Week 9 - “Control Freak” … I kinda know her

Our third and final week at Timberline Lodge was multifaceted: a community gathering, a reunion of many friends, boat days, many send-offs and finally a wedding. 

We were unsure exactly what this final week in Colorado would look like, but it filled up nicely.

*I hope by the end of this year that I can say I’ve grown in comfortability with the unknown and unplanned, more on this later…

Every August Timberline hosts an event called “Gather” - the purpose being for the surrounding churches and community to visit, tour and experience the centre. There’s worship, teaching, lawn games, lots of chats and yummy food. It’s a really sweet way to invite the locals into what is going on just down the road and continue building those relationships. 2 elderly women in particular have attended every year. It's a real highlight for them as they desire to genuinely connect with the Timberline staff. 

I was in the kitchen most of the day prepping massive amounts of hors d'oeuvres while Logan helped prep the grounds and welcome the guests.

With a friend's wedding onsite at Timberline on Friday, there were a lot of old friends pulling into town throughout the week, so airport runs were plentiful. It was so fun to catch up and share in our Lost Bus journey with them. 

There was, of course, lots of wedding prep to jump in and help with, such as 200 feet of bunting to make!!!

Our last Sunday in town Logan and I had the chance to share with the church we had been a part of when we lived in the valley. We had the bus parked in the lot for tours after service and nearly everyone walked through it. We are always blessed and encouraged by the times we get to share the mission of the bus, as it reminds us of the incredible adventure we are on and all the Lord has done so far. 

Something really meaningful to us during our time in Colorado and something we hope to continue, is hosting people on the bus. Whether it's for coffee and banana bread as the sun rises or an evening of laughs with the record player setting the vibes, we have found that in these times we get to share in really meaningful conversation. There's space to really lean in and encourage one another. We were also totally blessed by the best view (very sorry to the 2 families behind us who dealt with a big fat blue bus in their front yard. 

And now the wheels are turning again. We rolled out of Winter Park yesterday, up and over Berthoud Pass and down into Denver.

To be honest, I'm nervous about these next few months. Though we have a basic idea of WHERE we are going, we have much less of an idea WHAT we will be doing. Up until this point, it’s been pretty clear who we’d be connecting with and how we could be of service. Before we left, we were encouraged not to plan our time on the bus too much in order to leave space for the inevitable networking and needs we’d be made aware of as we went. I both love and despise this concept. I love the spontaneous nature of it, the flexibility it gives us to go where the needs are and the trust it builds in Jesus to provide us with the connections, places to stay and things to do. However, I’m naturally a planner. I like knowing where we’ll be parking the bus, how we can prepare for the next stop, and how to make the most of whatever time we have there. I realise this is not a bad thing; in fact, it can be a really good thing at times. But for this very adventure, The Lost Bus, it is something I am having to lay aside for the most part, and in particular for this next leg of the journey. And I know there is so much freedom, answered prayers and the opportunity to see God at work by doing so.

FOR EXAMPLE … we had planned to drive to Rapid City, South Dakota next with only 1 known connection. In the last 2 weeks we have realised a multitude of other connections, and just yesterday (the day before heading that way) we made a connection resulting in a place to stay with hookups, amenities, etc.

And so I am learning in real time the reward of living one day at a time: that as we serve the Lord provides for tomorrow.

We had the chance to hike Byers Peak this last week. An iconic mountain in the valley that we’ve been trying to hike together for 3 years.