Getting to Poland
Some of you have been asking about how to drive to Poland. So, I thought I'd answer those questions here for all to see. You can't! Ok, just kidding...this isn't about driving or even flying over here.
I met last night with my friend that comes over on Thursday nights to play the guitar and chat. Some times we end up chatting more than playing, which is cool. A few hours of one-on-one Polish is great to sharpen my language skillz up from time to time. Last night he asked about how we got to Poland...and re-telling some of the things that happened while we were making our decision made me think about sharing them with you (don't think I've done that before, have I??).
When we decided we wanted to go into international missions, we basically told God that we'd go wherever He wanted...really, wherever. For whatever reason it felt like there were a few regions of the world that stood out. We didn't know why. But Europe seemed to be one of those. We just mentioned that to our candidate consultant and trusted God (and him) to lead us through the labyrinth of positions and to get us ultimately where we needed to be.
Well, we were immediately loaded down with a mountain of requests...many from Europe and Muslim countries, but others from different countries around the world. And we began to pray. Now, here's the catch...both of us wanted to feel 100% called to whichever country we decided on. So, we determined to pray about God's leading separately, without talking to each other about it (too much anyway) as to not put any pressure on each other in any given direction. That went on about 6 months!
During those months, strange things concerning Poland kept happening. We went to a nearby mall and saw some incredible chess sets. After talking to the shop owner about them for awhile we asked where they were from. "Poland," she answered and began telling us about how wonderful the country and people are. "Interesting," we thought.
Vicki had a doctor's appointment and was talking to the doc about going overseas. When asked about where we would be going, she told him that we hadn't yet decided. Well, he begins telling her about how some friend of his (or family member?) had spent some time in Poland and how wonderful the country and the people are.
Things like this seemed to happen pretty often. There were phone calls with former and current missionaries to Poland that were incredibly encouraging and informative, while other conversations to folks in different countries either didn't happen or were less encouraging/informative. Things...these seemingly coincidental things kept bringing Poland back up in our minds. It was crazy...but just wait a sec for real crazy!!
Well, after those months had passed I came home from work one day and sat down with Vicki in the living room. I looked at her and just said, "I can't think about going overseas without thinking of Poland." Keep in mind I didn't even know what that meant...had never been here...didn't know anyone over here. And she said quite simply, "me too!" God had done just what we asked Him. We were both convinced that the calling on the next part of our lives was to come to Poland. It wasn't that He was just calling me and she would come along. He was calling her as well.
The next day we needed to tell the good folks at the IMB about our decision. So, I made a phone call at work and talked it over with whoever it was. Vicki had to pick me up that day...so I was telling her about the phone call on the way home when we pulled up to a traffic light and stopped. Turning to look at a big rig that had pulled up right next to us, I saw the craziest thing on it's bed. On each of the straps (maybe 10-15 or so) holding down the truck's cargo was written: Go Poland.
To this day it boggles my mind to think about all of those things...especially "Go Poland". And I don't tell you this to encourage you to look for all of the "signs" and whatnot when you're looking for wisdom in making big life decisions. Everything has to be taken in God's context...each thought and event weighed appropriately in light of God's Word and character. But when all of those things work in harmony and God uses those externals to help us to look in a certain direction for an answer, it's really beautiful and amazing.
Go Poland. We'd already made the decision to go...otherwise it seems like we'd be listening to the truck straps. It was nice to get their approval though! Haha!
I met last night with my friend that comes over on Thursday nights to play the guitar and chat. Some times we end up chatting more than playing, which is cool. A few hours of one-on-one Polish is great to sharpen my language skillz up from time to time. Last night he asked about how we got to Poland...and re-telling some of the things that happened while we were making our decision made me think about sharing them with you (don't think I've done that before, have I??).
When we decided we wanted to go into international missions, we basically told God that we'd go wherever He wanted...really, wherever. For whatever reason it felt like there were a few regions of the world that stood out. We didn't know why. But Europe seemed to be one of those. We just mentioned that to our candidate consultant and trusted God (and him) to lead us through the labyrinth of positions and to get us ultimately where we needed to be.
Well, we were immediately loaded down with a mountain of requests...many from Europe and Muslim countries, but others from different countries around the world. And we began to pray. Now, here's the catch...both of us wanted to feel 100% called to whichever country we decided on. So, we determined to pray about God's leading separately, without talking to each other about it (too much anyway) as to not put any pressure on each other in any given direction. That went on about 6 months!
During those months, strange things concerning Poland kept happening. We went to a nearby mall and saw some incredible chess sets. After talking to the shop owner about them for awhile we asked where they were from. "Poland," she answered and began telling us about how wonderful the country and people are. "Interesting," we thought.
Vicki had a doctor's appointment and was talking to the doc about going overseas. When asked about where we would be going, she told him that we hadn't yet decided. Well, he begins telling her about how some friend of his (or family member?) had spent some time in Poland and how wonderful the country and the people are.
Things like this seemed to happen pretty often. There were phone calls with former and current missionaries to Poland that were incredibly encouraging and informative, while other conversations to folks in different countries either didn't happen or were less encouraging/informative. Things...these seemingly coincidental things kept bringing Poland back up in our minds. It was crazy...but just wait a sec for real crazy!!
Well, after those months had passed I came home from work one day and sat down with Vicki in the living room. I looked at her and just said, "I can't think about going overseas without thinking of Poland." Keep in mind I didn't even know what that meant...had never been here...didn't know anyone over here. And she said quite simply, "me too!" God had done just what we asked Him. We were both convinced that the calling on the next part of our lives was to come to Poland. It wasn't that He was just calling me and she would come along. He was calling her as well.
The next day we needed to tell the good folks at the IMB about our decision. So, I made a phone call at work and talked it over with whoever it was. Vicki had to pick me up that day...so I was telling her about the phone call on the way home when we pulled up to a traffic light and stopped. Turning to look at a big rig that had pulled up right next to us, I saw the craziest thing on it's bed. On each of the straps (maybe 10-15 or so) holding down the truck's cargo was written: Go Poland.
To this day it boggles my mind to think about all of those things...especially "Go Poland". And I don't tell you this to encourage you to look for all of the "signs" and whatnot when you're looking for wisdom in making big life decisions. Everything has to be taken in God's context...each thought and event weighed appropriately in light of God's Word and character. But when all of those things work in harmony and God uses those externals to help us to look in a certain direction for an answer, it's really beautiful and amazing.
Go Poland. We'd already made the decision to go...otherwise it seems like we'd be listening to the truck straps. It was nice to get their approval though! Haha!
posted by Michael Shattuck at
1:07 AM
2 Comments:
Wow. That's really awesome. I've got goosebumps! Thanks for sharing that with us! I know that in the harder times I go back and remind myself of the extremely obvious ways that God made it clear He was calling me to Poland. I love that our God is quite capable of making things crystal clear, with a sense of humor!! Go Poland!
I hadn't heard your truck story before!
Reminds me of our experience when we were deciding about Poland and suddenly everywhere we turned, we saw something about Poland.
We basically had decided to transfer to Poland, but for some reason I had in my mind one last question regarding our physical move from St. Petersburg, Russia to Poznan.
So, as we drove down the interstate in Connecticut while in the U.S. we passed a "Polonez" (Polish company) moving truck which listed different cities on the side...including St. Pete and Poznan!
Fortunately, I avoided causing an accident at that point.
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