God Brought Us Together on Common Ground When We Weren’t Looking

During this whole time, I was working in the Records Department at Dover Elevators in Horn Lake, MS. I spent all my extra time at a little bookstore/coffee shop at Bull Frog Corner called Common Ground. It opened in September of 1995 and from the day that it opened I spent countless lunch hours, weekends, and dollars in there. This is where I met Ken and Sandi Pixley- the owners. During the summer of 1997, they found out that Ken’s job with Dover was possibly going to transfer to Irving, TX, and if so, they were going to have to sell the coffee shop. I wanted to buy it desperately but could find no way that it would be possible. My mind was constantly going in circles trying to figure out how in the world would I be able to do this? I was determined I could do it. Finally one day in early December, I was so overcome, that I went to my boss at work and asked to take off ½ day for personal reasons. I went home and got on my face before God and prayed and cried and cried and prayed. I had to let go of it, it was tearing me up. After that release, I had peace to leave it in God’s hands and if I was supposed to have that coffee shop then God would work it out. It was not up to me. 
At a Rich Mullins concert the summer of that year, I received a bit of wisdom that also helped me have peace in waiting for my ministry and learning to rest in God’s timing. Rich said, <paraphrasing> “If God wants you to go to Egypt, He’ll send you 11 jealous brothers to sell you into slavery; so be content with where ever God has you right now . . .” Not long after that concert, Rich was killed in a tragic automobile accident. He was still single. I cried for weeks, thinking of the many things that God had done through this one single man’s life; thinking of all the lives He had touched through Rich - a single man with a single purpose - to Glorify God in all he did. Now Jesus can really “hold” him - He is his “Prince of Peace”. 
So many things happened that summer that confirmed my desire and contentment in being single, yet I still was not completely content in where I was working. I came to a point of just enduring until God changed my vocation in one way or another. So I worked and I waited. I went to the coffee shop no less than 4 or 5 times per week, and more when possible. I still longed to have it, but knew with total contentment by Christmas 1997 that God’s will was going to be done no matter what, and that I was going to be all the better for whatever it was. 

Still sure of my lifelong singleness, I was still procrastinating about rewriting the letter. Yet after all this time and all my arguing and reasoning, God had still not let up. I was also dragging my feet about reading Passion and Purity, because I knew there should be no study one in relation to the other if I were going to remain single, so why waste my time. Again, I finally gave in after much procrastination. In late fall I sat down and began to read and finished by the beginning of January. When I finished reading, I decided to quit procrastinating on rewriting the letter also. So I sat down one last time and put pen to paper. 

So that was that. The letter was finished. I folded it, put it in an envelope and put it up, know I would never need it. But God had told me to do it and I had been obedient, so now I could move on and be happy being single with a clear conscience. 
In the mean time, Ken and Sandi were preparing to move and the coffee shop had no buyer. . .