Back to work, big changes. Is it God or not?

It was not as hard as I thought to get up at 4 a.m. What was hard was staying awake on the drive to the office. I have not made the commute in almost three weeks and it was more of a struggle this morning than I remember it being in a long time, but I made it. I have some catch-up items to take care of then I will be on my way to Guymon to visit with the ladies there.


It is time for mid-year reviews and the paperwork has to be completed before the 15th of the month. With me out of the office next week it compresses my schedule significantly which is why all three working days of this week are travel days also. It is much more fun when Mama is with me but on these four hour round trips to my offices in Oklahoma it is difficult to include her. She will enjoy a full day with the boys today.

Stopping by the farm yesterday helped to reaffirm our desire to buy it. Grandpa found another property in the area for a really good price so Mama and I went to look at it yesterday – maybe as a Plan B. It was overgrown with mesquite trees with very little open ground. Not what we are looking for at this time; another affirmation that the farm on Van Bebber Road is worth pursuing. Also, as Mama and I looked yesterday she saw some elderberry plants growing next to the house, something I have been researching to grow in the area. It’s fun to pursue a dream.

There are some major changes on the horizon, personally as well as corporately. Mama and I are trying to prepare for them as best we are able. The new leadership I will have to adapt to at work and the renewed hope of relocation to Decatur are two of the changes we are preparing for. Buying the farm and relocating Grandma, Grandpa and Victoria is another biggie. Chase moving to New Jersey to finish his senior year is another one. He is trying to get the paperwork together for getting his driver’s license prior to the move so he can get himself around once he is there; an idea I am struggling with - insurance and experience wise. Finding a good church in the Bowie area is another major change we are working on. Sometimes it seems a little much, but it will be worth the effort to do all the preparation work even if it is some time before we get to implement our plans.

As I was talking to Grandma and Grandpa Kline about the farm I said that even if we are able to buy this farm it may be several years before we really know that it was the Lord who orchestrated the plan. So many times we convince ourselves that God is doing things we are greatly in favor of only to later find out it may not have been Him after all. Only in hindsight, licking our wounds do we realize how many warnings we ignored in our rush to do what we wanted.

I realize that getting approved for a loan is not necessarily God’s approval of our plan; although in our present circumstances, it could certainly lead us to that conclusion. We will only be certain it is God through careful, earnest prayer and, if we get the farm, through thoughtful application of the plan we feel has been given to us as we prepare. God’s blessings are without sorrows – the deep sorrows that come when we realize we have made a serious financial mistake by being led by our own desires. Things can look so right when in fact we have missed God completely.

Time will tell. For now, we press prayerfully, carefully forward.