Flare Request Friday: Sprint to the Beginning

In two days, we pack the truck.  
In three, we embark across the country.  

We are not ready. In really any way you could think of. Our place looks like a tornado crossed with a hurricane crossed with a tsunami of cardboard, stuff, and a good deal more cobwebs than I care to think about. Haven woke me up too early this morning, and immediately my mind raced with a hundred details to consider in the next couple days. I could barely think, let alone not be incapacitated with the mountain ahead of us.  

(And I am not even a detail man. I am sure there are several times more details than have even crossed my mind.) 

What awaits us is adventure. 
What awaits us is a new, unexpected journey with God and people.  
What awaits us is a great deal of unknown.  

We are not ready emotionally. I haven't really begun to process my mom's death, let alone leaving all of the friends and family we have here in Pennsylvania. Let alone the enormous undertaking ahead of us.  

We visited our chiropractor here for the last time yesterday (the first time was just a couple months ago...thank you Haven for meeting our deductible this year!), and I think the chiropractor adjusted my grief bone.  She looked  at me and said something like, "You know, givers need to take time to grieve and take care of themselves."  Those words shifted something more than any other adjustment, and I had a hard time keeping myself together on the way to the car. We are vulnerable.  

We are not ready. It feels big, and out-of-control.

But do you know who is ready?

Our Father in heaven, worshipped be Your Name.

Who this story is really about, know why we are going?

Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.

Who has everything we need, and how we will be taken care of?

Give us today our daily bread, and forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Who will protect us on the road ahead, who will guard our story and save us from any danger?

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Who makes any fear, anxiety, doubt, worry, or challenge seem small and able to be overcome?

For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever, Amen.

Please pray for the details, the trip, and everything that comes after.  Thank You.

Tunes Tuesday: Where Feet May Fail (Guest Post!)

WARNING: YOU ARE IN FOR A TREAT.  This is a guest post by the one, the only, Summer Amman.  She was up for doing this installment of Tunes Tuesday. You're welcome.  

______________________________________________________________________________

Ironically, Michael basically described this song in yesterday's post here. It has essentially been my theme song over the past month or two. And my current and constant prayer. 

I described to some people last week that I felt I understood what the sacrifice would be during this season. I know our time is going to be limited. That Michael won't be around as much as he works two jobs to provide for our family. And I'll be on my own with the kids much more than I am currently. That I'll miss my friends and home church desperately.

I didn't realize that God was going to want even more from me. Like, all of me. I feel like it's all being stripped away, one thing happening after another; I'm losing all control and left to rely on God alone to deliver me through this. I'm not sure I would've gotten to this place in my heart another way.

"Your grace abounds in deepest waters

Your sovereign hand will be my guide

Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me

You've never failed and You won't start now"

Watch it. Google the lyrics. Look past the sparkly 80's denim jacket that Rebecca St. James' look-a-like is wearing and pray it with me. 

Just Keep Swimming

Last week we were heading back from Iowa when we stopped in for the night at a hotel in the middle of Ohio. After 10 hours on the road with two young children, stopping for the night is a welcome relief. Getting to burn off some steam in the hotel pool is an absolute necessity when you are traveling across the country with a 3-year-old.  

We got all our gear unloaded, changed into our swimming stuff, and rocketed down the hallway, Asher barely able to contain his excitement. I went in, playing my this-water-is-freezing part like a 7-year-old girl (true-to-from), and Asher followed. 

Asher trusts me. I am not sure why, but he does. Innately and almost completely. I think it has to do with me loving him or something. Yet there is one place where no amount of assurance of safety will overcome his natural fears: water. I can be holding onto him, in three feet of water where he is able to stand on his own, and he will act as if we adrift in the North Atlantic with no land in sight. In short, he panics.  

This is coupled with a love of water and a desire to jump into any body of water He happens to come across. The result is he jumps with total joy, hits the water with glee, then promptly freaks out.  Also he doesn't have any idea what "hold your breath" means, so inevitably he comes up sputtering.  We definitely have work to do in the swimming department.  

He jumps, then panics.
When he hits the water, reality sets in.
He trusts me, but fears the water.

Our family is in the deep end.  With my mom's death, our move, and planting Hopesprings in Sioux City, we are feeling pretty overwhelmed.  Panic is a dangerous and soul-crushing thing, and it is not far from us.  We are like toddlers who don't realize our Dad is right there, and won't let anything happen to us.  Even if we come up sputtering, we will come up, and we will make it.  He is there, in the pool with us, with both feet on the ground, holding us.  Sometimes we flail and grasp and clutch and panic, not realizing safety is right here, that God is right here, that there is nothing to be afraid of.  

When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” He *said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” 
-Matthew 8

Family Flare Request Friday

It has been a while since my last post. Thanks for the patience. A lot can happen in a short amount of time.  

A couple weeks ago my mom died suddenly.  We are not sure what happened, but it was too soon. (It always is for folks with eternity inside) She didn't get to meet her grand-daughter, our daughter Haven, missing seeing her by about three weeks.  (That one stings.) She was in a great deal of suffering before she died, and there is great comfort in her suffering being at an end, but death always sucks.  I hate it.  I hate everything about it.  

My flare request for this week is pretty simple.  Please pray for my family.  

• My dad lost his wife of 30 years.  I don't know how he can take one more step, but by God's grace, he is.
• My siblings lost their mom.  Our children lost their grandmother.  Many others lost a friend and a witness to what God's love can overcome in a person.
• I preached my mom's funeral last week. I don't know how to grieve properly with all that is on our plate.

That's all I have for today.  More next week.  Thank you for all of the notes, texts, Facebook posts, cards, flowers, and various forms of love you have shown our family over the last couple weeks.  It means so much and we are so grateful.  

