I arrived at church and commenced to chatting it up whilst distributing the travel CDs. After Pastor Rick prayed over us we piled into our cars and headed out for St. Louis. Somehow, I wound up in the front passenger seat of our portion of the convoy and was assigned the role of navigator. (Oops #2)
As we neared Boonville, we decided we should have lunch. Grabbing our gracious driver's phone (shout out to Amy!!!), I checked out the nearby culinary options. Bypassing the familiar McDonalds and Taco Bell type options, we settled on In-N-Out Burger. Funny thing about In-N-Out Burger... There are NONE in all of Missouri. In fact, the nearest one is over 500 miles away, but that didn't stop the good ol' cyber-navigator-lady from suggesting and sending us to the In And Out mini mart. (Oops #3) After having a good laugh and receiving about a dozen blown kisses from the mildly creepy gentleman, loitering in front of the building, we made our way to the Boonville Pilot Travel Center for Wendy's frosty goodness.
We made it to St. Louis without further incident and had a lovely evening session, led by Trudy. Knowing that I'd have a big task on Saturday, I figured it'd be best to get a good night's sleep. So after the Friday night session, I put on my PJs and promptly went to bed. Not! I stayed up until after midnight running my trap with my roomies. (Oops #4)
Saturday, I got up bright and early at 6am and went to the hotel fitness center. Because you have optimal cardiovascular performance on 5.5 hours of sleep, I hit the treadmill for a breakneck 3.7mph walk. Yup, I'm a beast. (Oops #5)
The Saturday morning session went well. We worshiped, prayed, enjoyed Jayne's message. I collected the cards, which contained the personal heart cries from each woman, and would become my big task. It was now noon and we were ready for Cheesecake Factory. As I waited for my order, I felt exhaustion settling in. I was irritable, unable to focus, and felt like a party-pooper. I went ahead and finished my meal, hit a few shops, and walked back to the hotel for a refreshing 2 hour siesta. When I woke up, it was around 5pm. I had a little under 3 hours to turn approximately 70 individual needs, into a unified plea. It's in these times, God's love and mercy is so heavily apparent. Despite my mistakes and general lack of discernment, sleep, and time, God saw fit to place His hand over mine and seam each request together into a poem that would resonate on a personal level with each woman. Enlightened by the inexplicable giddiness that only a midnight chat can bring, my bestie summed it up perfectly, "God doesn't make mistakes... Fo' shizzle!"
Fo' shizzle, indeed, Christy. Fo' shizzle!
