After sixteen hours of driving, we passed through the gates of Fort Benning, GA. No, I’ve never been here before, yes it felt like coming home. Of course it did. So I’ll spare you the redundancy and get on to the rest of this post.

We’ve spent the last few days at Patti Nichols house. Patti’s husband Jimmy is an Army Chaplain, Patti is a chaplain candidate. It’s refreshing to see my battle buddy again. We met online one year ago. We went to CHBOLC together six months ago. I can’t begin to describe my thankfulness that God would bring me a friend who has had a husband deployed, understands the challenges of being a dual military family, has similar beliefs, and shares my passion for both the chaplaincy and parenting. How could I possibly find someone who has so much in common with me? I couldn’t. He did. That’s why I’m so thankful today.

On Monday we went to the Fryar Drop Zone and watched soldiers jumping out of airplanes as part of their Airborne training. Jer got a big kick out of that. I don’t think that’s why Patti took us though… she’s trying to convince me to go Airborne with her next year. Which of course, is very tempting. I just need to get in shape. We asked Jeremiah what he thought about us going to the Airborne school together. He said, “It’s hardy hardy hard but you can handle it.. easily.” That boy has a lot of confidence in his mamma. I asked my mom if I should do it and she said, “Sure, why not?” Joel gave a similar response. Why is it that none of my family seems slightly concerned or surprised that I want to go jump out of perfectly good airplanes?

Jeremiah and Sarah have gotten along with Patti’s kids wonderfully. On our first day here Sarah asked, “can we please stay one more day?” Later I heard Patti’s youngest say of Jeremiah, “I like him as a friend.” It’s nice to know they get along so well. I only wish we lived a lot closer. 16 hours is a long, long drive.

We’re leaving in a few hours. We’ll be seeing Tamara tonight then going to Joel’s mom’s house tomorrow night. Then we’ll head to Rachel’s house on the 3rd. That’s when things get interesting… Rachel’s husband invited us to go on vacation to Florida with them! Oh yeh, we’re going to the beach. How cool is that? {hint: very}

Ok, so I got distracted with packing and didn’t write the last post in my Taxing Joy series… which really is terrible of me if anyone was actually reading and wondering. So… well if you really must know how the story ends and can’t possibly wait until I write my post… you can read Joel’s post. I assume many of you already did. Cheaters, that’s like skipping to the last page of the book.

But hey, I’ll write my version soon.

An Open Letter to the wonderful women I’ll be staying with for the next two weeks:

Don’t Clean. Stop it… throw things on the floor.. that’s right.
Messy houses are a ministry. Seriously!

No really… I mean it. If your house is too clean I’ll be offended.
Yep. And my kids won’t know what to do with themselves.

After spending a refreshing two weeks away from home, and driving 10 long hours, I got to my front door and found a note from the IRS. They had knocked on MY door. They had been at my home. Had I not been off on my crazy adventure I’d have been here answering the door. I wasn’t ready then. I wasn’t strong enough. I was now. Well… I would be. I called Rachel Thursday night and she prayed for me. I am normally afraid of financial confrontations. The words Internal Revenue Service naturally strike fear in my heart. But perfect love casts out all fear… and my God loves me perfectly. I knew that but I needed reminded of it. I needed someone to stand with me, and my friends did that over the next few days.

On Tuesday I picked up the certified letter that had been waiting for me since my return. I don’t know why I took so long to go get it. But I did. I’d been playing phone tag with the Revenue Officer for a couple days and finally I got the letter.

I didn’t know what it all meant, but there were a few things that did catch my attention.

Amount You Owe: $28476.39

“If you don’t pay the amount you owe, make alternative arrangements to pay, or request Appeals consideration within 30 days from the date of this letter, we may take your property, or rights to property, such as real estate, automobiles, business assets, bank accounts, wages, commissions, and other income.”

What was this feeling deep inside me? Was it overwhelming fear? No that would be familiar… it was joy. Stubborn joy. Determined joy. Joy: Slightly shaken but not stolen. That’s when I started preaching to myself.

“What can man do to me? Nothing!”
“What if they take everything we have? So what, we’ve lost almost everything anyway. If losing a 2 thousand dollar car is the worst that can happen, I’m really not in that bad of shape.”

