Not ten days ago, we were still dealing with temperatures in the low to mid 30s (celcius), as an honest to goodness wave of Indian Summer had hit us straight between the eyes.

The past couple of days, on the other hand…. 18˚C (64˚F), blustery wind & periods of rain. It’s hard to complain about the rain because things have been parched dry, but then, a gradual shift would’ve been a bit easier to digest.

I missed last week, so I’ll work my way back a bit as well.

Phone Calls from Friends

Calls out of nowhere from friends do the heart good.

I met Brent in University. We hadn’t travelled in the same circles of friends up to that point but our paths crossed at the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship group on my campus. Here was a young man who had the world by the tail. He was confident and, he played golf! (definitely a cut above!) We weren’t close friends at that point but at one point he hit a rough patch and the Lord both put it on my heart and created a few opportunities for us to connect in spiritually meaningful ways.

Many years later, our paths would cross again. We’d both moved out of the denominations we’d grown up in and found ourselves in the United Pentecostal Church, sharing a common experience that wasn’t readily accepted in traditional circles. We also shared a love for French; He became a teacher in the public school system and I was teaching at a post-secondary level. We were both very involved in our local churches, and our paths would cross from time to time at church conferences and, more recently, when we’ve been home.

The last time we saw each other was at Sully’s ice cream parlor, in the historic Sussex train station, in 2019. That’s when this picture of us was taken. (If you make it to Sussex and have a hankering for ice cream… they serve up healthy portions – I highly recommend it!)

The last time we spoke was a week ago Thursday, by phone. It was less a conversation and more a case of me listening. Have you ever had one of those conversations where you knew God was using that other person to speak directly to you, personally, on a deep level? God sent me mail and he was reading it, so to speak.

Tunnel Vision

The second picture I’ll share is one that I took with Sophie, last week, at Angles-sur-l’Anglin. We got a chance (first time in 5 1/2 years) to visit the ruins of the 12th century baronial fortress there. The photo was taken looking out one of the defense holes, down to the village below, and it reminded me of the notion of tunnel vision:

You can see something ahead but, not only does it appear distant, you don’t see a clear path to get there.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve felt that here… stuck in a tunnel. Back is not an option, but the end in sight doesn’t seem to be getting much closer.

That’s when it’s good to have phone calls from praying friends; they’ve been in touch with God and can speak clearly into your life, despite knowing few, if any, of the situational details specifically.

The Lord is good folks…
Find a praying friend.
(They help you see beyond the walls of the tunnel.)