The Day II

This is part two of The Day I

So, the flight was awesome. Usually, Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) lessons are very indepth, but not very personal. I don't really know how to explain this, it's just how I feel. Anyway, it seemed that so many of the passages spoke directly to me. They either dealt with me and what I was doing or with Mike and Lauren. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it...

When I arrived at John Wayne airport, my friend Steve Basden called me from Adventures In Missions (AIM). He told me that they had spent their morning devotional time covering me in prayer and that he wanted to pray the armor of God over me. So, while I stood outside in the California air, he prayed for me from 2,000 miles away. It was great to know that I had people praying for me all over the US, but especially good to know that my brothers and sisters at AIM were taking it to the Lord and doing battle in the spirit.

My oldest brother, Ken, picked me up and we drove off. He had driven fifty miles just to take me to Mission Viejo and drop me off - what a man! While he drove, we talked about the situation and then, when he dropped me off, he prayed for me. It seems like this is much that I can't explain about this experience: my feelings as I prepared, the fervency with which I prayed, my time with God on the plane, my feelings as my oldest brother prayed for me and blessed me. He's prayed for me before, but never like this. I felt like I was being sent into battle with everything I needed.

He dropped me off at Mike's work and I went in with my rolling suitcase following behind me. Mike helped with marketing in a small call center and, therefore, had a cube all to himself (but no window, alas). When I got to his cube, I was informed that he was in a meeting. I sat down, checked my email, and started to play with the stuff on his desk. After about ten minutes, he showed up. He just stood there and kind of stared at me, then said my name. I could tell he was surprised...

I told him I wanted to take him to lunch, if that was OK, and that I needed a place to stay for a few days. He said I could stay at his place (what a nice guy). Mike's boss knew that I was in from out of town, so he let Mike take off a little early for lunch. We went to some Mexican place - a California Mexican place. (If this doesn't mean anything to you, don't worry about it. The food was good.)

It's important for me to reiterate a point here; I rarely listen to what people are saying. I'm usually planning my next move or trying to analyze what they're saying so I can figure out what they really mean. This is not good. The whole way to California and all the time I was there, God kept telling me to be quiet and listen. To let Mike and Lauren talk and not make judgements of them. Throughout the entire time I was there, I made a concerted effort to not speak about important issues until I felt released by God to do so. Sorry if this freaks you out, but that doesn't change anything.

Neither one of us figured we had a much time for chit-chat, so we got right to the point. He said that it took him about thirty seconds to figure out why I was there, and I asked him not to be upset with his sister for telling me. I didn't figure he would be, he's just not that kind of guy, but I wanted to be sure.

I don't remember much of what we said. I just remember trying to listen to him without all that garbage in my head. It was obvious that he didn't know what to do. While I was trying not to make any judgements (or smack him in the head - I've know this boy since he was six), he said that he knew I thought abortion was wrong and he didn't like it either, but he didn't know what else to do. They had gone to get some counseling at PP (I refuse to name them, as they might get some linkage from it), and had, of course, been counseled to get an abortion. He spoke about how this was going to put a serious damper on his life and plans for the future. This is where God's hold on my tongue was a very good thing. Rather than saying what I really wanted to say, I said "On Friday, your life will be changed, no matter what you do. It'll either be changed with a baby or without, but you'll never be the same person after that day." As it turns out, he said this was one of the statements I made that really made him think about what he was doing.

Next, a trip to Lauren's house...