Final Prep

Three days more until the move. This week has been emotionally, physically, and spiritually challenging. After a flurry of answered prayers and faithful hearts and attitudes, we regressed a bit.

The beginning of the week brought the realization that we have a lot to do and little time to do it. Worry and stress had started to gain some ground. "Regular" life had faded away and we were now fully engaged in our First Planting.

Mattew 16:21-27
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

I feel that we got to experience this a bit during this process. It has been surprising and discouraging to get resistance to our plans to go to Tri Cities from some people we did not expect. I do not think we have the perfect insight of Jesus, but we do think that we are pursuing God's ultimate plan. It was an eye opener to us. It is hard to leave everything to do something completely at odds with what the world does; it has taken much prayer to get my heart right at every turn.

An encouraging brother sent this text to me today to spur us on...

Matthew 10:29-30
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.

I have never experienced this to the extent of what we are doing now. With a wife and children counting on my leadership, I have had to grab hold of a solid faith to live this out. Who leaves everything and moves their family into the unknown with nothing to base it on except the writings of someone long ago.

-Abraham
-Noah
-Peter

I am in good company. I don't number myself with these men, but I will strive to uphold the faith that they lived out.

In some ways I feel like I am out of my mind, but Paul was also accused of this at one time (Acts 26). It is a bit surreal to see a parallel to the scriptures in what we are doing, yet such a resistance in the world and people around us. Without prayer and scripture I would have caved in several weeks ago. Without the Spirit I would have lost courage and strength long ago. God has persisted, so we will too.

Thank you to all the brothers and sisters who have also believed the dream...