LOST!

The first Saturday after we arrived in Kissimmee Marilyn and I were invited to a baseball game in which one of the college students who helped with the youth group, Brad Watson, was pitching for Valencia Community College (I think).  They told us where the ballpark was, just off Sand Lake Road in Orlando.  We knew where Sand Lake was from our early Disney trips from Springfield.  So we headed out.  There was something we did not yet know about central Florida, however.  Many roads have more than one location.  A street will begin, then end, and then start up again in some totally random place.  Sometimes they will change names at one intersection, and then change back to the original name several miles down the road.  It can be massively confusing. 

We found Sand Lake down near the Florida Mall and began following the directions we had been given.  We soon found ourselves out near the Orlando Airport.  This was not good.  The area we were looking for was closer to where Universal Studios are now.  We drove and we drove; we stopped and asked for directions a few times; we got very lost.  It served as just one more reminder of how little we actually knew about our new area and our new lives.

But as with most of those reminders, there was great joy to be found in the journey.  We finally arrived at the game and got to see Brad pitch.  His father, Vern Watson, was there and we got to spend time with him.  Jill Painter was there as well, and we laughed all afternoon as she tried desperately to get Vern to stick to his diabetic diet- with absolutely no success!  We made two very good friends that day just for showing up to enjoy a baseball game.  It was a reminder of another sort- that God is present in all that we do.  Jesus is with us all the time, but especially when we are lost.  God is good all the time.  Our first Sunday was the next day, and we had so much to be thankful for.  The preliminaries were over- it was time for my first youth group in Kissimmee!  It was time to "Sing Alleluia!"

Because of Jesus,