Grace Christian Assembly Part I

Per Mark's request, reposting here at BC. This post is background for the following one:


Question: How do you make a "quick" trip to Nashville from Dallas? Answer: You get in the car and drive 14 1/2 hours there on Saturday and then drive 15 hours home on Monday.

And why would you drive so many hours over two days to get to Tennessee? Well, we did it for the opportunity and great privilege of attending homecoming weekend and Resurrection Sunday at Grace Christian Assembly in Smyrna. As you may or may not know, I've been listening, via internet, to Jim McClarty for several months. Due to God turning our current circumstance around, Roger had a couple weeks off before beginning a new job on April 20th. So we ended up with this small window of opportunity to make the trip. And without a doubt, it was more than worth it. Let's just say that if I lived anywhere near Smyrna (or if GCA were to relocate to Ft Worth), I would be a member in a heartbeat. As it stands now, though, I'll have to be content to be an internet member. :) At least now when I listen, I'll be able to place names with faces and "feel" like I'm right there with them.

Unfortunately though, we missed the homecoming festivites on Saturday. But even in that, we are able to look back and see God's mighty hand of providence in our lives. We actually began the journey on Friday, and were just east of Dallas when Roger started experiencing a little complication of an eye procedure he'd had earlier that morning. We called the doctor, and he wanted to see Roger again, so we had to turn around and head back to Ft Worth (a 2-hour drive). By the time we got back and Roger saw the doctor it was 5:00, so we had no choice but to go home. (The doc thought Roger might have had retinal damage, but he didn't and is fine.) But all this happened after we'd experienced a very rough start to the trip in the first place. The doctor was running late for the original procedure on Friday morning. Delay. Our rental car was late in getting to the Hertz location. Delay. We'd had to wait over a half hour for it to arrive, and then it was a tad dirty on the inside. Roger was fit to be tied; my patience was on its last nerve, and we were seriously going at each other. After the return trip to the doctor, we scrapped the rental car idea, not even knowing if we'd make the trip at all. But we stayed packed overnight, revisited the idea on Saturday morning and finally left about 10:00am. The providential part came into play when we learned that terrible storms and at least one tornado ripped through middle Tennessee on Friday night. We are convinced that God indeed spared us from that. I'm thankful that while we're so busy seeing only what is right in front of us, God sees beyond that. He protects the ignorant and the short-sighted.
Undoubtedly, I could ramble on and on, and probably will in another post. I'm grateful for these new like-minded friends.

Thanks to everyone at GCA for your graciousness in welcoming Roger and me into your church and into your lives. And a great big thank-you to Jim, who not only gave of his time during church and the potluck afterwards, but was so kind to visit with us for several hours on Sunday night. We were blessed and honored by that more than you'll ever know.