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Care Journey | Kairos Moments · Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community

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Imagine the whole church discovering their passion to care,
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one small group at a time.
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You're listening to this special podcast series, Care Journey,
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from the Journey with Care
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podcast. That night, both of us, we had dreams,
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but we both dreamt about adopting. And so
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it was a bit of a shock for us to be able to to have
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this type of discussion, and it really was the the starting point
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for us to be able to go on this journey that
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eventually led to Care Impact. Yeah. I remember waking up
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from that dream. It wasn't just indigestion from kimchi. It was one of those, like,
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oh my goodness, God's arresting me with a thought that wasn't mine. And I thought,
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what is Harold gonna think when I tell him in the morning? I had this
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dream. We are in our Care Journey series. If you haven't
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listened to our previous episode, we're
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in our Care Journey series. If you haven't listened to our previous episode,
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we went through the topics that we're gonna be going through for the
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series. We talked about the purpose of this Care Journey course, which
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we talked about is a small group course leading up to why
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we decided to develop this course. And we're
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actually doing this podcast, not not as part of that course,
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but we just the topics are dear to Care Impact's heart. So we
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we figured this is a good way to complement, the course that we developed
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and just share some of the things that the Lord has been stirring at Care
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Impact. So today, we have a real treat. As you might
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have remembered last week, Wendy says she's gonna tell a bit about our
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story today with her husband, Harold. So Wendi Harold founded Care
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Impact and as we're about to celebrate our 10th anniversary, it's the perfect
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time to dive into their Kairos moments that
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sparked this incredible journey. So we said this week, we're gonna be doing
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Kairos moments. If you don't remember those Kairos moments, there's unexpected
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divinely timed moments that can change everything. But before
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we get into that, I I wanna remind you that we have journey with prayer,
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5 minute devotional series to start off your week. That's on a separate feed. You
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can find that in the show notes or just go to our website at journey
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with care dotca. And we can only continue to produce this
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great content, these interviews by the help of our listeners and
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the generosity of our listeners and donors and sponsors. If you wanna get
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involved in that, if you wanna sponsor the podcast as a business or if you
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just wanna to support what we're doing at Care Impact in the community,
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head over to journey with care.ca or CareImpact, and you can find ways
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of doing that. And we would love to have you as part of our team.
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Alright. Enough of that. We wanna get into our conversation with Wendy and
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Harold. Wendy, how was my intro there for Harold moments?
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What did I miss? No. I I think you summed it up. And and I
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think if we could preface what a Kairos moment is, it isn't
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necessarily angels coming through the sky and saying, hear ye, hear ye, or these magnificent
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moments. In in fact, sometimes in retrospect, we see the fingerprints of God and how
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he broke in in the ordinary things.
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It's those tiny micro things that happen where we we pay
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attention to it, and and Harold and I, we're excited to tell our story.
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There's a lot of Kairos moments in our lives that brought us to where we
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are right now, and we're still anticipating more to come,
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But everybody can encounter God in the
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daily life in as they're washing dishes, going down the street,
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shopping groceries, there are Kairos moments waited. And may
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I just add, there's probably so many times where I miss out on
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those God moments in my life. But we're gonna talk today
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about where God did get our attention, where we did give our
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yes. And, ultimately, we wanna give glory to God
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for the way that he was persistent in pursuing us and writing
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our story. Yeah. So let's talk about some of those key
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experiences that that led up to you guys starting Care
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Impact. You can go as far back as you need. It's your guys'
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story, your Kairos moment. So however far back you need to go to to that
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first Kairos moment. Harold, I'm wondering if I can turn the mic over to
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you. Can you tell the story about when we got
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on that plane for Korea with
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our kids? What was life like when we were boarding that
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plane? Yeah. Life was busy, but it was going
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well. We had a 1 year old and a
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3 year old, and we wanted to celebrate our 1 year old's,
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birthday with relatives. And so life was just going,
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pretty smoothly at that point. Yeah. You were in full time ministry.
