Beyond my grasp

GRACE IN MOTION

Aren't you glad that we worship a God who is beyond our ability to understand?  Aren’t you glad that we worship a God whose love runs deeper than our greatest failures? 

Lately I have been caught up in the paradox of trying to work with all of the strength that God provides.  How exactly that plays out, I have no idea.  Much like I can’t understand how God cannot be contained by the universe, and yet dwells within our hearts through faith in Jesus.  There is much about God that I cannot wrap my mind around, and I’m glad that we will have eternity to try!    

One of the unfortunate by products of raising support, for me anyway, is that so much of my attention can be self-focused.  I spend so much time telling people about me.  I tell people about what God has done in my life, what I believe He’s called me to, and ask them to join my team.  It is so easy to twist this thing and make it all about me.  And when that happens, the consequences spill out onto the rest of my life.    

Recently, my wife arranged an incredible surprise to celebrate my birthday.  She invited old friends of ours from college to spend the evening with us.  She arranged for a nice dinner out followed by a night filled with football.  It could have been perfect.

The evening could have been filled with joy, love, and good memories.  But I just didn’t let that happen. Being around a friend from college, I spent the evening acting like I might have in that stage of life.  Arrogant, self-centered and inconsiderate.  So much so that when Kristy asked if I wanted a piece of the birthday cake that she made for me from scratch, I said “no, you know I don't like that kind of cake” in front of everyone.  Argh. 

Thank God that I have such a forgiving wife!  And thank God that He lets us see little glimpses of our sin and feel some of the pain that our self-centered love can cause.  Through this God has made it perfectly clear to me that He is going to be the One who will plant this church!  And He has also made perfectly clear that He loves me like crazy.  Literally like a crazy person!

Who else would continue to pursue us when we so consistently push them away?  Who else would offer themselves up to pay for the price that our mistakes have cost?  And yet, this is exactly what God has done for us on the cross. 

In order to extend free grace to us, Jesus paid the eternal price of our sin.  It is in this crazy love that we now stand.  It is because of this crazy love that I can joyfully say with the Apostle Paul, “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake...But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

Praise God that His love and mercy surpasses our comprehension!  Praise God that we get to stand in that love – forever – and extend that love to everyone around us through the gospel of Jesus!

PLANTERS PROGRESS

God has continued to stir in the hearts of people to lavish incredible generosity on us.  To date, we have received 34% in pledges for the support that we need to relocate. 

On December 28^th, Kristy and I went through a second church planter’s assessment.  This time with the Acts 29 Network.  On January 5^th, I received an email detailing our full recommendation by our assessors!  We are extremely grateful for the time we were able to spend in that process.  Our assessors offered us great perspective and demonstrated authentic care as they asked probing questions about our ambitions for our church plant as well as questions about the health and stability of our marriage. 

We have also received some encouraging news on the sale of our house.  It’s not a done deal, by any stretch, as we needed to pursue a short-sale.  However, the bank has requested information demonstrating that we have been officially called to relocate to Milwaukee.  Please pray that God would give us favor with the bank.  

NEXT STEPS

February 4 – 6, I will have the opportunity to attend the Desiring God Pastor’s Conference.  I am anticipating that this will be a time of significant of refreshing as I’ll be able to connect with leaders that I have been serving with over the past several years as well as the leaders that I will be serving with in the years to come. 

I have been invited to preach at Woodridge Community Church, just outside of Milwaukee On February 17^th.  I have also been invited to present our church planting plan to Waukesha Bible Church on February 24^th.  So Kristy and I will be packing up the fam and spending that week in Milwaukee. 

Other than that, we’ll continue to raising support. Once God brings us past the 40% mark of our support, we will be able to begin processing with people the potential of God calling them to join this work. 

So there are big things in store!  Please continue to pray that God would advance the Kingdom in our hearts as He moves His work forward at His time!  Thank you all for your prayer and support!  We do not want to do this without you!