I did what?

I had a moment walking through my grocery store tonight. I have these moments from time to time. All of a sudden, I'll stop and think, "Where am I? Oh yeah, Texas. We moved to Texas...we did WHAT?!? Who am I??"

Six months later, I still have moments of disbelief that we actually did this thing, moving across country. For those of you who know me well, this is pretty crazy. But here we are, over a thousand miles from anything familiar, and it's...good.

Tonight, after that brief almost-panic moment, I considered what it took to get us here. If you've ever considered moving across country, I should tell you now: it is probably the most expensive thing you will ever do. Not just financially, although that is a doozy. Picking up and moving your life to a new place carries a heavy emotional cost. You leave your comfort zone in every sense of the term. You give up, in a way, the relationships that have taken years to grow and that you've come to rely on as a source of life and joy. You whittle everything in your life down to the very basics. In our situation, the basics became me, Travis, and God. That's about it.

That's a very, very difficult thing. It has not been an easy road. But anytime we've dealt with the lows of the journey, we remind ourselves of another cost...the cost of not doing this.

When we considered a move, the main selling point (at least, for me) was the idea that, if we didn't go, one day I'd be looking back on my life and wondering, "What if? What if we had had enough courage to experience a life-changing adventure?"

The cost of that thought, later in life, was too expensive for us. We didn't want to reach the end of our lives, wondering what we missed by not stepping out in faith. That was enough to propel us into the unknown.

And the grace that has met us at every step...oh, the grace. Turns out our circle of friends that we left behind is still very much a part of our lives. For some reason, I expected that we'd be forgotten, that our place would be covered over as soon as we left. But some friendships seem to easily span 1200 miles, and thank God those friends are ours. (Side note: care packages are FUN!)

In moving, we found out there are some great people everywhere. We made friends, and realized that people had been praying for us to come before they even knew our names. We have spaces to fill here, Sarah-and-Travis-sized spaces that only God could have designed. It's been kind of crazy, in all the best ways.

And those people, whom six months ago I couldn't imagine, have filled spots in our lives that we prayed for. I can't imagine my life without these folks now, nor do I want to. So many surprises this side of the Mississippi.

So, when I stop and think, "What did I DO?!?", and the feeling of missing our Charleston community passes, the next thought that comes is one of quiet confidence:

"Exactly the right thing."