I feel that I have so much to say, but feel unable to say much of it. Some parts of this week have been downright unpleasant, while other parts have been pretty good. Amy and I are in this weird state of limbo right now. We believe that our next step is to move to the Portage/Kalamazoo area and serve there, but so much is left undone that we can’t just pick up and go. For one, our house hasn’t sold yet. Today, we are lowering the price another $15,000 and having a big open house with advertising from Battle Creek to Jackson. At the same time, we feel really torn about selling the house. We are ready to get out of Marshall, but not ready to leave Amy’s parents here. Our relationship with them has grown so much in the past months that we really enjoy living next door and having the relationships with them that we do. The thought of us leaving is hard on them as well. BUT, I am no quite sure how long I can drive to Kalamazoo every day before I go insane, so the time will come to move -it’s just a matter of when.
I also feel in a weird state of ministry limbo. I am more at peace about leaving FWCF than I ever thought I would be, but I am a little anxious to see exactly what the Lord is doing with us next. At first, it seemed clear that the Lord was opening a door for us to start a new ministry job in Portage in short order. Now it appears that although that there will be some sort of ministry job in Portage, it may not start in such short order. Which is really quite okay with me, because I have really enjoyed working for my father in the interim. He really needs the help and I need the job, but more than that I think the Lord is drawing us closer and taking our relationship to a new level.
At the same time, the Lord is working in a mighty way in and through my family. Now that more people have come to know Jesus as Lord, it is becoming like a spiderweb of God’s love moving through my family. We have had some tough times (with my Aunt near death at Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo), but the Lord is moving even through those events. This week I had the opportunity to spend time with one of my uncles that is really going after God hard and wanted some direction. Without getting into the details, this in and of itself is an amazing work that the Lord is doing.
Well, I didn’t really talk about the part of the week that I called “downright unpleasant” earlier in this post. I don’t want to say too much, but the situation that caused this unpleasantness was a reminder to me that the attempted manipulation of the spiritual realm to support ones personal assertions is one of the most ugly things that we as Christians can do to the church and to one another. I don’t want to dwell on this stuff, but I also don’t want to miss how the Lord would grow me in and through these sorts of conflicts. As I did my devotions this morning, the Lord used 1 Corinthians 11:17-19 to remind me of this. Check it out…
Thank you for your continued prayers…
be blessed
-pastorj