The Straub Family’s New Adventure

 

A few months ago, I was offered my dream job from an organization I deeply admire.  I almost accepted it.

That’s where our new adventure begins.

Being offered what I considered the position of a lifetime was an incredible honor, and also a pivotal moment for my career, and our family. Some people questioned my hesitation. To be quite honest, there were moments I did, too.

But after weeks of contemplation, countless hours clocked in conversation with my “circle of trust,” and enough prayer to sustain me through the many sleepless nights, our choice was made.

Christi and I had a very strong sense God was up to something different for us. So we listened to the still small voice we at times wished was much louder and in our face, and decided not to take the job.

Making this decision for our young family created other decisions, most immediate was deciding what to tell the family who wanted to buy our house in Branson.

Many of the godly men and women in our “circle of trust” suggested this might be God’s way of moving us elsewhere to base our business and ministry. We researched, prayed, and researched some more.

“If we could move anywhere in the country to best serve the next generation of families,” we asked ourselves, “where would we go?”

We had a blank slate to choose where we wanted to move, and we wanted to say ‘yes’ to God.

So where did God lead us on our new adventure?

To the DMV, of course. Seriously, I’m writing this during my 318-minute wait at the DMV—in Franklin, TN.

The most asked question we get since moving here two weeks ago? “What brought you to Nashville?”

The only real answer I have at this point, “God did.”

Without sounding overly spiritual about it, a lot of things brought us to the greater Nashville area:

• Closer to our extended families
• More date night options for Christi and I, including our first date here at Zanies cuss-free comedy night, to keep with our commitment to laughing more.
• Centrally located
• Easier to fly in and out of
• Nationally ranked school system
• To surround ourselves with people who are smarter, more creative, godlier, and better looking than us—oh, and who can sing better, too.
• One of fastest growing areas in the country
• Home to so many innovative thinkers and leaders who genuinely want to help one another

These are just some of the reasons. If they’re not enough to convince you, I recommend Michael Hyatt’s blog he wrote just this week titled “Why the Place You Live Determines Your Success.”

The best part about our new adventure is that it’s not about a dream job, the DMV, or Nashville. You don’t have to move to live an adventure. You just have to say ‘yes’ to God today.

The scary part about saying ‘yes’ to God today is that you most likely have no idea what tomorrow holds. God stripped me of some serious control issues through this process so I’d learn to trust his still small voice more.

In doing so…

We said ‘no’ to security, and ‘yes’ to taking risks.

We said ‘no’ to the known, and ‘yes’ to the unknown.

We said ‘no’ to walking by sight, and ‘yes’ to walking by faith.

We asked ourselves quite often during this transition what we would advise our kids to do if they were in our shoes.

I think this is a great litmus test for us as parents when we have decisions to make. If we want our kids to embrace adventure and say ‘yes’ to God, we need to show them how.

Though tomorrow remains a mystery, we’re excited because we’re setting goals, choosing adventure, and saying ‘yes’ to that still, small voice.