Let Me Tell You About My Jesus Part 2

This is Part 2 of a series about our trip out to Texas. If you missed Part 1 go to the blog section and scroll till you find “Let Me Tell You About My Jesus.”

Now on to the story. When we changed our plans and moved the trip up almost 2 months early, things just fell into place beautifully. What we didn’t account for was the quick spread of the Delta variant.

As we made our way across the south, we were careful to wear our masks and to social distance as much as possible. We tried to eat outside on patios or stay as separated as we could.

When we arrived in Vicksburg, MS, we received a phone call from one of the families we were going to stay with. Unfortunately, one of her children tested positive, and we would not be able to stay with them any longer. We were so sad because we love this family and hated that we wouldn’t be able to spend time with them.

We rearranged our schedule a bit and they blessed us with 2 nights at the Drover Hotel in the Fort Worth Stockyards.

We were all set. Challenge dealt with.

On the day we were to arrive in Texas and stay with another family, we got a phone call. You guessed it–this time the dad had contracted Covid at his job at a hospital. We were about 3 hours from arriving at their home. When we got off of the call, we were incredibly saddened again, but we also began to wonder—“What in the world is going on?”

That was 2 calls in 2 days and now we needed to find someplace to stay for 4 nights that had a kitchen, washer/dryer, etc. We didn’t bring tons of clothes because we knew we would have access to a washer/dryer at our friends’ homes.

If you know my husband, then you know that he is a PLANNER. When we took our trip to Alaska, he had that trip planned down to the hour. While I like to have a schedule, I also like a little bit of spontaneity, so I quickly began looking for alternative options.

I have to give my hubby credit though–he uncharacteristically didn’t let this phase him. After a prayer for guidance on what we should do—I quickly accessed VRBO and Airbnb and began the search for a condo for 4 days, beginning that day on Labor Day weekend.

We found a swanky little condo that was on a “special deal” in a brand new apartment complex in the newly renovated medical district of downtown Fort Worth. They were running a great deal because the apartment complex was losing money on apartments that had not been rented yet. Another company would furnish the apartments and rent them out on Airbnb and VRBO and it was a win/win situation for both parties.

We ended up in a one-bedroom, fully furnished kitchen, living room, and complete with a washer/dryer for around $100 a night. (Note: our precious friends even helped us foot the bill.) This even included free parking in the parking deck which was attached to the apartment building. It included a beautiful pool area and we made use of that one morning. It also included a fully decked-out gym, but we had no problem walking right by it on the way to the pool. No temptation whatsoever!

We didn’t know what God was up to–but we did figure out that Ben and I were going to be able to have some sweet time just by ourselves. While that was never our goal–our goal was to see some friends who we had not seen in almost 17 years. But it sure was a bonus for us. We didn’t even know we needed it, but we did.

So Let Me Tell You About My Jesus again!

Because I had just gotten over Covid, my body was tired. I had the opportunity to rest and relax and have quite a bit of downtime. Jesus knew my body was still in recovery–He prepared a place for me to rest.

We still got to see quite a few friends–even our friends with Covid. We did it outside and socially distanced from each other. It was such a joy to see their faces and hear their voices in person.

Our other visits were incredibly sweet also. It felt like we picked up right where we left off 17 years ago. Our friendships have stood the test of time. We were blessed to play “catch-up” and hear about all of the life changes since we lived there. We wanted to go to church at Wedgwood Baptist and see some of our former church family, but we opted out with the Delta variant hot in Fort Worth when we arrived.

One thing that has not changed in Texas for the last 17 years is the Texas Pride. We noticed it on the outskirts of Dallas. It never fails–the U.S. flag and the Texas flag are flown at equal heights. In Kroger, we noticed it was Texas Angus Beef, Texas Tea, and Texas-grown _________. The commercials still announce the Texas Home Depot, and Texas Ford Tough. You know what else? It doesn’t get old! We love Texas!

While we were in the downtown part of Fort Worth, we took a day trip to the Kimball Art Museum, the Stock Yards and we also visited the #1 zoo in the United States–the Fort Worth Zoo. When we lived in town we always had either a zoo pass or a science museum pass. Our kids enjoyed trips to the zoo or museum almost every Friday. Here’s the amazing part of our day at the zoo. The morning we were going to the zoo, a rainstorm came through and cooled down the temperature to 72 degrees. It was windy and not crowded because of the rainstorm. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves even though I only lasted 3 hours–I was totally exhausted after that visit.

I’ll sum it up like this. We made our plans, and when those plans fell through, God gave us a blessing in the form of rest and sweet visits with friends.

His plans are always better in the end!

What has Jesus done for you lately?