Last Days in Cali...harder than I thought!

I haven't moved very much in my life. I grew up in the same city since I was 2 and went to college within two hours of my hometown. When we left Texas, we thought we'd only be gone for two years and come right back, so even that goodbye was relatively easy.

With my limited goodbye experience, I thought that leaving California to return home to Texas was going to be fairly easy and very exciting. After all, we were still homesick after four years gone! But it wasn't easy. I found several things about California that we would miss.









1. PEOPLE
We had created deep relationships with several folks in Cali. The Littekens were our second family and took care of us through deepest despair. The students and staff of Cross Culture taught us the greatest wisdom that we could ever learn. We made some of the best friends we'd ever had, and God brightened our lives through all of them.









2. PLACES
Somehow places develop a personality in our memories, and become like friends to us, marked by experiences we have shared with them. The beach, the mountains, Fuller campus, our church campus, even the traffic...all of these places have meaning and significance for us. We were shocked to realize that the places of California had become home.


Once we left those people or places, we quietly said "goodbye." Each time we felt like a piece of us was being left behind. I thought we would be excited to head back and feel ready to leave California behind us, but I came to understand how much of a journey of faith this would become. California had become a second home, and leaving it was tough. I'm still not over it. In some ways it feels like we're on vacation and will return back next week to the routine of Fuller, APC, Club 21, the Prince, and the friends who make it all so much fun. It will take time for Texas to become home again. But we have our eyes fixed upon Christ and what He is doing in our lives...already, He is providing for us in crazy ways (more on that in a later post).

We love you, Cali friends! Keep in touch, and I hope that God crosses our paths once again.