9.15.2008
Have you ever had a plan? I mean you put it all together, placed it in motion and you stood back, patted yourself on the back, looked around at those near you, nudged them and said, "Hey man, look at that. I did that! Pretty cool huh?!"
Well my wife and I had a 5 year plan. Date for awhile, get married, wait 5 years to have kids, move to the oceanfront (va beach baby!), I'd keep being a pastor, she'd keep with the nursing thing and we'd enjoy ministry at the church we were at (Real Life).
I think God laughed at us. A lot. Seriously. I'm not joking.
Did we think it would be that easy. We got married. The baby came a year earlier than we thought (after a miscarriage only a few months before). Carrie isn't a nurse anymore. She went back to school. She's a teacher. I'm still a pastor, but at a place I wouldn't have ever thought. Doing what I love. Arts. And God still isn't done...
That moving to the beach thing happened, then a year later he told us to move. So we did. Now he's telling us again.... but this time it's in with her parents.
Her mother isn't doing well, and her father isn't in the best place to be able to care for her, so we were prompted by God to step in for family. But our plan would never have been like this and God's timing is crazy. To get out of our place, we have to have 30 days written notice before the new contract year. We were led to make this choice yesterday. Our contract is supposed to be renewed on Oct. 15th. So guess when the written notice had to be in? Today. Ha.
God never ceases to amaze me. Our family had reached a place about 1 month ago where we thought God was giving us a lull in the chaos and craziness, "Life as normal" we thought. But as a follower of Jesus your "life as normal" will be anything but normal. It's like he puts our lives in a blender and hit's HIGH and let's us find our way to the top. But it does builds character. All this happening with the wrestling He and I are still going through (updates are coming I promise).
Want an easy sign to see if you're following His leading? Just look around and see if it's chaos in all directions. If it is, you're in the right place.
Until next time,
J-del *over and out*
Find your mouthpiece and put on a cup... God always wins these wrestling matches, but he doesn't want us to throw in the towel.
Huge decision, and mature decision, dude. Not a lot of people would make it. Way to let God lead, especially in the midst of what He's wrestling with you on.