among a crowded market on a Vancouver Saturday morning, the galoshes clonk all around us as we zip up and hood our rain jackets to head back out to the rain. the girls are ready to open their fancy pink umbrellas and check on the seagulls as is a tradition at Granville island. a young woman finds her way to stephen and offers the most odd and unexpected conversation. only what once would have seemed a little out there for us now fits on us fine and stephen receives the words from a total stranger. She says, "God gave me a word for you today, its COURAGE." She told Stephen that that morning as she was praying she was given this picture of a man with blue jeans and a green jacket on that she was to share this word with that day. And so her faith walked her right up to Stephen to offer comfort and share a word with him.

weeks earlier as he has been pouring into the Bible for hope and wisdom, he joked with me saying that he wishes that like Joshua or Moses, that God would speak right to him, so clearly. and this memory came back to him this weekend as he tried to receive what may have otherwise seemed hokey as encouragement.

this whole in between feels this way, it hosts this uncommon hope. we are oddly more at ease than with the security of last month. we are randomly finding ourselves with more grace with one another and finely focused on the tinier more important parts of our hearts. i find myself strengthless for all sorts of battles i picked weeks ago. my days don't seem to steal much from me because i feel more attune to all that is secure, rich and good in our lives right now. i feel more aware of the sun breaks in the middle of rain and the taste of a good americano and suddenly selling a car or canceling a sofa order don't seem so bad. well maybe the sofa thing hurt a little, ha ha, but really in the big picture our life seems cluttered with provision that makes it far easier to make any adjustments that help us to be responsible and make the best decisions for our little crew in the unknown. we are continuing through friends, family, each other and our faith live with this oh so unexpected sustenance for our days.