How We Got There: Part I

Last week I wrote about where we’d live if we could live anywhere we would like. The answer was England. In that post I wrote, “... and move back across the Atlantic.” We did live in England from December 1996 to September 1999, and I dare say, it was some of the happiest times of our lives. Mind you, life is still grand, but these particular years were special in our lives. I said last week that I would share what got us to England. Here is that story.

It is a spiritual journey.

Gerrie and I grew up in two different faith denominations. Each had those elements that were similar and those that were distinctly different. Yet, both were missionary sending denominations. This meant that there would be at least two times each year that the worship service was given over for a missionary to come and share their experiences and tell what God was doing in the areas that they served. One occasion was usually focused on foreign missions and the other on home missions. 

Gerrie and I also had different ways of reacting to these messages. She has shared with me that she would always go forward when the call went out to those who felt called to serve in missions. I, on the other hand, while certainly feeling moved to serve, would be the person digging their fingers into the church pew to prevent taking that step down the aisle. The desire was there but the commitment was lacking. Plus, there was a very good chance that neither of parents would allow me to leave grade school or high school to join the foreign mission corps.

Life goes on. Gerrie is living her life and I am living mine. We eventually meet, fall in love, get married and then settle in to living our life together. We had our home, good jobs, were active in our church and living the quiet suburban life in our little house. Then, little things began to happen.

First, I was involved in a spiritual retreat weekend in the early 90s. From that experience I had a profound sense that God was leading me to use some of the talents He has blessed me with to tell His story and share His gospel. This was a major revelation to me and led to Gerrie and I taking a big first step: my early retirement. I then spent a few years doing what I could musically and artistically to serve the Lord. It was not always easy and my success was moderate at best, but there has never been a moment of regret for us making this move. We became more active in our church and I like to think our marriage became stronger with the pressure of my corporate life behind us and a new world of possibilities before us.

Then a few years later, Gerrie accompanied our church youth group on a one week mission trip to Kansas to work among the Prairie Band of the Potawatomi Nation. What an incredible week this was for both of us. For Gerrie, she was actually there having the experience, working with the indians, working with our youth, and having a tremendous time. For me, I would rush home from work so that I would not miss her telephone call. I was eager to hear what happened that day, what new joy she felt, what God was doing and so forth. I held to every word she was saying and wishing that I somehow could have been there. As her week started to wind down and she was preparing to come home our conversation started to take a different tone. Could this, could missions, be in our future?

This mission trip also introduced us to an organization called Youth With A Mission, sometimes known simply as YWAM. It was the local mission base that organized and facilitated the trip that Gerrie and the youth participated in. While on the trip she was able to find out about the organization. One thing that she found out is that you could serve with Youth With A Mission in either a short term or long term capacity. It could be for a week or two, as was the case with her mission to Kansas, it could be for three to six months, or it could be become life commitment. They were (and are) a mission training and mission sending organization that is international and interdenominational. They also do not look upon someone having been previously divorced and remarried as a fault that would prevent the person or couple from serving God. This was Gerrie and I. With Youth With A Mission we could begin seriously praying and seeking God for a life in missions that we felt called to in our childhoods. The obstacles of our past mistakes were removed and we saw a way opened to a deeper commitment to our God and to serving Him.

This was in the summer of 1995.

As it is with most journey's, ours is one with several steps. This is but the beginning. Next week we'll continue with the 1995 and the road that led us to arrive in England a few days before Christmas 1996.

Greg