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You were in the prisons as a chaplain and in
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pastoring and using your counseling skills. I was running a
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a center, community center with The Salvation Army overseeing a huge
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project and, really, really loving it. We were in
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our prime. We were like, yes. We have we're finished our family. We had one
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boy, one girl. Now let's go visit Harold's family in Korea
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and celebrate together as a family. We felt we were pretty
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set, didn't we? We we kinda were serving the lord, and we were set
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to go. So take us on that journey to to Korea. What happened there?
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Well, it was a particular Sunday that, we were planning to go to
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a a church, that was recommended by a friend.
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And so, took us probably an hour to get there.
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And when we got there, we were a bit disappointed because there
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wasn't the regular pastor who was gonna preach, but there was some
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guest speaker. From Texas, no nonetheless. Yes. From from
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Texas. Yeah. And so we're kinda disappointed, but we were listening
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in. And as we started to hear more about his
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story, we learned more about his adoption journey, how he
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had adopted children from Korea. And, in
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fact, the children were there, and, we were able
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to to meet with the children and really hear more
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about God's heart for adoption.
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Yeah. And that was the first time I I'd grown up in the church.
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But that was the first time I heard the gospel shared to me as
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God pursuing us in that spirit of adoption
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and that permanency with Christ in the
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gospel sense and how God puts the lonely in families, and it
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just struck a chord there. But then we went on. Right? We ate
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kimchi. We had lunch, and nothing happened. Right? We had a regular
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church service as we do. But tell me what else went on later
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on. Well, you know, that night, both of us, we had
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dreams. And, in the morning, we we talked about the
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fact that we each had a dream, and it
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has never happened like this before, or since,
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but we both dreamt about adopting. And so
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it was a bit of a shock for us to be able to to have
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this type of discussion, and it really was the the starting
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point for us to be able to go on this journey,
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that eventually led to Care Impact. Yeah. I remember waking
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up from that dream. It wasn't just indigestion from kimchi. It was one of those,
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like, oh my goodness. God's arresting me with a thought that wasn't
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mine. And I thought, what is Harold gonna think Wendi I tell him in the
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morning? I had this dream. They were to adopt, and and I had
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pictures of older children that were to join our family. And here, right
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beside me, I had these little toddlers. Right? And I'm like, this
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is freaky. I don't know about this. But to to wake
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up and see that you have that dream too, it stopped us in our track,
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and we had to pray about it. We didn't just jump on board
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and and come back to Canada and say, okay. Let's sign up for
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the the class. We're so excited. We've always dreamt of having a huge
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family, because we didn't. We didn't have a dream to add
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to our family. This was breaking into our dream. It was
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interrupting what the plans that we had. Like, God,
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didn't you know we are busy in ministry? How are we gonna add people to
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our family? And adding older children, we took
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about a year, didn't we, Harold? Yeah. It was about a year,
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doing some research, praying through all of this. And
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so, yeah, like, I I just felt like that moment in Korea, it
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was a god moment looking back. And we could have
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missed it. That's what I think. I'm like, oh my goodness. And I look
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at our family now and how fast forward,
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and god has added 4 older children into our lives in
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different ways and and 2 grandkids into our
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lives. So we do have a larger family, and, it's not what
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we had planned, but God has been writing that
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piece. But as we were researching that
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year, Harold, you were already working on a doctorate. See, we didn't have time for
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adoption either because you were doing your doctorate. We we're professional Christians here,
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guys. I'm saying that sarcastically, but we were
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pursuing the the the doctorate. Anybody that has gone with a spouse
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doing a doctorate knows what that means. And we were doing some
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research. You were going on a different track. But as we were
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researching adoption and the need and the theology and all of that,
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what happened to that project that you were working on?
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So as I was doing my research and as we had this experience in
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Korea, it actually made me want to change my
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my research, my thesis. And so as I
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looked more into adoption, attachment,
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these kind of areas, then I was able to find out about this
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conference in the states, which eventually led us to going to
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Nashville to really be exposed to what this looks like, this
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world of adoption and foster care. Yeah. So we were
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planning to go, and I registered us because the 2 of us were gonna go
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down there. I was gonna be your research assistant, and we were gonna meet different
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authors and different people we were gonna interview for for this project.
