Turn It Over

The other night my wife and I were talking and we began to talk about the kids and the school year ahead. This school year has us - and them a bit nervous. Shave moved to a new community - one that is double in size from our precious one - one that includes much more cultural diversity - one where they do not know many others. While there is excitement in this "newness", there is also some concern in all our minds. 

So, the other night my wife and I were talking about our concerns and stating that are most concerned about our oldest daughter - who she will befriend and how it might influence her. 

I told my wife, we will have to make sure that she is hanging out with a good group of friends. To which my wife responded, the problem is, we don't know who the good friends are. 

Hours later, as I laid in bed, drifting off to sleep, I thought more about this. It's true, we don't know who the good friends are - we don't know who to point her to  - but God does. And, if we believe that He is in control of every aspect of life - and if we believe that He cares for our children - and  if  we believe that He answers us when we call out to Him - shouldn't we ask Him? 

So, after talking to my wife - and after  worrying about this matter for several hours - I decided to submit it all to God.

Is there anything that is keeping you up tonight? Is there any situation that you wish you could let go of and find peace in? Is there a burden in your life that seems to weigh you down with anxiety or fear? 

Why not turn it over to God? Do it right away. 

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  Philippians 4:6 NIV

When God Says Go...

If you ever played games as a child, I'm sure you took part in "Simon Says" or "Red Light, Green Light". There are many more similar games that remind me of one important truth regarding life and following directions.

When God says "GO" you "go"!

I don't want to ever forget this, and I hope you don't either. See, it's often easy to go where God calls us - when it is apparent that He is calling us in a particular direction and when it is clear that He is saying "go".

What is more difficult it's to stay still when anxiety, fear, or discouragement are upon us.

Sometimes we just feel like running, we feel like hiding, we feel like going when and where God has not called us to "go".

But I don't ever want to "go" where God is not calling me. I don't ever want to run and hide because of fear or discouragement. 

When God says "GO" you "go". When He does not you "be still"

God's Timing

We've been quite busy over the past few months.

We found out near the end of April that we are expecting our 3rd child sometime in December (perhaps November). We were very excited about this new addition to our family and at the same time this news added to the anxiety thatwould soon follow. Yet I know that God has a plan and His timing is perfect while our timing is, well..less than. Fast forwarding here, we found out today that it is a boy and is due November 30th. Kim is hoping to hold out until the beginning of December so that we do not have yet another birthday in November. Her original hope was to have a January baby, but that may be a little long for her to hold out on delivery.

In May Kim and I began to speak with the Wabash Conference of the Free Methodist Church as we felt God's call for a differnt stage in the life of His ministry through us. We were introduced to the Robinson Free Methodist Church in mid-May and we began to pray about this move, not only from the church family and neighbors that we love so dearly, but also about the move to a senior pastor position. As you can imagine, this came with many questions, concerns, and anxiety. One of the largest concerns for us was; "how are we going to sell our home in Flora?". With the market the way that it is we knew that this would be difficult, but not impossible, because nothing is impossible with God.

As we made the decision to move and to follow what we believed was God's call for us, we began to prepare. Just over a month ago we announced to the church that we were going to be leaving the church, the student ministry, and the community. This was a very tough decision to make and one that came with a lot of mixed feelings. For many of the students this was the absolute worst time for us to leave, as a foundation had now been established and security and momentum seemed to be building within the student ministry and the church. Once again, we work on God's timetable which is so much larger and more precise than ours will ever be. And who are we to think that we can do anything without God's will on our side.



We made the move to Robinson on my birthday this year, June 28th. With limited hiccups we moved into the parsonage and the church. The love of the church family began to poor on us from the moment that we drove into Robinson. We are happy to be here and are now confident that we are exactly where God wants us. One of the measurements that I personally used was that of our house in Flora. Every month that the house sits unsold costs us money that we do not have, in the bank or in our monthly budget (we didn't get into ministry for the money). I began to pray that our house would sell quickly, Kim did the same. We began to share our requests with our family, friends, and churches. Then I began to understand that I was not praying "BIG PRAYERS"! My prayer then became that we would receive an offer our house by the end of July, an offer that Kim and I could agree upon and one that we could accept. As Kim and I joined in this prayer together peace began to come over me knowing that God was in control and that there was nothing else that we could do.

Wednesday evening we received the offer that we have been praying about. Yesterday we accepted it! God continues to bless us when we do not deserve it and amaze us day after day. Praise the Lord, He is so much wiser than we are.