we are staying in for awhile. Shot from the front.

The back of the house

The pub across the street

The beach on the English Channel

But, this great adventure isn’t coming with out some stretching, some pain, and a bunch of mystery. You see, I wasn’t even going to go in the first place. They had asked me to go, but I just didn’t feel like it was the responsible thing to do. After all, after this trip I don’t have a job anymore so I need to stay here and figure out what I’m going to do next. It just seems irresponsible to go off to the UK when I should be networking and submitting my resume here. I need a plan. I always need a plan because I am a control freak. I like what is logical and tidy and this trip does not feel logical or tidy. But then I remembered that story in Joshua that God has been beating into my head lately. The story that I wrote about here. Everything logical said that I should stay here, but I knew I needed to inquire of the Lord. And do you know what he said? “Finish well.”

He didn’t say anything about a next step. He didn’t say anything about which direction I should go next. He just said to finish well. I knew in my heart that meant taking a trip to England.

So then this opportunity came up to interview with a local author whose personal assistant is leaving. Yes! A plan! So I went and interviewed and it went so great. We really clicked and sat and talked for two hours. I really love her ministry and was so excited when I left. Everything seemed perfect, but then I remembered this. Right. Inquire of the Lord. I’m a slow learner. So, I inquired of the Lord, and I got an email asking for a second interview. So I asked God, “Lord, should I pursue this job?” And do you know what he said? “This is not the job for you.” WHAT?! So I sounded like a crazy person writing back and saying that I could not pursue the job. But then she wrote back and said that she was so thankful at my response because they had two candidates that they loved and they had decided that one of us needed to say no. Oh. Well, I didn’t feel as crazy after I got that email, but I started to feel a little anxious.

Pretty much what God was telling me is that I am supposed to go to England without a plan for what I am going to do when I get back. Yes, that’s right, no plan! Are you kidding me? That is my nightmare. I mean, I have bills to pay! Doesn’t God remember that? Oh yeah, He remembers.

Sometimes I start to feel a little panicky about the whole situation and I pray “God, what am I supposed to do next? Please lead me in the right direction. Please don’t forget about me! Please help me to stay close to You because You always seem to be going in the right direction.” And every time, every single time, I hear one word. Not an audible word. I hear it in my heart. It resonates in my soul. “Peace.” Sometimes it’s accompanied by “finish well.” And then I remember this.

Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31:8
The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Joshua 1:5
No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

1. Marcel the Shell
Some people have too much time on their hands…and those people make me laugh.

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

2. Tyler Stanton’s Blog. Some of my favorite posts are:
Tripp Crosby and Cars
15 Life Lessons from the Bachelorette
I’m Calling Your Bluff

3. This blog from Zach. Farts are funny. All the time.

4. Cake Wrecks. Get’s me every time. I would like to highlight this post.

5. Mr. Wong sings some Carrie Underwood. You know…sing can be a tricky word…

6. This email conversation. Sorry about the picture on the side. Just ignore that and read the email conversation. Hilarious!

Check out the size of that bug on the top right corner of this car!

What’s with the tennis balls?

This doesn’t seem like the best…or coolest…idea to me…

Currently Reading:

Here is a rough version of it:

Joshua and the Israelites have been commanded (by God) to pretty much wipe out all of the people groups in the surrounding area. So far they are doing really well with their mission. Then the Gibeonites hear what the Israelites are doing and they get scared because they are in really close proximity and assume (correctly) that they are on the list.

What the Gibeonites did is actually really smart. They put on old clothes/shoes, got together some dried out wineskins and bread, and headed right over into the Israelite camp. They looked like they had come from a long way off. When they got to the Israelites they told them they had come from a distant land because they had heard of the Lord’s fame and wanted to make a treaty with them.

The Israelites questioned them at first, but once the Gibeonites pointed out their clothes, shoes, dried wine skins, and moldy bread, they seemed to be satisfied. The verse says:

¹⁴ The men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the LORD. ¹⁵ Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath.

All of the evidence seemed to line up.  It seemed pretty obvious.  But they did not inquire of the Lord.  All throughout the Old Testament, including Joshua’s story, we read prayers asking specific questions to God (should we attack such and such?) and God giving specific answers in return (Yes you should.  You will defeat them.).  So what happened here?  They relied on their own instincts and went with the obvious answer instead of asking God who made the commandment.

As a result, the Israelites were not able to completely fulfill God’s command to them.  Things seemed to work out fine for them in the end, but it makes me wonder what it could have been like if they had been completely obedient.  What would have happened if they had taken a moment to ask God what should be done in the situation?

Maybe nothing.  Maybe everything.

I love it when God does that in my life. I don’t always love it at the time, but the pay off is always worth it. I get going in these patterns. Patterns of my normal. Patterns of my comfortable. Patterns of safety. And to be honest, I need disruptions. The emotion, confusion, pain, joy, and honesty of a holy disruption is necessary for our growth and dependence on God.

I feel really disrupted right now. In this year alone (2010) I have battled through a really hard decision and confrontation, quit a job, found a new job, found out my new job is ending, struggled through friendships, have dealt with intense loneliness, and have no idea what I want to do next. It’s been really difficult. I am disrupted. But I’m glad for it. I know that God is going to use this to do something major in my heart. I can already see it happening. God is giving me a new story to tell.

Let us the, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degredations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our decendents to the thousandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknoledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all it’s dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter- with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens- a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

~Thomas Jefferson in his first inaugural Address