Arctic Hope

God is awesome and has a great sense of humor too! How so? This week he provided the gift of a place to live in Ft McPherson. He gave us great progress as we flew into Calgary AB. And He reminded me that sometimes my attitude makes me somewhat like an unmarked grave.

So what about about the house? We have had a couple of hopeful but unrealized starts on housing in Ft McPherson. As we departed Orlando we had no place to live other than sharing a bedroom at the Hanthorn’s once we arrived in Ft Mc. Michelle has gone above and beyond any reasonable suppression of her natural nesting instinct. I had, to date, provided no housing for Michelle for the summer.

We had one last reasonable chance at decent housing in Ft Mc. A friend, David Hahn would secure a travel trailer cheap and perform the first part of a relay to get the trailer to us in the north of Canada. One problem, the trailer was sold before we could get an offer on it. Good idea, but no trailer.

So we pray. My son-in-law suggests we contact his mom. She has contacts in Colorado Springs. Since we were traveling through maybe we could check out anything that came up.

Advertise need on Craig’s list. One response. Great trailer. How much? $10,000. Ooooo too much. Can’t afford it. Will you give $5000? Maybe. Let’s check it out. To quote my friend Dave P.,who wholesales these trailers, “Hurry up and take the deal and hope he doesn’t change his mind.” David Hahn is still willing to begin the travel trailer pony express. WhooHooo, we have a place to stay! God is amazing!

So we continue our trip on to Calgary. Fuel won’t feed from the left nacelle tank. Not a crisis, but annoying. Can we get it fixed. Yes, but the part is $1200. Oh well go ahead and order the part. But wait there is the internet. Can we get it from the US? Yes, and it is only $575 plus shipping. Can we get it tomorrow? Yes. God is awesome. We can keep the schedule. REMEMBER, WE MUST KEEP THE SCHEDULE!

The part doesn’t come. But it is in the UPS warehouse in Calgary. I can make this happen. I’ll drive to the warehouse and pick up the part. Traffic is tough. I seem to catch every light red. But finally I arrive at the warehouse. After almost an hour, I find the part is loaded for delivery tomorrow and is at the front of the truck. “You can’t have the part, we’re not unloading the truck. The part should arrive by noon tomorrow. ”

I go back to my room defeated, frustrated, angry and wanting to be left to stew in my own thoughts. Is there a cat around here I can kick? But no, everyone wants to know the story. You see they have been praying for me. Lord, I sense I’ve still got some learning to do on this whole my schedule, Your plan thing.

Next morning I read from Luke 11, where Jesus is sharing some of His harshest condemnations for the religious rulers of his day. He says in verse 44, “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it.”

As I read, the Holy Spirit gently points out, “Yesterday you were like an unmarked grave.” How so Lord? “Well Jim, you look good on the surface, but underneath you are full of death. Learn to work on My schedule and give yours to Me. I will give you peace. If you keep this up, you will have nothing but anger and frustration to offer rather than My love.” Ok Lord, You are right. Holy Spirit, teach me to give my schedule, the upsets, and the opportunities created by those upsets to You.

By the way, I got an opportunity to hear Henry Blackaby teach on the subject of prayer as a result of our delay for a part. Thank you Lord for the encouragement we received.

It’s fixed now. 
I’ve added a link called “Find the Parkers” at the right. We’ll transmit our location each time we move to let you know where we are.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we will get to share in Fairwiew and Worsley, Alberta. Monday it is on to Whitehorse and Wednesday we plan to arrive in Ft McPherson. God has been showing us amazing grace as a result of your prayers. We praise Him for your faithfulness and His goodness.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 7th, 2008 at 19:17 and is filed under Summer of Exploration, Blogroll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.