All Abuzz

Most of the time, I don't have the opportunity to meet any of the ladies involved in planning an event where I am asked to speak, mainly because of logistics ... we live too far apart to pop into a coffee shop for a meet and greet. Many of the women contact me through one of the speakers' websites that I am a member of or through the recommendation of another group for which I've spoken. But occasionally, I have the opportunity to sit down and chat with one or more of the women in charge of organizing the retreat or brunch or luncheon. Such was the case a few weeks ago when I had the true blessing of meeting the gals who planned the retreat that took place in Branson last weekend. We met at a restaurant not far from my house after work one evening for dinner ... well, they ate dinner and I watched and talked.

I had just returned from the weekend I spent in Edna, Kansas ... those of you who are faithful readers will remember that on my drive home from Edna, a gigantic, enormous, monster-sized black and yellow bee flew into my car and stung me on the forehead. For those of you who missed that post, it's titled Crossing the Line and it recounts my traumatic experience with said bee. Perhaps because the encounter was still so vivid in my mind (and on my forehead) the night I met the gals for dinner, I shared with the ladies what had happened to me. And ... I made sure to tell them how gigantically enormously monster-sized the bee was, complete with "the bee was this big!" measurements with my hands. We had a good laugh together about the bee incident, and they teased me about how the bee would grow in size each time I told the story.

When I arrived at the lodge on Friday afternoon, I went inside to make sure I was at the right place. The ladies from the planning team greeted me with smiles and hugs, and then they unloaded my car ... yep, I didn't have to lift a finger because they carried everything in for me. One of the gals gave me a tour of the top floor while another told me I couldn't see my room just yet. Eventually, they took me to my room and as I stepped in the door, a camera flashed and caught my expression as I saw a gigantic, enormous, monster-sized bee attached to the light above my bed ... what an incredibly fun way to begin my weekend with this group of ladies! I was told that when they left the restaurant the night I met them for dinner, they all decided that there must be a bee waiting for me when I came to the retreat. One of the gals found a dog's bee Halloween costume, stuffed it and stitched it together and added a head with eyes, antennae and a scary mouth ... creative and absolutely hilarious. "Bumbles the Giagantic, Enormous, Monster-sized Bee" rode back to Kansas City with me tucked securely into Ollie's doggie car seat, and I've decided that Bumbles will be accompanying me to many of my speaking events in the future.

In my last post, I wrote about how God moved last weekend, not only in the hearts of the women attending, but in my own heart as well. Needless to say, I've had the events of the retreat on my mind all day today, and it was as I was driving home this evening in the rain (and the darkness since the time changed last weekend) that another truth presented itself to me. Those ladies listened to me that night at dinner, but they did more than just listen ... they heard my heart, and they understood my earnest desire for their retreat to be richly blessed by God. They felt my longing to serve our Lord together, and they embraced my passion for women's ministry. They even appreciated my unusual sense of humor ... come on ... they made and hung a giant bee from the ceiling for me. And to prove that God has a sense of humor as well, right after I shared the bee story at the beginning of Saturday evening's session with the ladies who were attending the retreat, a moth flew by the side of my head and scared the daylights out of me ... a gigantic, enormous, monster-sized moth.

Here's the thing ... those sweet ladies got it that night at dinner ... they listened and heard and got it. As I pulled into the garage this evening, I thought ... I would do well to learn from those gals, Lord, I would do well indeed. So here's to gigantic, enormous, monster-sized bees ... here's to smiles and laughter and fun ... here's to new friends ... here's to serving an awesome God Who brings the right people to the right place at the right time. Perfection, Lord ... You are true perfection.