On December 17, 2018 I left Arkansas my home for over 28 years to come live in the Netherlands. Many who know me will know the back story but I will write about that in a future blog because the last two years have been life changing to say the least.

But just the last week getting the last minute things done, the last of the house packed up, the last good-byes said, the last hugs given, the last sermon preached, and the last plane caught well that was adventurous enough but life happens or more to the point I am always “tripping into grace”.

And for those of you new to my blog first let me say that I am clumsy. And “tripping into grace” is my way of saying that when something happens that may on the surface seem horrible at the time–such as tripping and falling down and scraping my knee; or tripping and not falling but just embarrassing myself in front of a lot of people–these things seem awful and well actually are–but often from these things I have learned something. I learn something about myself that I am stronger than I think, more resilient, determined. I learn something about others that they are more compassionate and helpful. I learn that in my humility and wounded-ness I can help others. In this learning–this tripping I have found grace–I have found from what at the time seemed horrible can grow into something grace-filled depending on the perspective.

Some things that I have noticed are that sometimes the grace happens quickly and other times it can take days, weeks, months, years…to finally trip into your life. The key is to be open to that grace tripping into your life even as you have tripped into life or life has happened to you. Don’t assume that you have just “tripped”. Or that something just has happened. Please do not misunderstand me I’m not saying that everything happens for a reason that is a completely different philosophy. What I am saying is that you can learn and grow from the things that happen in your life. And they do not have to always ruin you or impact you in negative ways.

Some of the things that happened my last week at home I still haven’t tripped into the grace fully but I think I will eventually–some of the grace came in the forgiveness of friends, the extra help, the peace of letting go of things that I had no control over (like the mostly empty house getting broken into and getting back most of what was taken, frankly I’m still working on that one)…But grace comes not because we deserve it but because we need it.

Some of you asked me to write about my new adventure and share my experiences as I have done on my Caminos. And I don’t really know how to do that except in pictures and in story as in tripping into grace so I will do my best to share this new chapter and these new adventures as I continue to trip into grace in the Netherlands and beyond.

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