Open Space

There is something to be said about open space. A place where you can come and enjoy being outside, the way God intended it to be. Where the grass is natural and hasn't been cut. Where the tree branches are not trimmed and grow which ever direction they would like. Where flowers pop out of the ground where ever they want. Where birds sing. And you cannot hear even the faintest reminder of the world outside.

I found that today. Every Wednesday I drive to my small group and pass by a park. Situated just on the outside of the city limits of Sugar Land, this park is owned by the City of Houston. Even from the entrance I knew it had to be something beautiful. It couldn't be tamed or manicured or cut with a mower.

Leaving the library this afternoon I knew that I couldn't just go back and sit in my apartment. 80 degrees and blue skies prevented me from doing anything but finding a beautiful place to enjoy outside.

I knew my destination as I turned onto Highway 6….Cullinan Park on the outskirts of Sugar Land. I think I would have loved to meet the woman that donated the park. On a plaque near the beginning of the park it says donated as "a place of beauty and peacefulness in this city" I'm not sure she knew how much that would mean as the everything around this park continues to grow into a complete and total metropolitan area.


The beginning of the park takes you out on a boardwalk over a beautiful pond, you can fish, you can sightsee, you can sit. You can watch the ducks and birds play. Though I loved this part of the park I wondered there had to be more to this gorgeous park than just the pond. And I found it, a path leading into this beautiful and untamed open space.


I wanted to kiss the ground. I seriously wondered if I had moved to a part of the world that had no open space, but then just like in everything else God provides. So I walked for probably about 15 minutes down this trail and I wished I had tennis shoes on and not flip flops but still I was taking it all in. The smells, the birds, the trees.

There is something about open space that makes me feel closer to God. I've always said I would love to live out in the middle of no where and everyday I spend in the Houston-Sugar Land area I realize that is so very true. I'm not made for the city. I wasn't designed to live where there are more people than trees. I was designed to live in places like this. Where trees grow where ever they would like, where you can hear the birds and not the bustle of traffic. I was made for a place that you can hear nothing but nature, that you can walk for hours on a dirt path and never see the same things twice.

While I have no idea if I will ever get the chance to live in my middle of no where again, I know that I have found a little bit of heaven out there all the way in South Texas.

Everyday

Everyday in Texas is an adventure. It's an adventure with the people, with places, with my emotions. I've been in Texas a little over a month ago and there are times when I find myself literally stopping to think, wait, How did I really end up here?

I feel like in the scheme of things my life has been a HUGE blur since the middle of January. Though I have been an active participant I feel as at times that I was watching someone else star in my life, I was watching someone else make decisions and then all of a sudden here I am in South Texas.

I don't want to this post to sound like a pity party and for everyone to wonder why I'm scared now when I was the one practically running out of California. I'm just trying to understand this journey myself. There are days when I am perfectly fine and can feel God speaking love and truth into my life and saying this is exactly where I am supposed to be. And then there are other days when I miss California with every being and every fiber of my body.

Today in church our pastor talked about how when opportunities are presented to you (and they may be amazing!) and then when you take that opportunity, other options are taken off the table. I realized that many options were taken off the table when I decided to walk through this door that God opened for me. It meant leaving people behind, not being able to drive home at the drop of the hat or see those that I love on monthly basis. But with closed doors in one place comes a new happiness in others.

And that happiness comes from the "God-hard" not from the "Human Easy". This journey to South Texas has been filled with every part of God-hard. The road trip out here was "human-easy". Making the decision after 7 months of unemployment was "human-easy". But staying here and realizing I made a promise to God and to those that hired me was "God-hard". I have come to realize over the last few weeks that I made this journey for God. That God opened this door for me and I had to have enough faith to step out of my "bubble" and come to a place that is completely different from everything I have ever known.

But that is the beauty in everyday in South Texas. I have had some amazing moments so far, here are just a few:

1. My small group

I joined a ladies 25-35 year old small group and haven't looked back. I've told them before that I would probably packed up my car and been back to California if I hadn't forged such a close bond with them in such a short time. They were inviting, loving, welcoming, and caring. An amazing, amazing group of women that I am proud to call my friends.

2. Drive

Ya'll know how much I loved Stretch at my church in Reedley and tonight I got the chance to check out high school ministry at my church here in Sugar Land. It's called Drive. And I loved it. The youth pastor said something that touched my heart: "We prayed for leadership, and look at this, you drop in from California" I remember when I left Reedley my fellow high school ministry leaders wrote in my good bye card: BE BOLD EXTEND HIS KINGDOM. I am trying so very hard and I pray that God can use me in any fashion of high school ministry here in Sugar Land.

3. My job

I never realized how much I truly have found my calling until I got the chance to do it again. When I wasn't working it was always in the back of my head that maybe I loved it so much because I wasn't doing it anymore. But I love it because it truly makes me feel alive. It truly makes me feel like I am giving back to people in amazing ways. It's different from Reedley but in a good way. I'm serving people in a different way and for that I am grateful.

Like I said everyday in Texas is an adventure :)