Sunday, January 24, 2010

Day 14 - Rainy Night in Georgia

I remember the old Brooke Benton song “Rainey Night in Georgia”. I loved that song, although it did leave me sometimes with a wistful feeling, a longing for home. I remember listening to it in the dry desert of Lubbock Texas in pilot training, I would long to see the tall pine trees, and the foggy wet nights, much like tonight, I don’t know why I thought of that song, except that’s pretty much how I feel tonight. Longing for something that’s far, far away. Except this time I can’t get it back. Tonight in worship I could almost see Julia next to me worshiping. It was so good, and yet so hard. I’ve felt that deep longing since. But even with the deep longing, things are OK. I watched football and ate a homemade fried apple pie (thanks Lynn).

Today was a full, interesting and good day overall. I went to Bethel Atlanta this morning to see Danny Silk. Bud and Cathy went with me. We had to take separate cars because I had to stay down south for the after noon. Bud rode with me, and Cathy followed. It was raining a little, and we were on I 285 when what had been an uneventful morning suddenly became very interesting. I had a blowout on my left rear tire. I was able to maintain control of the Envoy and get all the way from the left lane to the right emergency lane. We got stopped, and then got out to see about changing the tire. Why can’t you have a flat tire when it’s dry and on a mice slow road. Mo, you always have a flat in the rain and have cars going 80 miles per hour five feet away from you. Now the envoy is 6 years old. I have never had to change one of the tires. The spare is the original and I find myself praying that it has air in it. The hardest part about changing the tire was figuring out how to get the tire out from under the car. To do that we had to find out where all the jack and tire tools were hidden. I’m glad Bud was there because it took both of us reading and rereading the instructions to figure out how to do it. It took about thirty to forty-five minutes, but we got it done, and there was air in the tire. That’s still amazing to me!

We made it to church about 20 minutes late, not too bad considering. It was great to see everyone down there, and Danny’s message was great. I would up staying and talking to people for about thirty minutes, and then I went to see Dad.

Dad and I had a good visit until we had to go to the funeral home. That wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I said hello to all the family, spoke to all the people that I knew and then left. I really wanted to get back to RiverStone for worship. The presence of God was on both services today. Both churches are going after His presence and it is good to see. Julia liked tonight, I’m sure of that. I know that part of the Perfect justice that I am seeking from God is for Him to use Julia’s death as a catalyst to propel us more into His presence. I know that is coming true for me, because I constantly feel His manifest presence. That didn’t use to be the case. My desire is to go farther and faster than I ever thought possible. We have to dream BIG, bigger than Marietta, bigger than Atlanta, bigger than Georgia. You get it; we need a worldwide vision of what He wants to do with us. I am asking God for that BIG dream. It is a time for asking big. It is a time for declaring what we see in Heaven and bringing it here on earth. I am committed to going for everything I can get, and I’m looking for those who want to join me. Destiny is given to those who take it. So lets take it.

It's funny. As I wrote this tonight my deep sense of loss that I had as I started has lifted. It has been replaced by a since of her live for me, and His love for me. I guess this blog is really helping me.

4 comments:

  1. Your blog is so inspiring. It's helping me grow - and others too. Thank you for being so transparent.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, as always, Tom. The Lord is using Julia's death and your candidness to draw others closer to Himself.

    ReplyDelete
  3. keep blogging, this seed with bear much fruit.

    ReplyDelete
  4. awesome!! yes, it is time to dream BIG and run after it...that's what i always saw you and mrs. roan doing :)

    ReplyDelete