Who would have thought?

Paul was kind of down on Friday.  The mounting pressures of two jobs plus pastoring plus being a father of 7 were catching up to him and he called me late that morning.  I could hear the frustration in his voice as he related some of his concerns to me.

"Paul.  You need to get away for a couple of days to hear from God and to clear your head" I replied to him.  He has done this several times in the past and he always comes back refreshed and reenergized.  We have a rustic, rural Christian camp about 30 minutes from our home and he usually gets away there, away from all distraction of computer and phone and family and friends.

"I know" he said, "but my schedule is so busy these next few weeks, I don't know how I could manage it."

I told him he needed to do it, and we left it at that.

An hour later I got another phone call from a very different sounding Paul.

"Remember how you said I needed to get away?"  he started with.  Hmmmm.  I wondered where this was going.  "Well, I just got a crazy phone call.  Listen to this..."

He went on to tell me that one of his closest friends had an extra ticket on a 7 day Carribean cruise.  This cruise was a "Defending Your Faith Apologetics" cruise with 21 hours of teachings from some top preachers.  His friend had bought a ticket for someone else and that someone else cancelled at the last minute and he was offering to Paul the extra ticket, as a gift.

Whaaaatt??  That was not what I meant when I said he needed to get away.  I meant rural, rustic Camp Eunice, not a plush luxiourious Carribean cruise!  I swallowed my pride and asked him what he was going to do.

"Well, I would have to leave on Sunday and I have lots of shifts at the funeral home next week plus lots of stuff for church.  What do you think I should do??"  he said.

"If it was me, I'd do whatever I had to to make it happen. How often do you get offered an all expenses paid cruise with your best friend and alot of teaching/preaching??"  I told him.

And he did it.  He talked to everyone, got everything taken care of, and left a few hours ago to drive to Galvaston TX so he can set sail tomorrow for 7 days.

This was a gift from God to my husband.  He confirmed it left and right.  He even provided spending money for Paul that didn't come out of our bank account.

My prayer is that Paul comes back refreshed and recharged and with his head clear.  I'm happy that he can go and that God has blessed him so abundantly.