A Lunch Date

Jeremy and I had lunch with a great couple today. The husband is a professional golfer and just got his card to play on the PGA tour this year. Needless to say, Jeremy and I were both very inquisitive. Being athletes and competitors at heart, we were very interested in seeing what their life was like.

As you can imagine, it is a career that many men, and women I am sure, would covet. He travels the country and gets paid....to golf. :) The great thing is, he and his wife are very humble in their blessing. It took us asking many questions to eek out the "glory" of the sport. Endorsements and hob-nobbing with some of the greats while traveling with your young family in an RV was the extent of the attention they wanted to draw to themselves.

As I sat and listened with a grin spreading ear to ear, thinking of the freedom and adventure that comes with said profession, the question was posed by them, 'how do you do what you do?' This question had come on the heels of an offhand comment the wife had made about things she wished she would have known going into the sport.

And, I sat there incredulous and thought...'how do we do what we do?' The short, contrite, and canned but true answer is: by the grace of God.

Now, if you read this and know the old me and/or despise the church or are indifferent, navigate away from this page. I will not be offended. Heck, I will never know. :)

But, I will tell you the truth. I never, in my 35 years, thought that I would be a pastor's wife hanging out in a church in southern California...and liking it. Scratch that...loving it but only, by the grace of God.

Some days, I want to be a golfer or a professional tennis player. Or, a talk show host or an author. And that is because some days are downright hard. When you see people hurting or see death and sorrow and things you can't explain, you want to get out of the "God business". I want to run away and throw my hands up and fess up to the fact that I really don't have any answers, most of the time. I would like to rely on my swing or my skills and hop in an RV. But, that is for them, and this is for me.

None are greater. But, I sat at lunch today and in a split moment of time God made me truly content to be who I am and where I am at. My prayer is that for you, if you have read this far: you would be content in your spot, in your job, in this season; exactly where God has positioned you to be.

A Change of Plans

14 years ago, I was in college with lots of "plans". I was in my third year of school and working toward my major. The goal was to be a teacher and my minor was Spanish thinking it would be a great idea to be able to teach English as a second language. I had a lofty idea that I would study abroad in Spain my junior summer.

Well, all the plans changed. About a week before spring break I found out I was pregnant. Apparently all of the bargains I had made with God the week prior had fell on deaf ears and I was experiencing the consequences of my actions.

As my world "fell apart" in that moment, my biggest concern was disappointing my mom. She had me when she was 18 and the warnings of the struggle of being a young mother always hung in the back of my mind. At the same time, the wrath of my father, who was the primary source of the monetary portion of my education, coupled with the shaky relationship of my now husband, Jeremy resulted in the most confusing and tumultuous time of my life.

I finished out the school year (with excellent grades, I might add) and Jeremy and I made the decision to move to Kansas City. He had an opportunity to open the first Gateway Country Store there and I thought it would be a good idea to separate myself as far from my old life as possible. The months that followed were extremely difficult. We were young and I was bitter. Jeremy worked long hours and I had a full time job at Payless Shoes. I was always so exhausted, I would take naps in the men's size 12 shoe aisle, sitting on the floor with my head on one of those foot rest thingy's. I was SO not looking forward to having a baby or being a mother.

On October 31st, I was induced into labor due to Bells palsy, (a whole other blog post) and gave birth to an 8lb.10oz. baby boy. It was definitely a game changer.

Yesterday, my baby boy Noah Blue McGinty, celebrated his 14th birthday. It has been 14 years of joy, pain, growing and learning. Now, as I walk beside my now 150lb. 5'9" child, I know that my life didn't really fall apart, it fell together. I truly thank God that my plans did change.