Hensley Family Trip Update #1
Kurt Vonnegut said, “When I write, I feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth.”
I think I have begun many a blog post with this same sentiment. If I could just get swept up in paragraph upon paragraph of riveting information and stories in our lives paralleling a montage of an astute writer typing ferociously in films like Finding Forrester… wait. Was there a writing video montage in Finding Forrester? I can’t remember. Anyway, the point is that this whole blogging thing is shockingly hard at times. Especially when your computer’s courser likes to jump all over the place, forcing you to create accidental words like adapdarntationing. Sometimes I wish I just had a MOUSE with a MOUSEPAD like the old days.
Back to the subject at hand and perfectionism be hanged. Our little family is here in lovely and befuddlingly hot Phoenix for the next 3 weeks. We set out on our ministry/support raising trip just about a week ago, and arrived here in Scottsdale on Friday afternoon. We were fortunate enough to stay with our dear friend Danika in Loveland, CO and met a stellar group of people while there. And when I say, “stellar”, I’m talking le-git.
To even our amazement, Zack and I have never actually gone on a ministry trip together. Yeah, imagine that. Not on purpose, mind you. It likely has something to do with the fact that I’m generally either pregnant, or taking care of a little person who has not, up until this trip, taken much of a liking to travel. We’re discovering, though, that we’re a pretty good team and that Natalie is increasingly content wherever she is.
Yesterday we got to connect with some incredibly godly and fiery lovers of Jesus at Evident Life Church in Gilbert. Zack preached a fantastic message on the worthiness of Jesus, and then we got to spend some quality time with our friends the Jones family. Since then, Zack has been driving Natalie and me all over the city, showing us his old haunts (he grew up here), and getting us acquainted with the area. And yes, for those of you who were just about to ask, I did try In and Out today. Five Guys is better, and that’s all I have to say about that.
We have meetings and meals lining up for the next few weeks, and are looking forward to seeing more of our friends as well seeing what the Lord wants to do on this trip. As we shared our story with our new friends in Loveland about all that the Lord had done and is doing in our lives, I could barely contain the well of emotion that bubbled up inside of me. It was as if my heart could have exploded with gratitude as I took a quick mental inventory of what we had just shared. It occurred to me that I get to be married to my best friend, be the mother of incredible kids, minister in a context with other people who make me want to love Jesus more, and meet a whole slew of godly people living hundreds of miles away from us who are determined to walk out the first and second commandment by the grace of God. What in the world?!
The bottom line is that we are so thankful.