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And I got an email. We got an email from somebody organizing this.
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And and we have to remember, CAFO is a huge organization, a
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huge network that there's about 3,000 people there, and we
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are only 2. But I got one of the organizers from there
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contacted us personally and said an email, you're from Canada. We've been praying for
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Canada, and we're hosting this global leadership network
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for the first time, and we would love some national leaders
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from Canada to participate in this global forum. And I
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laughed, and I I quickly responded, easily responded. I said, oh, I'm so
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sorry. We're just researchers. We're nobody in Canada.
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We're not leaders of anything in Canada. We're just coming for this
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research project. To his response, and shout out to David Hennessy
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who continues to be a good friend and mentor and and champion
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of what we're doing in Canada. He said, no. I feel like God
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has called you to come here. I want you to participate. We will,
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like, sponsor you. We are gonna, give you accommodations.
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We will feed you. We need you here. Would you please come?
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Now we looked after and said, there's there
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was more Canadians there, but why was he picking on us? But we actually stayed
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at a lovely couple's house who, were part of our
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God story. Bill and Maria Lee, who are now the governors
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of Tennessee, they sat with us and prayed us through
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this God encounter that we were having in Tennessee
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as we came simply for research, but god had more.
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Yeah. I remember as, we were leaving the residence at the
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end of the conference, and they handed us some gifts.
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And one of the gifts was an envelope which contained
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a significant amount of money. They realized that we had
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something on our hearts to start in Canada, and they
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wanted to encourage us in that journey through that, financial gift. And
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so that was very moving. That was a a sign that I
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felt like God was guiding us into this area of starting
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something. We didn't know exactly what we were gonna start, but we just felt like
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God was moving in our hearts towards that direction. That's
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right. And and one of the things that I found significant at that
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time in the conference now it's not just about, like, sign up for
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a conference and God's gonna speak to you. It's always in these unexpected
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ways. And during that year previous where
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we were praying about adoption, we were, seeking the Lord
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and doing the right steps to to move forward in obedience.
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All the things that God had been depositing in my heart
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were being spoken to on stage or in in encounters over
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lunches and stuff, and they were, like, they were reading my mail. And
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it just arrested me in such a way. I'm like, God is in the
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details, and we could have missed this. So after we
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left that driveway, we weren't sure what what it would
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mean. But interestingly enough, God had already
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invited me to quit my job, and I didn't know
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why. But I felt I was disobedient if I had
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continued on in a job that I loved. I had to lay that
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down. It meant financial security that I
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had to wrestle with God, but he's like, no. I want you to to pursue
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me. I have something else in store. And and so I did,
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and and this was at a pinnacle time where I had just
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received an award, from, what was it, the
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diamond jubilee or something like that for for excellence
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in changing the community. We had just opened a a $6,600,000
13:31
project of of a new building and a facility and a and a green
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space that God's I had just restructured the staff, and we were
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just in a a really good place. And when I was in that
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space, I was just like, now I can sail. Now God
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can work through me, and yet he said, now you're done.
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And so I quit that, and when we got off that driveway going back
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to Winnipeg, you said the same thing. You're like, I think I need to
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quit my job. Can you tell me what went through your your mind?
