"Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland."
--Isaiah 43:18-19
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
--I Peter 1:3
If I recall correctly, I don't believe that I stopped smiling the whole way home that Wednesday morning. We arrived into town a little after lunch and headed straight to my in-law's house, to see them of course but most of all because Beckett was there. Thank you Jesus for my son...Wow! After the hellos and the hugs we sat down to chat. I was nervous, but at the same time felt led to initiate the inevitable conversation. I told them that I had every intention of getting a good enough job so that Meagan would not have to work and so that she could stay home and take care of Beckett. The next part was no surprise. Her parents basically told me that they were not happy about the move to Texas. Who on earth could blame them for that? They had known me for over 5 years and I had been on drugs the WHOLE time. In their eyes I was much less than a man and rightfully so. Of course they would be mad that someone who had done nothing but fail would want to move their only child and only grandchild 5 hours away. Honestly, they took the whole thing a lot better than I would have...A LOT better. I thank God for that everyday and for them, because they certainly had the right to get me out of their lives and they chose to trust us. I say 'trust us' because I think they are slowly starting to trust me again, but they have trusted Meagan daily.
After we took care of the giant elephant in the room things were back to wonderful and we had an awesome meal that night. The next morning I headed to my parent's house where I picked up my dad and we headed to pick up the U-haul. We spent the rest of the day loading it up with everything that Meagan and I owned minus the furniture she sold. That night (the second night I was home) was my dad's birthday and we celebrated with all of our family, for those who know me you know that means we had about 25 people over. It was great and the next day I took Meagan to work and while she was there I was taking care of all of the last minute stuff.
At noon, I picked her up and we headed to Ft. Worth, me in the U-haul and her in her car. We arrived late that night and stayed with some friends. The next morning I went to see Bobby and we had lunch. After lunch Meagan and I headed by the men's home to pick up a couple of guys to come help us unload the U-haul at the apartment. We spent the next 4 hours unloading and then Nick let us take those guys out to eat as payment. That was a huge blessing for them, but it was for us too.
We spent our first night in the apartment that night, it was great, boxes stacked a mile high. We just went from a 1700 sq. foot house, to an 800 sq. foot apartment and the crazy part is, I didn't care one bit, I had everything I needed and wanted in arm's-length.
We headed back to Benton after church that Sunday so that Meagan could finish her last week of teaching. It was great to hang with my family. We were able to get someone who was very close to me to go to the women's home. They took her down on a Tuesday and I went down the following day. From the start she was not happy to be there. Her main problem was the she had convinced herself that she was alright. You see, like I have said before and like I tried to tell her, drugs were only a small part of the problem. Her problem, like all of us is sin and this was the perfect place for that. "I can't be away from my kids" "this place is not for me" and so on. These were some of the things that she said, also some of the very things that I said. One thing I know is that a person like me and her must hit rock bottom in order to change, and change here especially. In my mind, she had not hit rock bottom, she had tricked herself and by Friday of that week found a way back to Benton. She seems to be doing okay now and I pray for her each day. I pray that if things ever get too bad that God will make a way for her to come back to the women's home.
I did a little teaching at the men's home that week and Meagan arrived that weekend to help me unpack all of the boxes. We made a pretty good dent in the boxes and by Saturday morning I was just getting in the way. I decided I would go fundraising with the guys. It was a great day and by the night time we had most of it unpacked.
We headed back to Benton after church and the next time we would come back to Fort Worth we would have both Beckett and our 75-pound Golden Retriever Duncan. Although things were going great, God still was putting things in my path to strengthen and stretch my faith and he was still nurturing me as well. He was certainly just beginning...
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