Lost in Transition

I have been stuck for a long time in starting this blog because I have not known how to title it. "Our Mickey Mouse Year" didn't seem to quite capture the breadth of it. It wasn't until last week that I began to make the connections with our time here in Orlando as a wilderness time. Why wilderness? Because having left Russia we have yet to arrive to the place where we feel God has called us. We are stuck between the was and the not yet. Like the Israelites, we are between Egypt and the promised land and so I am trying this title for the blog.

Not all wildernesses are alike. The wilderness for the Israelites was a desert. Hot, dusty, with little food or water. Our wilderness is much more lush. Green, fertile, rainy even. We live in an abundance of material comforts and spiritual ones as well. We have a great community with friends in similar transition as neighbors. We have weekly meetings where we are fed and cared for by other staff whose role is to ease our transition and help us grow. Oh, and the Disney passes are pretty cool as well. Yep, we are pretty well provided for, here in our wilderness and there is not much complaining.

That's not to say there aren't challenges to my faith, though. Our apartment in Moscow still hasn't sold and the clock is ticking. If we don't sell it soon there are some pretty serious Russian tax implications. We have seen God provide for us in so many amazing ways in our journey here. I know he can work this out too, and I'm pretty sure he will but I really have to work to avoid panic. Not so easy in this economic climate! I always thought the Israelites were pretty pathetic to whimper at the sight of big scary Canaanites inhabiting their promised land after having seen (actually seen with their own eyes!) God part the Red Sea for them and destroy the Egyptian army. But here I am worrying because our Promised Land seems to have similarly scary giants in our path.

So, here begins our story of this year: "How will we amuse ourselves and grow while we are in transition? Can we avoid wandering and make the most of out time here? How will God clear the path for us to move to our next step?"