Preacher boys, A good night’s sleep, Home?

We got back to New Jersey in time to unload the car and make it to the evening service at church. It was Teen Takeover at Somerset Bible Baptist. Several of the young teenage boys in the church had been asked to prepare a sermon for the event. There were four in all and they each did a good job on the sermon-ette they gave. I am glad we made it even though we were worn out.
The third boy to deliver his thoughts looked at his fellow preacher boys and asked, “Did you guys feel like your heart was about to explode?” But he carried on and read a scripture, asked a couple of piercing question and began to pray. When he lifted his head after the prayer our youth pastor began walking up to the platform thinking he was done. He stopped, quite embarrassed and asked, “You done?” The poor young man at the pulpit froze and stared wide eyes at him. “You’re not done?” our youth pastor asked. The younger preacher-in-practice made only the slightest wiggle of his head from side-to-side to indicate that he was indeed not done. Both were now quite red faced. “Well, then, preach on.” And after the laughter died down he did just that.
I realized when Mama and I got back that I preferred the drive straight through I had made with Seth. It actually seemed like less hours in the car and the trip seemed to be over so fast. I will have to try that with Mama some time to see what she thinks.
I also realized when we got back to our own bed how poorly I had been sleeping at my daughter’s house. There was nothing wrong with the accommodations and my daughter and her husband are always very gracious hosts but I worry that the daybed I usually sleep on is not built for someone my size and may not hold up.
I guess Mama and I just like our own bed. We both slept very soundly and were it not for the fact that we had to get up early to meet Jake and his mom, we probably would have slept much longer. But we got a full six or seven hours of sound sleep; more than on many of the previous nights. That having been said, I would not trade those nights for anything.
As we crossed the state line into New Jersey I realized that we were near our destination, but I did not feel like we were home. It is where we live and work, where we go to church, but a strong sense of disappointment about not being able to move to Hot Springs set in and it has been hard to shake. Going to work on Monday evening only reinforced the overall mood.
God is still blessing us here. There is still work to do. We are needed by the church and many of the families we regularly interact with, but there are still those far away from us who need us also; those for whom we would like to be more available. It is hard to resettle into the daily and weekly grind of our lives here when we were so close to what our hearts longed for. The real blessing and answer to our prayers for direction is that God gave us a very clear answer regarding the job change. It was “No.”
I don’t like that answer any more than my kids do.