“I am not afraid of the tax man.”
“I am not afraid of God’s plan for my life.”
“He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world…”
“I AM NOT AFRAID!”

My friend Joy came over to hang out Tuesday night. We sat and talked and listened to my Rain play list… you know all the songs that say we’ll praise Him through the storm, that He gives and takes away and we’ll praise Him anyway…. I have an awful lot of songs on that play list. I was preparing for the storm, determined to “be joyful always, pray continually and give thanks to God in all things.”

I thought I should have known better… I should have seen this coming. God finally filled me with joy on Sunday… I should have suspected something big was coming. The joy of the Lord is my strength. God must have known what was coming and known I’d need the strength.

I talked to Joy, I saw the certified letter on the dining room table and I steadied myself on the Rock determining in my heart, “I Will Not Let The IRS Steal My Joy!”

The next morning I’d make an appointment with the Revenue Officer and meet with him that afternoon.

Monday I realized that this joy thing had actually survived the night. Overwhelming joy despite the circumstances. I was playing phone tag with the IRS, I had a certified letter from them waiting for me to pick up and I didn’t know what that might hold. But it didn’t matter. I had joy.

Monday night, Rachel and I chatted online and reminisced about all God has done for us in the last two months. I wrote:

I am very aware that
He is still working
Still speaking to us
We stand in awe at what He has done lately
and He must be looking at us kinda laughing
saying oh you think that was cool?
just wait

Just Wait!
You see, He has been so real lately that we’ve become a bit like Pavlov’s dogs. We’ve become conditioned to expect good things, answers to prayers we dare not even pray.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Psalm 34:8

Oh yes, I have tasted and now the mere thought of that sweet flavor makes my mouth water.

JUST WAIT!

I interrupt this exciting blogging series to let you know that I’m going on a road trip.

Oh yeh, I have the coolest life. I’ve been saving up gas for this trip for months, plus a couple people gave me some gas money so I could come see them… it’s going to be close, we may not actually eat on the way there… but I’m so going anyway!

Two weeks.
Two kids.
1,743 miles.
Driving through Memphis, Tupelo, Birmingham, Ft. Benning, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville…
Six states.
I’ll see: Patti, Tamara, Rachel, Joel’s Mom, Heather, maybe even Sara Horn and Emily too!

Could this trip be more cool? I highly doubt it. That is unless some of my chaplain friends live somewhere along the way and we can meet for lunch or something.

So, almost a year since the last time I went to a Sunday night service, I decided to go to Central Sunday night. I’m so glad I did. I was surprised at how many people were there. The floor was pretty full, though the balcony was dark. I sat alone, because I didn’t recognize anyone on my side of the church. I guess my kinda people don’t come to the Sunday night service… The crowd was mostly older, but there was still a good mix of generations.

The music was contemporary worship, the sermon was great, and there was an altar call. [AKA time for prayer up at the front of the sanctuary.]

Pastor Bradford spoke on Risk-taking and God’s Direction .

The message spoke directly to me just like Mark’s sermon did earlier that day. How cool that God can orchestrate two complete services just for me in one day. And just to show off… one at a Lutheran church and one at an Assemblies of God church.

I was glad when Pastor Bradford invited people to come forward and pray. The invitation was for prayer about things like courage, boldness, power, direction, joy and being filled with the Holy Spirit. All of that sounded very good to me.

I appreciated that the altar call wasn’t some big emotional hoopla. I liked hearing the elderly voices fervently praying behind me. There is comfort in that, in being with people who have gone on before you and are still praying, still seeking.

I prayed for direction. I want to get involved in ministry. I don’t think I should just be sitting on my butt studying at the seminary for the next three years. I’m terribly excited about becoming an Army Chaplain, but I want to serve now. Besides, I need two years of ministry experience to go Active Duty.

I don’t know how else to tell you but that God filled me with joy that night. Ahhh… Joy. If you’ve read my blog long you know that’s something I’ve fought for, something I’ve longed for, something I’ve needed for so very long.

I was right to want it. Because it is very, very good and real. Real joy, in the face of adversity. Real joy that can not be stolen by circumstances. Not even the IRS could tax this joy… oh but that is for a different post.