Out of the tomb, and off to Namibia...

Not that long ago, I spent a lot of time in the darkness of tombs. Much of my life was in a whole lot of limbo, like a seed waiting to find some new, fertile ground to thrive, but for a while not much happened. By the grace of God, and on the shoulders of many wonderful friends, family members, colleagues, and therapists, I made it to 2017.... where Resurrection has pretty much been smacking me in the face every. single. day.

After saying goodbye to a well-loved but part-time call with a great colleague, I had just moved to a new town, a new state, a  new apartment, and a new call. Things were busy, but going great! Lent was about to start, to add to the craziness of starting a new call.

Ash Wednesday morning, my world moved again.

I woke up.

I checked my email.

I nearly fell out of bed.

I JUMPED out of bed.

I may have yelled really loudly and scared my cats.

I was one of the top ten finalists in a preaching contest I had completely forgotten that I had entered. At the time, back in October, I was part time and figured there was no good excuse for me NOT to enter. Plus, I really wanted to see a woman preach at this event, and so I had better contribute my part.

Fast forward to the Monday of Holy Week. Much the same as Ash Wednesday:

I woke up, checked my email, and promptly went into shock. More crazy yelling.

Everyone is so thrilled, I'm thrilled, my congregation is thrilled, my family and friends are thrilled....

But....

I'm leaving on an international trip to an African country that I had not planned for...

..in less than 2 weeks now.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To keep my sanity, and to chronicle the before, during, and after adventures and reflections, I'm going to share here, on my blog, which has sort of turned into mainly a sermon blog, which it should not be limited to anyway. So stay tuned for further hi-jinks in "Pastor Lydia Goes to Namibia"!