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Yeah. I think that that conference, it helped me to realize
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that there there's another world out there that that God
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had given me an opportunity to experience,
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to learn about, children that are in
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difficult situations, families where
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there is a lot of, love and and a lot of
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acceptance that, they're able to take in
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children that are are needing, homes. And so that
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really opened up my eyes to a different world. And so I
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just I really felt strongly that, you know, there was a a shift
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happening here and that even though I had been in the
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prisons for 7 years, as a chaplain, I
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felt like God was calling me out of that
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environment, even though I I really felt, that was a a huge
14:53
calling on my life for those years, but I sense that the the tide was
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shifting. So to my surprise because keep in mind,
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those of you that know us know we're not necessarily irrational people. We
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we think through things. We research things. For us to both quit our jobs
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and have zero income was something that was uncharacteristic
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of us, but we felt so strongly that the lord had called us. So we
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came back, and a week later, much to my surprise, Harold said, okay. I told
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him. I give him gave him my notice. I'm like, say what? He's like, I
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we were gonna do this. Right? And I'm like, I know, but I'm like, I'm
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feeling a little insecure here. But I knew it was the right thing to
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do. And when we talked to some dear friends of
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ours and sponsors of that that ministry position,
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and we told them our story and what God was doing, they
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basically told us, like, you can't quit. Do you remember
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that, Harold? Yeah. Yeah. Like, I think
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they were surprised, but I really felt like it
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was, I guess God brings people
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into one's life for a reason. And I I really
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felt like they were key supporters of of what we were
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doing. And so they felt that as well. They they
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sensed that in our hearts. And so I I think that they really had a
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level of acceptance there. They did. But they said, you can't quit, which
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kinda got our, like, what do you mean? And they said, you
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can quit your positions there, but we really see God's hand in
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your story, and we wanna continue to sponsor the new venture
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that God has you on. And so with that, we had their
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blessing. We had other people. We had consulted, as we were
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quitting our jobs, a financial adviser. We thought, surely, he's gonna talk us off the
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cliff, but he was a man of God, and he prayed over us, and he
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says, no. I think God is calling you. This sounds crazy, but, actually,
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you are in a good place. You don't have deficit. You you can move forward
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in this, and and we wanna support you. There were key people that God had
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led us to to consult, and they had given us wisdom and
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blessing and prayed over us and and sent us on our
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way. And yet there was many people who thought, you know what? This is crazy.
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How dare you give up good ministry? How dare you do
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this to your children? And they really weren't necessarily
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supportive around us. Many people were, but some
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people thought we were just a little loopy to do
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what we were doing. But a few weeks later,
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we packed up our kids. And at that point, we had already added 1
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older child to our family, and we packed her up as well. And
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we all went on this, what we called a God chasing trip across Canada.
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Because keep in mind, we didn't know what God was calling us to.
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We just knew it was something that he would reveal to us,
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and so we were becoming detectives. We were just becoming curious. God,
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what is it that you need us to hear? And so that's exactly what we
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did. We we packed up the van. We we drove across. We made
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as many contacts as we could. A lot of cold call, coffee
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dates, and one person leading us to another, networking
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as we were going, just asking and listening. Christian
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adoptive families, Christian leaders, secular
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government officials, organizations that didn't work
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well with the church, but they were in the area of child welfare. We came
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there to listen, and, what a trip that was.
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Harold, what was it like for you, driving that trip?
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Well, you know, it was a very interesting time because we were we
18:23
were just open to what what was out there. We were trying to
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learn. We were trying to understand the landscape. And
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so it was one of those times. It's almost like walking
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or journeying through the wilderness, not knowing exactly where you're
18:37
going, but, hopefully, we were able to gain a bit
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more clarity, with each conversation. So it was it
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was a bit, challenging at times,
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but I still felt at that time that god was god was guiding us
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into those type of relationships. And I know one thing that
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I was hoping for see, yeah, sometimes I like to tell God
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what I I want to curate how God wants to write these
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stories, and and then he reminds me he's got the pen, not me.
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I was having this conversation with God saying, God, I do not
19:11
want to start another organization. God forbid there's enough
19:15
charities out there. Let's not start one more. Come on. It
19:19
surely couldn't be. God couldn't lead us to start another organization.
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It was one of my pet peeves. Why don't organizations work together? Maybe
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we can find a like minded organization. Surely, what God has put on our heart
19:30
and we were passionate about is on the hearts of other organizations that we
19:34
would be aligned with and we could work for and with
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and in that way. And, one of the things that
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we realized as we pulled back on our driveway, and we were even saying, god,
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do you want us to move? You we could go anywhere now. Why
19:48
Winnipeg? But god brought us back to Winnipeg, and he wanted us to
19:52
start an organization. And we we talked with some mentors and dear friends of
19:56
ours that would pray with us and and we could be accountable
20:00
to. They're like, you know, Wendy, that you need to do this. And
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I'm like, I know, but I'm scared. I don't wanna start
20:07
another organization. I know enough because I've been an
20:11
ED. I know how much work that is and the
20:14
responsibility it is to carry that, and I
20:18
don't know if I'm up for the challenge. And
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God worked in the details. He provide us legal
20:25
team financially and wisdom wise to set
20:29
this up with us. He provided us with a board. He provided us
20:33
with people cheering us on and supporting our family
20:37
as we were just navigating what it meant to be
20:41
Care Impact. At that time, we'd started with forever families of
20:44
Canada. Fun side fact, it was really just a research project.
