Quick Update

Lynn arrived nearly two weeks ago. We've been spending a lot of time together so I haven't been online much. She just ran to the store to get some peroxide and neosporine to try and heal this funky sore on the bottom of my foot (glad I shared that aren't ya?) so I thought I'd make a quick update.

We've decided to rent for six months to give us adequate time to find THE house for us. We've leased an apartment at a really nice apartment community called Traditions At Augusta. It's a 3 bedroom/2 bath apartment. The community has a nice pool, fitness center, clubhouse...etc. It's really close to major shopping areas and best of all...Barnes & Noble with Starbucks!

Work is going well. I'm beginning to see a bit of turn-around in our department. It's a department that's been in pretty serious decline for over a year. Lots of challenges. My first major task was to hire a marketing professional for my department. After interviewing several people I hired Debra. She has a Masters in Business Administration and best of all she and her husband are devoted followers of Christ, very active in student ministry. My team is complete at work and I feel really good about the days ahead.

We went to the Vineyard this morning. Good service.

I'm driving Lynn back to Illinois next weekend where she'll stay for the next three weeks until our final moving day in mid-October. Being alone for another three weeks my blog should come back to life.

That's it for now.

What Do I Do Now?

It's 1:01 pm eastern time. I just got back to the apartment after visiting the Vineyard Church of Augusta. It was a very good experience. Unlike the church I visited a couple of weeks ago, this one reminded me a great deal of New Prairie.

During the announcement time I flipped the Bible open to a passage (I tune out announcement time). It was 1st Samuel 10, and in this passage Samuel is annointing Saul as the first king of Israel after the people demanded a human monarchy over a divine Theocracy. A couple of verses in particular caught my attention because they speak to something I'm struggling with now that God has called me back to Georgia and the role of management rather than the role of pastoring a church.

Samuel has just annointed Saul and proclaimed him the king and is telling him about what will happen next. "When you arrive at Gibeah of God, where the garrison of the Phillistines is located, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the altar on the hill. They will be playing a harp, a tamborine, a flute and a lyre, and they will be prophesying. At that time the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you with power and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person. After these signs come to pass, do whatever you think is best, for God will be with you."

Look at the progression of this scenario:

1. Saul is called by God.
2. He is sent to a place where the enemy has a stronghold.
3. He meets with other worshippers of God.
4. The Spirit of God comes upon him.
5. He joins them in their worship.
6. He is changed into another man.
7. He is given incredible freedom to follow his own heart and mind with the
assurance that God is with him.

Over the past several weeks I've asked myself often, "What do I do now?" I know God's calling on my life. I'm in a strange city where I know no one. I'm a manager at a newspaper when I know God's called me to be a church planter and pastor. How do I live out my calling?

I feel like the answer is, "Do whatever you think is best." I feel like there is tremendous freedom for me to flesh out my calling in whatever I feel is best. BUT...other things MUST be in place before this freedom becomes a good thing that bears fruit:

1. I have to be sure of the calling on my life, which I am.
2. I have to rest in the fact that God has brought me to this place and recognize
that the enemy is strong here.
3. I have to be in connection with other worshippers. It's essential that Lynn and
I surround ourselves with other Christians.
4. I have to be continually abiding in Christ, because it's only through this that
I will be changed into a different man.

The only way any of us has the capacity to know "what is best" and do it with any effectiveness is if the Holy Spirit is upon us, we are new people; changed inwardly by the Spirit within us, and we are surrounded by wise, Godly people who can speak truth and wisdom into our life.

Ultimately, Saul messed up. He became obsessed with his own ability, his own glory, his own agenda, and basically told God to take a hike. He saw the work that he had been called to as his own, not the work of God that could be powerfully done through him. He failed miserably and ended life a miserable man prone to frequent psychotic episodes.

His successor, on the other hand, was a man after God's own heart. David was the king, but more than anything, he wanted to make sure that the hearts of everyone in his kingdom were turned toward God and giving glory to Him. I pray that in Augusta I will follow in the footsteps of David as I live out my calling "doing whatever I think is best."

I think I'll go to Logan's Roadhouse again this Sunday. Thank God for Logan's Roadhouse!

First Wave

I knew it would hit me sooner or later, but it hit me pretty hard today. I had my first real wave of homesickness/sadness at around noon and it's lasted throughout the day. I've been thinking about all of the people I've left behind. I've been thinking about not being able to just drive over and see my mom and dad or Sheila and her family, or Lynn's parents and grandmother. I've been thinking about the house we loved so much belonging to someone else in a few weeks. Being all alone here, knowing no one, sitting in my quiet, little apartment every evening...it's starting to wear on me. I'm glad Lynn is going to be here Tuesday.

When we were in Columbus, GA we part of a truly amazing church family surrounded by friends who we enjoyed being with and who loved and cared for us deeply. We moved to Illinois and didn't really know anyone there other than our families, but we had our families nearby, which was wonderful. Over the last three years we grew to love so much people like Dave Hayden, Matt & Ann, Dan & Joan, Joe & Amber, the Lynches, Dennis & Di, and so many others. I flipped through the pictures on the newprairie.org website and re-lived a lot of wonderful memories in my mind.

Now I've moved to a place where I really don't know a single person. Sure, I'm around people all day, every day at work...but it's all business. I long to be able to hang out in somebody's living room with a bunch of people drinking coffee and watching a stupid movie.

I hope God helps us to make new friends quickly here.