Flare Request Monday

Hey Everybody. My Mom died suddenly on Saturday Morning. The Funeral is this week.  Not sure if or when I will be posting this week, but I will be back. Thanks for all the prayers and love and support for our family. This is a rough time for us. There is some information at the link below about the services. Peace.

http://www.hamiltonsfuneralhome.com/services/services_detail.aspx?rid=14782

Flare Request Friday: Everything

It's that time again...Flare Request Friday is upon us.

Wow. Ok. Where to start? Can I just have you all pray for everything in my life right now? No? Too broad? Ok, here we go...

The L-Word. Logistics of course. There are too many. So many. A mountain of logistics. Packing. Moving. Kids. Bills. Fun stuff.  

Our Marriage. Summer and I are under an incredible amount of stress. Leaving family and friends here, managing the details of a cross-country move, packing, finishing well, and we also have two kids 3 and 3 months old. Not a recipe for peace and tranquility. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus and get our strength, love, and peace from Him. 

Finances. It takes money to move across the country and a lot more to build a church. If you want to partner with us in building the kingdom of God financially, you can do that here.

Hopesprings in Bangor. There is a lot of love here, and this transition is incredibly difficult. It is hard to say goodbye to folks who don't want you to go. We are also still engaged in our search for the next lead pastor for Bangor. Pray for wisdom and for the right fit.  

Like anyone anywhere I guess the main thing is simply the next right thing.  Thinking too far into the future is not helpful right now.  The next few weeks hold plenty. Today has enough.  

Thanks for all the flares, and for the care you show us in lifting this stuff up.  We love you and are thankful for all the people who are with us in so many ways on this journey.  

Throwback Thursday: Portable Toilets and Street Cred

This is a Throwback post from a couple months ago.  Enjoy...

I am a road warrior.  
Let me clarify. I have spent a lot of time in cars on trips, both long and short. I have pulled all-nighters in blizzards and driven in some silly conditions and for silly distances. In all of this time, I have had remarkable bladder control. I have not had many roadside toileting emergencies. I have not had many instances where containers other than toilets came into play.  

Today, I must give up my Road Warrior Street Cred. (And yes, my qualification for road warrior basically consists of bladder control.)

This afternoon our "band" had a "gig".  (Those quotation marks are absolutely necessary)  It was about an hour away, outdoors, in a park. In this "band" I do all of the following (not at the same time): beat box, sing, play djembe, play guitar, kazoo, break drum sticks on trash cans, play not more than 4 notes total on keyboard, and hit cymbals more often than I should. Oh, and I also heckle my "bandmates".  

Anyway, to get through this gig we played outside, in 90 degree weather, for a couple hours, I had to hydrate. Mucho. I probably drank at least 6 water bottles to get through the various degrees of torture I inflicted upon my vocal chords and throat. You can see where this is going. We had about a 55 minute drive ahead of us.  

About 10 minutes in: "Oh, I have to go. I can probably make it."
About 30 minutes in: "There is no way I am going to make it. But maybe...too embarrassed to tell the guys I have to go."
INSERT STOP-AND-GO TRAFFIC
About 35 minutes in: "Guys we're going to have to stop. There is no way I am going to make it."
INSERT WATER NOISES AND HECKLING FROM BANDMATES.
About 55 minutes in:  

The Title to Everything

What is God's?

"The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains," (Psalm 24.1; I Corinthians 10.26)

Are there things that are not God's?

"The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains," 

So just "christian" things?

"The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains," 

Tunes Tuesday: Wooden Heart

Today's tune is one of my favorite songs of all time. It is the best. Heart-breakingly good.

 Couple things about this:
...Pretty much my favorite music video ever.
...The lyrics.  All of them.
..."everything falls apart at the exact same time that it all comes together perfectly for the next step"
..."and my hopes are weapons that I’m still learning how to use right, but they’re heavy and I’m awkward...always running out of fight." 

The Great Naked Flying Babies Debate

Is heaven there and then?

The streets of gold.  
The crystal sea.  
Togas. 
Endless singing.
And naked flying babies.  

Is this what heaven will be?

In the Scripture there are many images, pictures, and symbolism used to describe heaven. The most prevalent image is that of a city. A kingdom. A community where everything is as it should be. It is a place where the words "Your kingdom come, Your will be done," are not just a prayer but reality.  

When we think, talk, and dream about heaven, we probably most often are thinking about the then and there. Our ticket to somewhere when we die. Jesus seems way more preoccupied with the here and now. With our words and actions, with our relationships and our work. With how we treat each other and all the things we have been given.  

Throughout both testaments there are persistent rumors that, at some point, God will have his way with the cosmos. Patriarchs and prophets constantly call out and search out heaven. The wanderers are looking for a home, finding none to suit them fully. The prophets call out the kingdom of God...telling God's people they are not God's people, telling God's city that it is not God's city. But God insists that someway, someday, He will have His way. He will get the city and the people and the world He has been dreaming of since before there was a world.  

At the end of the story, in a wild ride of a book, John relates his visions of the end (or the end of the beginning). In the book of Revelation, God has His way, with everything. The city of God is described in rich detail, and Jesus is making everything new. Then there's this interesting, profound detail that we will dive into a little more on Wednesday:

Revelation 21

23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; 26 and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it;

  
There is more to heaven than naked flying babies. Apparently the glory and the honor of the nations aren't just swallowed up by the fires of God's judgment? Apparently the stuff of the here and now matters a lot more than I used to think.  

Does the glory and honor of Siouxland, of Bangor, of whatever land you come from come into the kingdom of God someday? What does that mean for the here and now?

If you want to check out the message from yesterday centering on this (and many other) passages, you can do that here.