Our House, Year Two
Our Year Two Landlords, Laudes and Polly
A trip of memories. A ride with a friend from high school days. Meeting in Taos, my home for two summers and then two years. Delighting in New Mexico sopapillas and stacked enchiladas. Memories of a dream I let go. And the question remains, why?
The pic above shows where I stopped along the road in Rio Lucio not long after leaving highway 68 for 75 into Penasco. 44 years ago, I co-led a mission trip there and turned off on this road, then did it again a year later. Add one more year, and Taos drew me back to live for two years. My very first time on this road felt like coming home. High mountain valleys. Friendly and hospitable people. Food like I’d never tasted. Beautiful trout streams. Living in a log cabin, 8500 ft elevation, over three miles off the nearest asphalt, surrounded by national forest. This spot evoked that flood of memories.
But I also realized that my time in Taos and New Mexico, while a dream, wasn’t a destination. God sent me there so the First Baptist Church could love me back into the ministry. So I told my wife that night, on our daily call, that I really miss Taos, but don’t regret leaving. Why?
God will bring many things into our lives for a season. To prepare us. To wait for the right time. To prepare others for us. To grace us with good memories. And one afternoon, God clearly told me to leave. For ministry. So I left.
My life now wouldn’t exist without my time in Taos. I wouldn’t have entered the ministry. Wouldn’t have met the lady who became my wife. Her daughter wouldn’t have met her husband. Wouldn’t have experienced two marvelous grandchildren.
But I knew none of that when God said go. Like Abram, I went. To obey him.
I REALLY miss Taos, sopapillas, and the people and the land. I thank God I experienced that. But I let that dream go for something better. Serving him. And in that serving, he blessed me in ways greater than Taos.
Kick Starting the Application
Do you have a dream life? Do you live it, or are you still dreaming? Is there something in your life right now, something that is good and godly and enjoyable, that if you let it go, might allow God to do something greater? Are you willing to do that? What most holds you back? Maybe it’s time to release your Taos.