Why are we in El Paso?

We left Kingsville, Texas Thursday around noon, stopped at the infamous Taqueria Jalisco for lunch, and headed north on route 37 back towards San Antonio. 

We were spoiled at the boarding school.  A bed to sleep in, plenty of food, and the ease of knowing where we were going to be the next day made us soft. 

I was thrilled to leave and begin the next part of our journey, but part of me also dreaded the uncertainty of where we should go next. 

We prayed and asked God to show us which direction to travel in.

In our own minds we thought we would keep going north.  Maybe hit the University of Texas in Austin and travel out of Texas into Oklahoma. 

Haha.  Of course that is not what God had in mind for us. 

We’ve been told be several people that driving route 10 from San Antonio to El Paso is horrible, full of nothing but desert and mountains.

So when we came upon the junction of 10 and 37 in El Paso I had no idea why I suddenly had it in my mind that it would be a good idea to go that way.

“Maybe we should go to El Paso”, I said to Brad.

Are you serious?

Yes, I think I am.

So we turned our car west and proceeded towards El Paso.  We were given one last chance to take a different route, and we decided we should cast lots to make sure this is really where God wanted us to go.

Heads for El Paso.

Heads it was.

So we made camp in Kerrville at the Walmart, which is the last major city on Rt. 10 for about 300 miles.  We stocked our supplies and in the morning headed to Ft. Stockton, which is conveniently located exactly halfway between El Paso and San Antonio. 

We set out for El Paso excited and anxious because we had no idea what we were supposed to do once we got there. 

We didn’t know if there would be a place for us to sleep, or if we would have to spend another unrelaxing night sleeping in the Cavalier.

The countdown to El Paso began.  From 400 miles away to 5, we finally began to see signs of civilization. 

We saw a sign for an RV park so we stopped but found out they didn’t have any spots for tent camping.  The guy was also nice enough to let us know that there wasn’t anywhere in El Paso that had tent camping except for a park about 30 miles away.

We checked the park out on the internet and it was going to be 20 bucks a night to camp there. 

That’s a little over our price limit for a place to pitch our tent for the night.

Brad was insistent upon finding a coffee shop.  Seriously, he must have mentioned it 5 times.

So we found the University of Texas, El Paso and drove around looking for cheap motels and coffee shops.

We passed a coffee shop and I pointed it out to Brad.  He didn’t turn around right then, but we proceeded to go to a couple of motels and see how much it would be to stay for a week.  We found a good deal at one but they didn’t allow pets. 

We decided to turn around and go back to the coffee shop to see what we could find out.

We ordered our coffees and Brad asked the barista if they had a website.

Nope, just a myspace.

To make the story short, we talked to the owner, Kinley, and he said he had been looking to set up a website for a while.

So here we are in El Paso, Brad is working on the website for Kinley’s House and we are being fed through the generosity of Kinley and his staff.

Praise God!

“Coincidence? Perhaps, but as Archbishop William Temple once noted, the coincidences occurred much more frequently when he prayed.”- Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster.

Even through my doubts and worries, God answers our prayers.  His direction is a thousand times better than anything we could ever pick out for ourselves. 

Comments

Brad & Melissa, Pete & I are studying the Celebration of Discipline now and I think it has a lot of “good stuff”.  Another one I know you would like is Starving Jesus by Craig Gross & JR Mahon.  They feel like you about sitting on a church pew.  Our small group is studying the book now and we have been challanged to help people in our community with home repairs who can’t afford or aren’t able to do them, themselves.  We are praying for you!  Love Pete & Vicki

YES! Taqueria Jalisco! ...hope El Paso treats you better than Kingsville! -still following and learning from “ya’ll”...imee.

Heck Yes we went to Taqueria Jalisco.

It was delicious.  They had a quarter vending machine that dispensed tiny plastic catholic saint figurines.

I’m trying to collect all 12.

Coincidence...synchronicity… grace… the beauty of how all things are interconnected.
wishing you well and enjoying your posts--
Kathleen
ps. i’m off on my own travels (in a couple hours)to the Middle East for a few weeks.  Hope you don’t show up in Colorado before I get back!
Kathleen

Hi Melissa,
I’m your 2nd cousin—yur mom’s childhood bud, Yur gitin’ closer and i’d like to converse aside of this format. Got an unadultrated email address?

Love

Uncle Rick—in far Northern CA.

Rick,

It’s good to hear from you! 

Our email address is simpyonelife@gmail.com