here I am...

This weekend, I moved all the way up the east coast. This is a big deal.

So I'm sitting here in Salem, NH, realizing what a big deal it actually is. It was one thing to talk and dream and theorize about what it would be like to take on ministry up here. Now I've actually done it. In a couple of days, I should be getting my feet wet at Living Hope Community Church. I'm excited, and I hear the people at the church are excited. What's going to happen as we get involved?

I have no idea. I have a dream, I have a vision. I do not lack direction. It's just that you never truly know what's going to happen until God actually brings it about. So we're trusting that God has a reason for inspiring this church with not a lot of money, not a lot of resources, to use a significant portion of their resources in calling me as a pastor. And we're trusting that he's going to provide everything we (both Becky and I and the church as a group) need.

Have you ever stepped out on faith and felt like you accidentally left your stomach a step behind? I have those moments lately. But that's cool. I'm stepping, and that is what matters. It turns out that I'm a believer in what I can't see, someone who trusts for what has not yet happened. And as I take more steps, eventually my stomach catches up with me.

God, please draw the people of New Hampshire, of Penacook and Concord and Mancester and Franklin. Please bring them closer to yourself. And please let me be a part of that work.