Oh, Kansas!

I should have known that Kansas had a place in my life. That I would end up here in some way or another. The evidence:

• My dad spent a year at Kansas State University, before transferring home to the better Wildcats (University of Arizona).
• I was obsessed with all things Oz at a little kid.
• Over the years, I've had not one, but three, friends with deep Kansas connections. Two who moved from Kansas in junior high. One who moved to Kansas in junior high -- her mom was from here and moved home after a divorce.
• Just after Clare was born, my dad started dating a very nice lady who was originally from Kansas. He ended up marrying that Kansas girl. (Love you, Rhonda!!)
• We have friends -- the ones whose advice led us here in the first place -- from Kansas. Even knowing them is a long series of coincidences. 
• Heck, even the Bishop of Phoenix is from Kansas! And since we've had the distinct privilege of meeting him on several occasions, I say it counts!

I think about all those things frequently. It's funny to feel so connected to a place that, until last summer, I had never even passed through. It's funny that our residency p is a place that never crossed my mind, but has always been in my heart.

I am, by no means, a providentialist, but I feel that God has, in some way, been priming and guiding my heart for this time in our lives. It was, after all, foreknown by the Almighty. I am always awed, looking back on things like this, at His hand at work. I feel humbled. I feel called to the kind of radical trust that I cannot muster when I look forward. Yet, I pray that I might.