Jerry & Sarah.com

Today comprised a series of episodes, each that could demand their own blog entry or photo recap. In favor of being brief, here are the highlights:

7:30 a.m. – We shared a blueberry pancake breakfast with out some friends from out of town, during which we were able to talk through some exciting things about future directions.

3:30 p.m. – We’re no the road to visit our friends Nate and Haley, and I feel Jack kicking. Jerry gets to feel him with one hand on my belly, one hand holding his cell phone, and one knee very firmly guiding the steering wheel.

5:30 p.m. – Dinner at a random Chinese restaurant where we enjoyed talking to the staff.

7:45 p.m. – While Jerry is dozing in the passenger seat, we get a flat. As we get out of the car in freezing temps, we realize we’ve stopped where every cow in Indiana does their business. It stinks.

8:10 p.m. – We’re back on the road.

8:11 p.m. – Remember the scene in Tommy Boy where the hood of the car flips up and flies into the windshield while they swerve all over the road? No, I’m not making this up. We just re-enacted it. For some reason, we popped the hood when we stopped and never latched it back.

8:12 p.m. – We’re trying to make the hood fit back where it once went without much success. At least the cracks in the windshield aren’t too bad.

8:45 p.m. – After a stop at the gas station where Jerry was banging car parts back into place with a hammer, we’re back on the road with a donut tire in the back and a bungee cord holding down our contorted car hood.

9:30 p.m. – We made it, and finally got to enjoy the company of friends we love. God really is good to us.

This one is coming to you from Freeway Ford in Houston. We should have been on the road back to Missouri a few hours ago, but if you’ve ever taken a van full of people on a ridiculously long road trip… well, you know things never quite work out the way they should.

This week our plans have changed a lot, as they often do on trips like this. At times, I’ve asked, “Well, if I didn’t get to do what I thought I would be doing, why did I even come?” But, in the midst of it all, we’ve had many conversations that have been really helpful and equipping in ministry back where we live.

A pastor we’ve been working with is doing some simple, yet awesome ministry in some of the roughest neighborhoods, starting after-school programs and Bible studies in apartment complexes. Another ministry we worked with has a pretty long record of helping the homeless.

One question we keep asking ourselves is how we bring help that isn’t just one-time charity, but is also transformational. Not that giving something alone is wrong (I think it is commanded in scripture), but it’s not the end-all of what we should be doing. It doesn’t adequately reflect the gospel if we merely do drive-by handouts.

We’ve had lots of conversations with the team this week about how we can do more to meet physical and spiritual needs in the neediest places of our own community, but there is much to learn. I look forward to continuing the conversation as we keep learning how to better serve those around us.

Jerry and I are in Houston this week with a group of students. Yesterday, we heard a pastor talk about how our disappointments (and changed schedules) are often God’s divine appointments (ie, he has other plans). Today offered ample opportunity for us to see that in motion, as our plans changed several times, and I look forward to sharing later in the week some of the awesome ways a local pastor is walking in obedience and seeing transformation come to some of the worst neighborhoods in the city.

On a not-so-serious note, I’ve heard Jerry talk about “the glory of the taco truck” for quite some time, and today I got to experience the joy for myself. I won’t lie. It was tasty. Rumor is I might have gone back for another helping, but I can neither confirm or deny this report.