Laurel Street

Today is my last day in New Orleans. My moving truck is parked outside my house, boxes surround me, I'm ready to pack up and leave. I took one last early morning stroll down Laurel Street to my favorite coffee shop this morning. It's early Sunday morning and Laurel street is still sleeping.

I have loved living on Laurel Street....I've walked down to Whole Foods to grab some dinner or the CC's on Magazine for a quick cup of coffee more time that I can count in the last two years I love the houses on Laurel Street - it's New Orleans architecture displayed in all it's splendor - from little shotgun houses to doubles with the detailed lattices....everything is unique and colorful.

As I was walking down Magazine Street back to my house, I remembered that day almost two years ago when I was exploring New Orleans. I remember driving past the Whole Foods on Magazine and then into Audubon park and I thought "I'd love to live here" but my logical mind quickly dismissed it, there's no way I could ever afford it. I never even lifted that to heaven as a prayer. Three months later I moved into my little house on Laurel Street - 3 blocks from Audubon Park, and 3 blocks from Magazine Street. It's exactly the area I dreamed of living in.

Now I'm packing up again and I confess, I'm struggling. I'm struggling to believe that God will be this good to me again. I'm struggling to leave everything and go to a new place - a place that is completely different. I don't want to follow the call, I want to stay behind...to stay where it's safe. And as I turned the corner to walk back to my little house, I was struck with the thought - this may be the greatest step of faith I've ever taken and I've got to believe that the same God who provided extravagantly here in New Orleans will do the same in Mexico City. I've got to walk this path with that God, not the God of my own design.

So, I'm saying goodbye to Laurel Street, to CC's coffee, to walks by the river and lazy afternoons in Audubon Park....to friends and to a job that I'm pretty competent in doing. I'm saying goodbye to all of that today. It will be a sad day. There will be many tears. But there's a new path to take and I don't know what it's going to look like but I do know the one who is leading me down the path.