Goshen or Bust

What an interesting few days we've had.  The long story short is that there is now a lovely white 944 Porsche sitting in our driveway, but boy oh boy, that did not come as easily as we thought.  The car scene is full of shady characters it turns out.


We were supposed to have had a red 944 in our driveway, but the guy who was selling it wasn't there when Renaissance Man and the boys showed up to load it onto the trailer they'd brought.  Supposedly, he was called into work.  Trying not to freak out on the guy, RM wondered when he would be back as they would wait.  He didn't know.  Didn't know?  Hmmmm.....2, 3, 4pm?  No idea.  So, RM tried to turn it into an opportunity to be with his boys and did some fun things around town, waiting, texting the guy, and more waiting.....this was getting weird.


Finally, it was dinner time, the boys were hungry.  How long could this go on?  Now the texts from, we'll call him, the other yahoo, had stopped long ago.  Now RM (and I) are starting to get a bad feeling.  He decided to drive by the guy's house one last time and believe it or not, the garage door was open and the Porsche was gone.  What?!  Drive home right away, I told him.  This is not looking good.  All you have to do is think back to the story that hit the news last year about another innocent car deal that went really bad.  I wanted him and the boys home right away.  It actually made me really glad he brought the boys - what if he hadn't?  It makes me cringe to think.


Within 12 hours he had bought another one (fortunately no money had exchanged hands with the first deal).  This one was a major hike way up north, about a 3 hour drive.  He offered (honest, I didn't ask him to!) to take the 3 year old and the 3 other older boys.  SURE!!!!!  I'm sorry, did I say that too quickly????


So, Monday morning, off they go, to buy Porsche #2.  The getting there wasn't a problem.  This seller was definitely home and didn't seem like a gangster with his 5 kids and wife nearby.  Whew!  As RM started to get the Porsche loaded, he noticed some funny lights on the dashboard of our truck which did not look good - he was starting to have mechanical problems of his own with his truck.  Not good.  Then, he got stuck in the guy's snow covered driveway and a buddy of his had to come and pull RM out.  Finally they were on their way, but the truck was getting worse and worse.  He was pretty sure he'd need to stop and get the truck looked at.  Oops, spoke too soon - the truck stopped moving and he and the boys were stuck on the side of the highway.  Oh dear - it was now dinnertime and this was really the first time we'd been in contact all day.  I thought he would have been home by dinner.


Let's not forget that funny little piece of info - he's got the three year old.  He's now had him much longer than expected.  I wish I could have been a fly on the wall!  He hadn't disappointed!  That little guy had been more of a handful than any of them had expected.  He seemed to set the tone in the truck that day and it wasn't a fun one.


Now RM was asking for the number of our good friends who lived in a town nearby.  He was getting the truck towed, but he and the boys were going to need to get picked up from the side of the road and it looked like they were going to need a place to stay overnight as well as a meal or two.  This was setting RM back big time.  He has work to do!  and not just on cars!


Fortunately, our friends were willing hosts and it turns out God had, no doubt, orchestrated the whole event just to see them.  They are going through a difficult time themselves, out of work, trying to pay off debt as well, lots of young kids....a real discouraging time.  I had been encouraging this other mom just a few days earlier to start to seriously pray and fast.  So she did.


Meanwhile, she had been encouraging her husband daily, since that time she and I had talked, to call RM - perhaps he had some work contacts, perhaps he could just be an ear for him, but you know husbands....they don't pick up the phone just to chat and get encouraged.  No, they don't work that way.  So God had to step in.  First of all, the first car deal fell through.  Secondly, the next car was being purchased up north, near them.  Thirdly, the truck broke down outside their town and that was where the truck got towed.  Fourthly, their name was the first and only name of someone he knew that lived nearby.  When her husband got the call, he was happy to pick them up and my girlfriend was more than happy to feed them and have them overnight.  The men ended up talking late into the night and praying together.  Only God can make those kinds of meetings happen.


