Wendy and I cuddled in bed last night. The light was still on. It was that moment when you breathe a deep sigh at the finish line of the day.
"It’s been a good day," Wendy said.
"I feel full," I responded. Though we’d eaten way too much in the course of the day, I wasn’t speaking in purely physical terms. Philemon 7 flitted through my brain…
"Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints."
In the morning, Wendy, Taylor and I drove over to Compassion International’s headquarters. Within the last month or two I’d learned that my college suitemate, Tim Chambers, worked in the IT department at Compassion. After 20 years, it was time for a reunion. Wendy and I support a Compassion child and Taylor supports another. It was great to get a tour and hear all that Compassion is doing to address poverty in the lives of over a million children world-wide.
It was also great to reconnect with Tim. It’s amazing to think that we were friends when we were Taylor’s age, and to recollect all of the fun we had. On the drive to Tim’s house to pick up his wife and darling daughter for lunch, Tim turned himself around and addressed Taylor. He told her about sitting in class with me back at Judson College. Bored with the lecture, I was sketching a picture of Jesus on the cross (I have no recollection of this). I gave the sketch to Tim and he put it in his Bible. It’s still there to this day. Tim shared with Taylor how, over the past 20 years, whenever he ran across that sketch in his Bible he would pray for me. He prayed that Jesus would be the center of my life and that His fruit would be evident. Tim began to choke up as he turned himself completely around to look at Taylor. "Meeting you and seeing what God is doing in your life, I realize that you are the answer to all those prayers," Tim said.
We had a wonderful lunch with Tim and his family (despite the fact that the waiter spilled the entire tray of drinks all over us). Taylor was invited to the Chambers’ house whenever she wanted to visit for a home cooked meal and a place to get away. I left lunch determined that it will not be another 20 years before I reconnect with Tim again.
Later in the afternoon we visited our friends Mike and Chris Treneer (pictured) who had just returned from Kenya. True to their British hospitality, Chris served us afternoon tea. We sat and visited in their living room. The Treneers have been involved in the Navigators’ work for over 30 years and spent 16 of those years in Kenya. Mike and Chris were a huge encouragement to Taylor and we thorougly enjoyed catching up. We watched the deer eating crab apples off the tree in their back yard and got to catch up on all that was going on with the Navigators world-wide as well as the Treneer’s children and grand children. As our time together drew to a close, Mike gathered us together to pray over Taylor.
Brett and Micki took us out to dinner in the evening. The restaurant gave free muffins to new visitors, so Brett made sure to tell our server that we had never been there before. The server asked if we were moving to town and we explained that Taylor was.
"What are you doing?" the server asked.
"I’m going to YWAM," Taylor said.
"OH!" the server exclaimed, telling us that she was a children’s leader in her church and really familiar with what Taylor was doing. "I’ll be praying for you," our server told Taylor.
The evening was spent around the Strait’s kitchen table. We laughed and chatted and shared our favorite youtube videos with each other. We heard all about the Strait’s year in Honduras, their first year in Colorado Springs, and we talked about Taylor’s impending adventure. We ended our evening praying for each other and commissioning Taylor to the work ahead of her.
Laying in bed, I finally reached over to turn out the light. Heart refreshed, I fell into a contented sleep.