Chatter

Were never so vulnerable than when we trust someone. Walter Anderson Its amazing the things we put our trust in. Ninety-nine percent of us dont stop to inspect our cars before each trip to the grocery store to make sure theyre capable of making the trek; we just drive. Most of us dont make it a habit to test each chairs durability before poppinga-squat; we just sit. And some very brave people dont even run background checks or perform intense testing on someone who lives over 2,000 miles away before handing over the virtual reins of Chatter while they are on maternity leave (hi Julie and baby Madeline!). We trust. I recently had a crash course in the art of trusting. About nine months ago, my husband Mark and I packed up and moved away from our friends and family at IBC, and away from our stable jobs, to move to Portland, Ore., where we had no jobs and no friends. I wish I could say our move was based on our obedient trust in the Lords will for us to be in Portland, but really it was more of a why-not-move-to-the-west-coast-while-were-young type of thing. The trust part of our trip didnt come in the form of a destination; it came in the journey. You see, Mark and I are what you might call products of our generation (see story on page 9 about twenty somethings), so when we packed up our 22-ft moving truck with our belongings, it didnt cross our minds to pack a map after all, we had our GPSwhich Ive aptly named Lucy (I have a tendency to name inanimate objects; she also talks in a British accent). About two-thirds of the way through our trip, we ran into a bit of snow in the mountains of California. Not wanting to deal with snow tires on a moving truck, and being the technological geniuses we are, we simply told Lucy to avoid the mountains. Simple enough. We briefly checked out our new path, got excited about driving along the 101 by the coast and took off, hoping to get to Portland that night. Around 4:30 p.m. that day Mark took over driving because he knew driving in traffic in that enormous truck would freak me out. I did a quick check to make sure Lucy was okay and froze. Mark. Ya? I think were going to be going through San Francisco during rush hour. Eh. I bet well just be driving around the city. Oh, ok. Youre probably right. He was wrong. The next thing I remember was Mark clutching the wheel with wide eyes as he signaled to change lanes downtown. Turn left on Lombard Avenue, Lucy instructed, in her now annoying British accent. Cars were honking. Fingers were flipping. Mark was stressed. And I was taking pictures. Merge on to the Golden Gate Bridge, she said while Mark growled and I got my camera ready. A day later than planned, we arrived in Portland. You see, when we changed our direction, Lucy failed to mention wed be driving through downtown San Francisco in a 22-ft moving truck towing a Hyundai in rush hour traffic and then driving through the one-lane, unlit Redwood forest around midnight. But the point is that we got there. Although there were stressful situations, dark paths and hard decisions, Lucy pulled through and got us to our destination in one piece with plenty of stories to laugh about later (much later in Marks case). It was an adventure well never forget. The same is true when we trust Christ; our ultimate navigator. We dont necessarily know the path hes taking us on, and there will most definitely be times where were faced with some stressful situations; but one things for sure it will be an adventure. So heres to hoping you will trust me as I do my best as interim editor of Chatter while Julie is enjoying time spent with her precious baby girl.

a letter from

Stand-in Editor Extraordinaire Kristy Alpert Art Direction, Design & Goodness Josh Wiese & Dennis Cheatham Photography Evan Chavez (Back to School Event) The Big Cheese Bill Buchanan Visit Chatter online at chattermag.com. Contact Chatter at chatter@irvingbible.org.
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