Mustard seeds are tiny lil' boogers.
In less than one week the Gomez family will be in their new home. We're all trying to get used to that idea...admittedly sometimes Amy and I feel a sense of relief...but there is also a sense of remorse.
I think we've accomplished a great deal, but we're still very unsure that we have done all we can to prepare this family to "go it alone." It's disappointing. At times I feel like we should have been able to achieve more.
To be honest, I came to grips with my frustration by remembering mustard seeds and the time when our daughter Tiffany - you know the one at Harvard - spent a semester studying in England. It was like an MTV "Real World" experience...literally. She moved into a house in another country knowing no one. She was sharing a home with a bunch of other college kids, all of whom were strangers. The house was also full of strange values many of which conflicted with her own.
At first, Tiffany felt out of place - in part because she sensed that God "must have" put her there to minister to these kids, to help them find Christ - but she wasn't sure even how to talk to them...much less relate to them on a level where they could have serious discussions about religion.
I remember early on sending her an email reminding her that once upon a time I was one of those kids with far different values, and I changed. It took many years, but God got through to me...eventually. I don't know if my email made it any easier for Tiffany but today it's helping me cope with the preparations for this latest transition in our lives.
God wasn't asking Tiffany to convert anyone. He was asking her to "walk the walk."
God and time would take care of the rest.
She was a mustard seed.
I don't know how the kids she spent that semester with developed but I do know that Tiffany changed radically. She became a more independent person who was even more dependent on God. Today she is a fearless young woman to be reckoned with...she has friends of all stripes - believers and non-believers - and she shares her beliefs proudly.
Tomorrow we'll hold our "house warming shower" for the Gomez family at church and then next Friday our plan is to move them from our house into their new home.
Lee has a foundation of faith. God has taken care of her and her family thus far and she believes He will see them through future storms that are no doubt on the horizon.
I realized today that perhaps God's intent all along was not for Amy and I to change the Gomez family, but rather it was for this experience to change us.
Mustard seeds...they sure are tiny lil' boogers.
