Hope For the Hopeless: It did not make sense, but God said move, so we did

It is funny how we get ideas in our heads and think that we know better than God does. When we pray, we typically tell Him what to do. We pray things like, heal this sickness, I do not want to lose this boy or girl I am dating, I need to make more money, and so on. One of my favorites “Bless this food to nourish my body, in Jesus name amen!” As if, God is going to take your extra large fast food high fat, high calorie meal and turn it into manna. I think not. A huge thing we are always telling God is this, where we want to and need to go. God does not work that way. He did not do it in the Old Testament with the Israelites, and He did not do it in the New Testament either. As a matter of fact, He pretty much leads people to places that just do not make sense. The Israelites He led into the desert. His disciples he always said come follow me. He never said, “Hey guys, can I come with you and make you disciples.” He leads us to some of the most unlikely places that simply just do not make sense. That is until we get there and we can look back. Hindsight is always 20/20.

1992, was the year our oldest daughter Kenzie was born. Having a child really makes you look at things from a different perspective. We faced Hurricane Andrew just a few days after she was born. That will open your eyes and make you consider a safer place to live in order to protect your family from devastation. But something else caught my attention even more. I was working for Broward County Fire Rescue during that time, and I began to notice something even more disturbing. I was witnessing firsthand the escalating rate of crime, drug trafficking, gang violence, and domestic abuse. We were living in a place that was becoming a war zone. Home robberies were becoming more common, Crack cocaine and other drug related incidents were on the rise, drive by shootings and other gang related violence was occurring daily and domestic abuse was everywhere. The overwhelming thought; “This is no place to raise a child”, consumed our minds daily. We knew it was time to go somewhere, but where?

This is a picture I took in New Orleans

It is damage from Hurricane Katrina

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

The summer of 1993, we felt God leading us to a small town in Arkansas. Carri had family living there, so we went for a visit. While visiting the area we also searched for jobs. Carri seemed to be able to find a job everywhere she went. Me, I could not find a job for nothing. I was very discouraged because I felt God was leading us to Arkansas. If He was leading us there, then why could I not find a job? Carri’s income was certainly not going to be enough. We were going to need both our incomes in order to just make ends meet. I went back a couple times to the local ambulance services and even begged to wash tires. Nothing, no one was hiring.

Carri and I spent a few sleepless nights just praying and asking for God’s direction and a sign. All He would give us is the burden within our hearts to move. There was no other sign. Arkansas that is where He was leading us. Move to Arkansas, with no job except Carri’s. Lose half our income and no other way to pay or bills or make ends meet. Oh and spend all we have to move there and have nothing left when we arrived. It did not make sense, but God said move, so we did. A few weeks later, we were moving into the basement of Carri’s aunt and uncle’s house with our 1-year-old baby.

What we did not know then is what God was going to do with us once we arrived. I am certain for one, God was looking for obedience. Obedience is hard especially when it makes no sense and it does not seem rational. But God knew our needs and He provided. Within two weeks, I had a full time job and a few months later, I was managing an ambulance service making more money than I ever dreamed. I no longer have that job, that is another story. Money is not everything.

That is just the beginning. I encourage you to continue reading my Blog posts. You will see how God has taken us from where we were to where we are today. Moving to Arkansas without a job, that was easy compared to what He had planned for us after we moved.