FRIENDS.
God is SO good. This past weekend was not what I would call a dream only because I would have never dared to dream of a second Pancake Peeps location. What I would call this weekend was a very clear example of God's plans being so much greater than our own.
A month ago I joined a life group made up of people who had a heart for outreach. The amazing leaders challenged us to pursue God sized plans for our lives and our vocations. I remember leaving that first week and calling Will to tell him about what we learned. I said to him "Will we need to pray this week. We need to pray God gives us a vision for ways to expand Pancake Peeps". Now this doesn't seem like funny thing to tell Will, but the reason this is really funny to me is because I had an expectation on what I wanted the answer to be. I might have even told Will we needed to pray because we needed certain things I thought would help us expand. (The funny part comes next).
Fast forward LITERALLY ONE DAY and I got an email from a lady with the subject line: Opportunity at 20th & B. Getting emails from random people is always really exciting to me because it means people are hearing about Pancakes from someone other than our immediate circle. I remember opening the email and reading about an amazing location where the city and the Alpha Project are going to be housing people and empowering them to feel safe and loved. Then comes the kicker. She said she heard great things about Pancake Peeps and wanted to know if we would be willing to move our operation to the safe space! WHAT?! To be honest.... I didn't read this and think "Wow God, that was fast!" (Because remember I already knew what I wanted the answer to be.. and it was not this). What I actually did was call my mom and talk to a few people who reminded me what we had been praying for and THEN I realized what had just happened. OUR PRAYER WAS ANSWERED! And it was SCARY. A new location? What would that look like, how would we run both, was this actually what we were suppose to do?
We obviously decided that this in fact was God's answer for us. We asked Him to speak- and His answer was to go. I wonder how long God waited for us to pray for His vision to prosper before He was able to expand His operation? If this whole experience has done anything for me it is that my eyes have been opened to the importance of being in constant pursuit of God's Will. God did in fact tell us what He wanted, and no matter how scary it was for us, we decided it was our job to be obedient.
Alright, fast forward to yesterday. GUYS. AND GIRLS. Yesterday was unreal. We showed up at the location and were greeted by an amazing group of people who were waiting eagerly for us! One of the guys on staff told Taylor and I that he remembered eating our pancakes when he was homeless himself! (He might have been the most excited to be honest). There were so many moments where I had the opportunity to step back and think, "This is our community. These people are now apart of our family".
The vibe of Pancake Peeps Balboa is different than Pancake Peeps Downtown. There is a calmness in Balboa that comes with being in a safe zone. There is a homely feeling you get as you watch the 40 kids run around, play street baseball, and paint with the volunteers. As we walked around to tell everyone it was last call on pancakes there was a feeling of community. Of belonging.
We just began a new journey of trust and relationship building. Some people in the safe zone already know us, and other do not. Although so many things are still unknown about our new adventure and new location, one thing is very clear: God's plans are SO much better than anything I could have imagined.
Until next time!