On a side note, I quickly got on the phone to my friend once I knew her husband was on the way to rescue my family, to thank her.....and warn her....."He's bringing the 3 year old!" I told her.  "Oh, that's fine, I have one, too."  "Oh, no you don't!  My 3 year old is indescribable!  Remember," I continued, "This 3 year old has napped on and off all day, he hasn't eaten, he's been cramped up, no exercise, no way to get out his wiggles.....keep him away from your animals and all small children!" Don't get me wrong!  I wasn't cursing my child, I was simply telling her the reality of the situation!  I wasn't there to prevent anything from going wrong and RM wasn't in that kind of headspace to be on top of the little guy and his unpredictable actions........


I went to sleep that night without hearing any news.  The next morning RM called to give me an update that he was on his way home with a fixed truck.  Yeah!  "How's J (the 3 year old)?"  "Oh fine.  He bonked one of their kids."  Can't say I didn't warn her....


Ok, let's get serious and go back to why I entitled this Goshen or Bust.....


When RM called to tell me what was going on and that they were stuck on the side of the road, I quickly reminded him, and he knew, that God must be up to something.  We are definitely learning to not question him on these kinds of interruptions anymore.  The next morning, I was back in Genesis (finally into Exodus!) and I read the well-known story of Joseph.  Each time I read this story we are in a different place so I relate to a different character each time.  This time, oddly enough, it was Jacob.


What a sad life Jacob had led.  From early on in his life as a twin, earning his birthright dishonestly, being chosen as a favourite by his mother, living in fear, running from his brother.....not a stress-free existence.  Then having children of his own by multiple wives who also provided no end of stress, a rough relationship with his father-in-law.....finally having two boys with the love of his life, Rachel, but then she dies in childbirth...how awful!  But at least he has his children, or does he?  He inherited the generational sin of showing favouritism to one of his boys, Joseph.  This doesn't go over well and ultimately contributes to his other children selling Joseph into slavery, but of course, Jacob doesn't know this and is told that he was eaten by wild animals.  Nice.  He lives out most of his days in sorrow.


Finally the Joseph story takes a turn when the famine starts in Egypt.  The remaining brothers are told by Jacob to go and get food in Egypt.  This is when Joseph tests them by taking Simeon as a prisoner until they return with the youngest brother Benjamin who remained with Jacob.  When they return to get Benjamin, Jacob refuses to let him go and in fact, doesn't seem to worried about leaving Simeon behind because the Bible says they didn't return until they'd used up all the grain - what?!  How long did he have to stay behind!  I hadn't noticed that before.  Simeon must have not been impressed.


Once again, the famine is still quite bad and they run out of grain again.  This time Judah steps in and says he'll be a pledge of safety for Benjamin.  The story then comes full circle.  Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, offers forgiveness and asks for Jacob to return to him with all of his family and herds.  They'll be taken care of and be able to live without fear of the famine.


When Jacob hears all of this, it is too good to be true - "his heart became numb, for he did not believe them."  Finally they convince him it is true and they pack up and go.


God had always been there, in spite of his hard life, and had spoken to him throughout his life.  Once again, he speaks to him in visions of the night, "Jacob, Jacob.  I am God, the God of your father.  Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt for there I will make you into a great nation.  I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes."


So off they go.  They arrive in Egypt and Pharaoh himself comes out to meet Jacob.  Such an interesting moment.


"And Pharaoh said to Jacob, 'How many are the days of the years of your life?'


And Jacob said to Pharaoh, 'The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years.  Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.'"


What a sad response!  It appears Jacob has not read Ann Voskamp!  He didn't look back, it seemed, with much gratitude or joy, for that matter, on how his life had gone.  He said his days had been few and evil.  This is one of the top guys in the Bible!  His life stunk in his eyes. 


But, God was faithful even so Jacob felt this way.  His life might have been hard, really hard, and sad, really sad, but in the end, God brought him to Goshen - to "the best of the land" in Egypt where he would "eat the fat of the land".


