Back Again

August? Hard to believe that it has been so long ago, but I guess this is my world of thoughts and if anyone other than myself is reading this, then, all I can say is, "I am back!" Now we will have to see for how long.

I know we have been on this little discourse about Eternal Security, but I am going to go away for a moment and just catch up with my own thoughts as to where I am these days.

As a family we are soon to move to another ministry come March. The Lord has seen fit to move us from our place here in Nebraska to a ministry in Wisconsin. Sometimes I would love to think that the Lord would have me in a much warmer environment, but I guess we are destined to hang around the arctic regions of this great country. Proverbs 3:5, 6 keep coming up as an age old principle of God's direction and our need as well as our ability to "Trust in the Lord." God has certainly been doing some great things to confirm that this is His will and not our pushing or pulling to have our way.

When we set out as a family to determine if God was certainly moving us from our place here, I was praying that the Lord would establish it within the heart of my wife as well. I was so concerned that Kelly be certain and very connected to this decision. The past few places we have served it has been really more my call and her willingness. This time I was asking the Lord to seal it sure within her heart and let it be her coming to terms with the way the Lord was working as much as in my heart.

I can still remember the night that Kelly and I were on our knees praying about this new opportunity and us both in tears just asking the Lord for wisdom. After we got up she turned to me and said, "Let's go!" Wow!

The other aspect was a place to live. We have lived in a parsonage ever since coming to Nebraska and we had no idea if we even could get a loan or if we could even afford the housing market we were going into. Every time we have attempted to get into the market, it has always been a bit out of reach. So, we went and followed a realtor around for a few hours. Found some places that were really to far away from our church. We were just afraid that we would not be able to host people in our home and be able to offer an important part of our ministry, hospitality. We found one house about 30 minutes away and in need of some repair, but Kelly and I both just had no peace about making any offer on it.

We came home a bit discouraged, and yet we both knew that if the Lord wanted us in this place that He was going to work it all out. On January 6, 2008, I officially resigned as pastor of our church. It was very difficult. And yet in many ways, I find that God is ready to move here as well as in our move to Wisconsin. The morning of that Sunday, our realtor emailed a MLS sheet of a house in the area where we were hoping to find a home. The problem is that these homes are several thousands of dollars above our range. However, this one was in foreclosure and had been marked down "several thousands of dollars" below even the assessed price. I called Kelly and told her to look at it right away. Right then and there I knew that it was the one. Yeah, right! I hoped, but I figured that by the time we actually got back up there to look it would be gone. I know....."Oh ye of little faith."

Kelly and I planned a trip up to the area we are going to live and we set up an appointment to look at nearly 20 homes. We were determined to look and find our home in one day. We knew now what we could afford and so we set out. This house from the email was in our list. It was still on the market. No offers had been made and we were going to get to see it.

We looked at probably 5-6 houses before we got to it. Then, as soon as we walked in, Kelly and I both knew that this was our home. It gives me chills! We put in an offer still lower than what the bank had it listed for. We know that we were going to get it though. Yeah, right! We still didn't understand that God was truly working on our behalf. We got a counter offer that night and we countered yet again. The problem was that we didn't get it into them in time before they closed, so we had to wait all night until 10:00 the next morning. Our realtor, by the way here name is Angel, called and confirmed that we were accepted! We could hardly believe it. Oh, God is so Good! Can you taste it?

To imagine that He would consider me and my family! It does the bank of faith good to see the handiwork of God. It does our hearts good to know that He truly answers prayer. It does our children good to hear that God works and here is proof. We close the 31st and will move in on March 1. May God be praised!


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