Still taking steps...

You know all those home maintenance projects that need to done, but due to time and money considerations get postponed for another day? That day has arrived! Does that give you a clue as to where we are in this process? Yep, we are getting our house ready to sell because it costs too much to ship it to Latvia.

So how did we arrive at this point in our decision process? Our week in Czech Republic was pretty much amazing. First, there was great teaching by Dave Patty.

We spent time going through Saul and David's lives seeking understanding on personal transformation, transformation that endures. There was plenty of time for Private personal reflection and prayer, as well as with our "seers", the ones that know us better than anyone. You guessed it, mine was Donna.

We also expereinced wonderful times of corporate worship, led by Andrew Wheeler. These were very simple times, just one or two acoustic guitars, one or two vocalists. But gathered with this wonderful group of people that are sold out to the cause of Christ singing praises to our incredible God, our hearts were touched in a special way.

Then there was great fellowship with all of these people. We felt embraced and welcomed into this very special community. We had a lot of conversations that started with "tell us your story", which translates into "how did old people like you decide to come to Eastern Europe?" We felt very encouraged and felt like we would indeed have an important role in the ministry in Latvia. It also helped that we both fell in love with Jaycee, one of our partners in Latvia!

Perhaps the most important experiece we had was simply time for Donna and I to connect, pray together and seek God's guidance. It was the first time in several years that we were able to be away together, without responsibilities, to spend time like this. Sad but true.

It was a great rminder not only of how much we like being together, but also that when you give god space in your lives, he speaks. We desired a loud voice from Him saying go! What we recieved instead was a whisper. I believe he simply said "I am big enough." One of those duh moments, but needed nonetheless.

So we decide that we need to keep taking steps of faith towards following god to Latvia. These next steps, selling our home and support raising, are God sized steps. We are trusting Him and are excited to see what He does. He has put such a confidence in my heart on these things that I really have no concern. He is big enough.

Working on our house this week, I have had plenty of time to think. Plenty of time to consider how crazy this all is. We love Fort Collins, Colorado is beautiful, I am on staff at a great church with a good salary and generous budget, and on and on. this morning I read this passage from Job 28:20-29...

“But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all humanity. Even the sharp-eyed birds in the sky cannot discover it. Destruction and Death say, ‘We’ve heard only rumors of where wisdom can be found.’

“God alone understands the way to wisdom; he knows where it can be found, for he looks throughout the whole earth and sees everything under the heavens. He decided how hard the winds should blow and how much rain should fall. He made the laws for the rain and laid out a path for the lightning. Then he saw wisdom and evaluated it. He set it in place and examined it thoroughly. And this is what he says to all humanity: ‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.’”

Kind of puts our "wisdom" in perspective, doesn't it?

We love you all!