20:48
I'd created this Facebook site, and I was actually tracking
20:51
the the analytics of how people responded to different things I put out.
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And I just created a a no name brand called forever families of Canada. That's
20:59
how it actually started. It wasn't not a very spiritual starting, but
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I was just observing people and interacting with people to see how they
21:06
reacted to different content. And that became our our
21:10
brand, which now we are, Care Impact. But it wasn't in
21:14
the sense that, god, I've always wanted to be a
21:17
cofounder of this organization, but god had put it on
21:21
our hearts, and and he led us forward in that. So when you
21:25
were contemplating this, you talked about what organizations could
21:29
we join up with, that would share this vision.
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So why didn't that happen, and why did you have to start your own
21:36
organization? Well, one of the things that we found out is that
21:40
people did have this vision, but it wasn't part of their mandates. They were
21:43
like, that sounds wonderful. We wanna be part of that. But it
21:47
wasn't their mandates, and and for good reasons too. They're doing
21:51
wonderful things. But we realized this was a gap that was not
21:55
being filled. As we're even doing our research, we were networking
21:59
people. We are saying, ho. You are passionate about this. Did you know
22:02
just half an hour away, we talked to so and so, and they have that
22:06
passion? And you guys could work together, and we were doing this across the country.
22:10
We're doing across cities. We were actually filling in some
22:13
needs while we were just simply doing our research. I love networking.
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And so, naturally, I want people to to work together,
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and we were realizing, this was a gap.
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Care Impact is a gap that needed to happen. It's something actually,
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I think, that was birthed within Harold and myself in our stories when we
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were if you take us back into his chaplaincy and the church
22:36
ministry work, and my role as ED of a a community
22:40
center, we asked ourselves in those moments when we were
22:44
in the prisons and in the communities, the big question is where
22:48
is the church? We can't have enough resources, enough services,
22:51
enough projects and funds to meet the needs of the
22:55
whole community. Those were important. However, we
22:59
wanted to see how the church could integrate in a relational way,
23:03
And that wasn't being done across Canada to all our
23:06
research and knowledge. Maybe on micro levels and and those things those
23:10
are areas that we were deeply researching. But on a national
23:14
level, there wasn't a a gap filler, between what
23:17
was happening in social services, what was happening on some of
23:21
the poverty and the child welfare crises and the trauma that was
23:25
happening in our country. There was a disconnect with the local church.
23:29
And we felt that when we bring people that came to our
23:33
doorstep into the church, it was awkward.
