Certainty, Shadows & Questions
Looking back on our move to Florida to start a MicroChurch is beginning to make me realize how crazy we must have seemed.
When Miriam resigned from her job at SLC and I resigned as pastor at GFN, we had a 30-day housing plan as volunteers at Fort Clinch State Park. We had a home we needed to sell. We needed to find jobs. Oh, and it probably seemed like we needed our heads examined!
We moved to Nassau County with a resolute belief in the call of God to explore new / ancient ways for being the church in a local context. We had that and 30 days of housing. So we moved. If we are honest with ourselves and you, we really thought all the pieces of our life would fall into place. Jobs would come easy. Missional connections would happen quickly. After all, this was a big step even if things happened quickly and easily. We didn’t think there was enough time for things to be harder than they were. We were wrong. God is never in as big of a hurry as we are, even when we walk in shadows and uncertainty.
I wasn’t prepared to be repeatedly rejected by potential employers.
I wasn’t emotionally prepared for the ethical challenges Miriam would face in offices outside the church.
I wasn’t emotionally prepared to no longer be Nazarene…and there are still times it nearly brings me to tears.
We sold our home and half our belongings but I wasn’t prepared for what was left to be sacrificed after we got here.
While I never second-guessed the call that brought us to Nassau County, Florida, I did wonder what was wrong with me that would make God’s job in getting us situated here so difficult. “God, I am not sure you picked the right guy!” “God, what is wrong with me that it is taking so long to land here?”
Moving to Nassau County cut away so much in us and all that pruning made space for new life, new love and new purpose.
I have talked to so many pastors that read what I post here on this site and on social media and they agree with me. They agree with the problems, challenges and need for change in the church. You might wonder why I share this because it doesn’t make doing what I did seem very easy! Well, it wasn’t but it was part of what God used to transform us.
If God is stirring inside you to act you need to know a few things.
*If you wait to have everything worked out, you will never act.
*If you wait for approval from people, you will never act.
*If you wait for the right time, you will never act.
*If you wait for the finances to make sense you absolutely will never act.
*If you wait for the sacrifices to be small, you will never act.
However, if the call of God to participate in (re)new paths for His Church, then prayerfully work through when you must act. Once you decide to act, pray, “Here I am Lord, send me,” then walk by faith. It will be hard and years down the road you will look back with joy at what only God can accomplish.
I look back and love my life. Miriam and I are on a renewed mission together to love kids in 6-12 grade and their families. We are on a mission to love their families. We are on a mission to love my seniors who have graduated. This life brings us such joy and I cannot imagine any other life.