Reflecting one year later -- October 18 & 19

One year ago a rather unexpected turn in the road started.  June and I were in the car on our way to Dulles airport -- rather than the closer and much more user friendly and familiar BWI airport.  June was upset that I was headed out on another trip and upset that she needed to take me to the airport; not just the airport but hard to get to traffic congested Dulles!  June told me how she was really feeling about this arrangement of living between Baltimore and Washington D C and me working part of the week out of an office in PA and allowing my ministry commitments to ooze across boundaries and absorb almost all of my energy.  It was not pretty, not very complimentary to me--I did not feel like a very good husband, and I am afraid June would have rightly agreed.

I got on the plane to Wales with a heavy heart.  Enroute, as is my custom, I journaled. "God, please help me, what should I do?" I wrote.  I was aware the I needed to take June's cry seriously.  And I knew that my commitment was for my marriage to survive and grow in increasing health.  If necessary I would step out of my role with the mission I worked in as the international director.  But as I recall from the vantage point now, I was ready to do it, if she really said that was what was necessary.  I was ready to sacrifice if she knew I was sacrificing--if June was unable to handle this life we had been living the past two years since returning from Hong Kong.  OK let me say it; if she was weak I could be strong and sacrifice.

Arriving in Wales the morning of the 19th I wrote a prayer asking God to not let us give way to despair but to pursue God's purpose for us.  I was conscious that I was entering a land where a very significant revival had flamed into existence that is still referenced today as a great move of God.  And so I wrote: "Lord, here in Wales is there a revival you will spring forth in my life? Please?

I was about to get my world rocked that would put its finger on what needed to transform within me much more than June.  It would take 49 weeks to move into the start of the new season which means it is just starting this month.

New ministry sphere: as a pastor rather than a mission director.  As a bishop with a focus in a region with global connections rather than as a global leader with some local connections.  But that is getting ahead of the story.

--Glenn Kauffman