My people will live in peaceful dwelling places,
in secure homes,
in undisturbed places of rest. – Isaiah 32:18
It’s that time again when I share a story from my upcoming memoir. Today I have two. The section I wanted to read to you is a little long so I have recorded it in two parts.
The year is 1996 and Rebekah and I are moving to Brandon from Pensacola after 14 very happy and productive years with Trinity Presbyterian Church in Cordova Park.
The story begins in the middle of driving across Escambia Bay on Interstate 10 with our family of four heading east with our longtime home falling out of view in the rearview mirror: “
Fourteen years,” I write. “It is hard to drive when your eyes won’t stop leaking.”
This first four and a half minute reading (left) takes us all the way to our new home in Central Florida and the feeling of letdown when we arrive.
Not only is the house distressingly dirty (when we vacated our Pensacola home, we had scrubbed every inch for the next occupants), but there is nobody there to welcome us, no realtor with our key, no food, no indication that anybody knew that we were coming.
Change is hard, moving is harder, moving is even more overwhelming when you leave all that love behind and, when you arrive, you can’t get into the house plus it is raining!
But we have always been blessed with wonderful friends, and one from our Pensacola church family offers the use of her Disney vacation condo for the next three days.
So we leave everything unpacked, lock the house, and escape to FantasyLand over in Orlando, where we pretend everything is okay for 72-hours of make-believe, before we have to dig in and face reality.
It is amazing how much of the story I can remember, in detail, and how much more comes rushing to mind once I begin to write it all down. I am having a good time with the process, and I only hope that some of the beauty that is life comes through and gives my readers a little inspiration along the way.
Peace and love, always – DEREK
PART TWO: “Custodian of Sanctuary”