I share all of this because when RM called me on the Tuesday morning to give me an update, I could hear discouragement in his voice.  It had been quite the 24 hours - nothing like what he had expected.  Having just read about Jacob that morning, I quickly shared Jacob's response to Pharaoh.  Jacob, this famous patriarch, had not seen all these lows in his life with a great perspective.  It would have been easy for RM to say the same, that his days have been "few and evil" - it's hard not to say that when you go through these types of challenges.  Yet God speaks to us, perhaps not in night visions, but through his word, and we do have the Ann Voskamp advantage!  We can say "Thank you for breaking our truck down!  Thank you for allowing little J to be along on the trip!  Thank you for our great friends who lived right nearby where RM broke down!"  I told RM, don't be like Jacob!  Let yourself see things through a heavenly perspective - he's taking us to Goshen.....some day - even if we are in a famine-type state.  God even used the famine to bring Jacob and his son together again.


So now, my prayers are all about Goshen - Lord, take us to Goshen.....in your time.....Jacob didn't get there as quickly as he hoped.  In fact, I don't think he ever thought Goshen existed.  As far as he was concerned, Goshen was not a reality in his life.  I want to believe Goshen will be our reality.  The greatest part of the story is not just how Jacob gets to go to Goshen in his old age, but the Bible specifically describes who else benefitted, "The sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives....All his offspring, he brought with him into Egypt."  The Bible could have just said, "Then a bunch of them came to Egypt."  No.  The little ones.  Their wives.  Even me and my little people will get to go with RM someday. 


RM and I know it might not be us that truly benefit from getting out of debt.  It really might just be these future generations.  This story acknowledges that yes, Jacob, finally at the end of his life arrived, but it also says, "...you and your children and your children's children" will ultimately be the ones who benefit.  That is a little bit hard for me if I'm truly honest.  I wish I could have benefitted a little earlier on in my life, but I can't change the past.  I'm grateful for the future though and how my kids will do better in the land of Goshen.


Ok, one other great side note to not having the little 3 year old running around here for 24 hours...heh, heh, heh......I had to fake sympathy a little when RM first called to say there was a major delay.  "Really!  I'm so sorrrrrry, honey!"  I admitted to my friend when I spoke to her on the phone, "This is really awful for RM, but GREAT FOR ME!!!!  HA!  Do you have ANY IDEA how much I'm getting done around here!!!!!"


Hey, I love my children, but my house is a mess!  There was so much cleaning up and reorganizing I wanted to do and that just does not get done when that boy is around.  You wouldn't believe what I accomplished with my older girls in that period of time.  We completely took their room apart and moved the 5 year old in with the baby.  That room also got a complete cleanup top to bottom.  Desks got moved upstairs which the girls had wanted for some time.  My room had never been really cleaned up since it had been a cat maternity ward a few weeks ago.  That finally got taken care of.  I did a major overhaul on the homeschool room.  This led to a major basement cleanup once everyone got back where I, sob, went through all my babystuff and, more sobbing, cleared it ALL out.  My friend and I admitted to one another on Sunday that, it's true, we are finally getting older.  It is time to move on.  It appears no more babies are coming.  I even threw out the car seat.  But, but, what if I do have another one?????  RM assures me we'll buy it all again.  Still sad, but it's time to stop hanging on to all the beautiful clutter that I love so much that comes from 8 babies, hoping there might be more.....I never thought I'd be in this place, but I am.  I'm ok with that, but it is a time of mourning for me.


All that to say, my house is looking better and better!  Is it possible that God knew I would need that time and RM would never have agreed to taking him out of the picture for 24 hours!  I can only say, God really does "work ALL things together for good"!!!!!  Hee hee!!!!  Well, he's back now and tearing up the house in his dreams.......he'll be down soon and it'll be another busy day jumping from one couch to another.


Back to the Porsche for a minute.  Was God putting roadblocks in our way so that we wouldn't pursue this way of getting out of debt?  I don't think so.  I think it was just another test of our resolve.  Anything worthwhile doing is hard work.  I really love that our boys observed the trial.  They will have trials in their lives.  They must learn how to cope.  How else do you learn this without watching the generation before?  We accept the trials gladly knowing the eternal purposes behind them.


So, is Goshen in our future?  I'm sure hoping so, but in the meantime, I'm here with all sorts of cats and children crawling all over me and I'm happy.