23:37
We had to do a lot of gap filling. It wasn't
23:41
natural for the church to be in these places when
23:44
prisoners got out of of their, sentence. It wasn't
23:48
easy for people that were trafficked to to integrate into the church, and
23:52
we're like, are there resources? Can we equip the church to be the
23:55
church in these spaces? So after we
23:59
came back from Korea, with this this
24:03
calling that we felt, in the area of child
24:06
welfare, you know, it was interesting how there were people
24:10
that knocked on our doors and were looking for
24:14
essentially, they're looking for family. They're looking for support. And so
24:18
1 by 1, we had people with mental health issues,
24:22
homelessness related issues. There were so many different
24:25
challenges that people were facing that were just looking for a
24:29
place to rest, a place for support and
24:32
connection. And so as we were able to take them in, we were able
24:36
to recognize some of the the real struggles that they were
24:39
facing, and it helped us to to learn more about
24:44
how we could be of service, in in our
24:47
future, ministry. And so, they were really the
24:51
educators for us. They helped us to learn about the needs out
24:54
there. I think that was a significant part of our
24:58
story, actually. The many people that came through our doors,
25:02
those were our Kairos moments. You're right. As soon as
25:05
we landed from Korea And keep in mind, we were living in the
25:09
community that I was in community development. We we believed to move right in, and
25:13
we had a lot of people. We had a lot of connections, but we didn't
25:16
have our house full. When we came back, we had, I think it
25:19
was 11 beds donated to us, from different people. We had
25:23
bunk beds and and and queen beds and this and that. We're like, lord, what
25:27
are you doing here? And we filled our house with beds. And sure
25:30
enough, as soon as we landed in from Korea, we had
25:34
somebody that was being released from a psychiatric hospital
25:38
that needed home, and he was part of our lives already, but he
25:41
needed more. He needed family. We're not the type of people that just
25:45
collects people and they have where we have no discernment, and and
25:48
we just do everything. No. These were God appointed
25:52
moments meant for us, and we welcomed them
25:56
in. And I remember 1 Easter Sunday, and this
26:00
was just, like, nonstop. We had a couple at our door in
26:04
the evening. It was, like, 8 o'clock at night. We are putting the kids to
26:07
bed, and and we had this couple come into our our home. And we had
26:11
already known them, but they were obviously distraught. They
26:15
had just lost their home. Their kids were just removed from their
26:18
family, into social services, and,
26:22
they were visibly distraught as one would if
26:26
you had that Job moment. And they came in,
26:30
and we fed them, and we we talked, and we weren't sure exactly the
26:33
way forward or if they were staying, but, obviously, they need to stay
26:37
somewhere. And I remember I was in a time where we were,
26:41
like, busy in research, and we were starting this organization. And, like, lord, don't
26:44
you know we don't have time for this? We're we're researching. We're we're
26:48
we're building your ministry. And god arrested me and
26:52
said, you know what? They are your professors.
26:56
They are the interruption that you need to learn. You can't
27:00
just depend on head knowledge. You can't just depend on on
27:04
building this this structure up if you're not
27:08
gonna allow me to interrupt you with the people that you really need to sit
27:11
with, and we did. She had gone through 60
27:15
some foster homes herself, and she says and now they're taking my
27:19
children too. And her parents and grandparents have gone
27:23
through residential school and trying to find her, god
27:26
given indigenous identity and and sitting with her through
27:30
lawyer appointments and court appointments and and the the distraught
27:34
and the discrimination, that she felt. I needed to
27:37
to be there with her more than she needed me there with her.
27:41
But we we journeyed that together for for some time.
27:45
And he was also had some immigration
27:48
issues and and things like that. And we we sat there, and and he
27:52
also, experienced a lot of racism as well-being
27:55
black. And and we needed to sit there with them, and we had laughter
27:59
and tears and so many things that we and there was time and
28:03
time again, we had an international student, 8 and a half months pregnant,
28:06
come sit with us or come be with us. And we got to to see
28:10
that that life come to be from an abortion story to
28:14
a failed abortion to the the glory of God coming through life
28:17
in that child. We've had so many. In fact, our kids,
28:21
when they were like, they didn't know any better because they were 1 and 3
28:24
when we started on this journey, our our biological kids. There
28:28
was a time where there was, like, a week or two where we didn't have
28:31
people coming staying with us. And I remember one of them
28:35
saying, what's going on? Why isn't god sending us
28:38
anybody else? Because they were just anticipating who's who's gonna show up at
28:42
our door next. But we learned so much. We needed that.
28:46
We still need that. We're still getting interrupted. This story doesn't end
28:50
there. We continuously, are living this out, and
28:53
God is bringing people into our lives for seasons and sometime forever.
28:58
And one of the things I find is a real blessing from from
29:02
this is our 2 biological children. They've grown
29:06
up in this kind of environment where our home is is an
29:09
open door to those in need, And they've never once
29:13
questioned anything about the people that have come into our
29:17
home. They've never asked questions that to the effect
29:20
of why are they here. They they really have just accepted each
29:24
and every person, And I know that for them,
29:28
this is this is normal. And, I really, I feel
29:32
blessed that they're able to have that sense of
29:35
openness towards others, from all sorts of backgrounds,
29:39
with various challenges that people bring in. They're able to
29:43
be with them and not have any complaints, and and I really,
29:47
I look forward to seeing what their futures are like as god works in their
29:51
hearts through that. Yeah. Because some people would be concerned.
29:55
Oh, you're ruining your life, essentially. What's
29:59
that gonna do to your biological kids? You gotta be protective.
30:02
We often cloak wisdom as, like, just being cautious
30:06
and paranoid, and that's not wisdom. Sometimes you gotta
30:10
put yourself out there, and and I I think it's been a real blessing. And
30:14
and out of these Harold moments, I just gotta say, yes, there's sacrifice
30:17
involved financially. You gotta get over yourself.
30:21
Your your security, you gotta get over yourself. And, yes, there's a lot
30:25
of, like, god, if you don't show up, I'm I'm hooped. My family
30:29
is hooped. So there's a lot of trust that needs to be developed. That's a
30:32
muscle that needs to be developed. But God can be trusted
30:36
in the details. When he calls, when he breaks in, when he gives you
30:39
that moment, you will want to pursue
30:43
that with all your heart when you experience the presence of God.
30:47
And I'm reminded of, like, Matthew 1344,
30:51
the parable of the hidden treasure and the pearl. When you know
30:55
that there's a treasure there, when God is breaking in and saying there's a
30:59
treasure here and I want you to pursue it, you sell all you
31:02
have. You get sold out for this
31:06
for the glory of God because in there God can be found. And and sometimes
31:10
we're looking for the presence of God in the wrong places. We just want
31:13
a hallelujah moment on a Sunday morning. When
31:17
God is found in the details, God is found in the person going through
31:21
homelessness, God is found in the place of mental illness, God is found in these
31:24
places where where you have these dreams of quitting your job and these
31:28
unthinkable things. But if there's anything
31:31
that I can encourage our listeners today is if God is breaking
31:35
in, pray about it. Surround yourself with
31:38
people who can walk with you in that.
31:42
But God can be trusted in those details. Sell all you have for
31:45
what it is that God has put on your heart. And I would do it
31:49
all over again, and I would probably do it more bravely if I could tell
31:53
myself 10 years ago what we've come through,
31:57
what we've learned, and it's been hard. It's not been easy. We're not gonna
32:00
romanticize it, but I wouldn't want it any different.
32:04
I would do it all over again, probably just a little more
32:08
brave and probably paying attention to more and more of those Kairos
32:11
moments that I've probably missed. But, god can be
32:15
trusted. And it takes that initial Kairos moment to get your
32:18
attention and then many other smaller ones
32:22
along the way. One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 69 where it
32:26
says, we can make our plans, but the Lord determines our
32:29
steps. So I love that truth. It's like you guys probably had a little
32:33
bit of a vision when you got that carousel moment, but you didn't know the
32:37
steps to to get there. But he put people in your path.
32:40
He gave you those small moments along the way to help determine
32:44
those steps, and he's still leading. And how much different
32:48
has your vision changed since you started the organization? How much has it
32:52
grown? Mhmm. I'm sure there's a lot more stories we can tell. Well
32:55
and we're still on that treasure hunt. Now we have a
32:59
team, a a wonderful team who are also sold
33:03
out for the calling that God has for the church to help the church
33:07
rise up and and be effective in these spaces and to to be
33:11
with the most marginalized in an effective way.
33:14
And we are now a team, a growing team, and
33:18
we're partnering with more and more people who are on team, who want to
33:22
pursue the glory of God, who want to see the church
33:26
in these spaces. And we're on this treasure hunt together, and God
33:29
continuously breaks in. We think we have a path, and we are
33:33
moving forward, and God continues to instruct us along the
33:36
way. He is leading us like the good shepherd always does.
33:40
And I just wanna end by encouraging our listeners. If you're hearing the
33:44
story and you are getting stirred, what's the invitation
33:48
for you to become part of this story, this Kairos moment that Wendy and
33:52
Harold had so many years back? The Lord brings people into
33:55
these storylines, and he does great things. So
33:59
what is your part in this story?
34:04
Thank you for joining another conversation on Journey with Care,
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