Another great sunrise over the Cascade Mountains.
Fall has officially come to Seattle, and the rain has increased. The mountains are starting to pick up some snow and our days are very gray of late. People on the streets are scarce as the temperatures have cooled a lot and people want to stay inside where it is dry. Days are now less than 10 hours long and we will soon have only 8 ours of light.
It's interesting that the change in seasons is accompanied by changes in moods. While we used to be able to enjoy sunrises and sunshine all day every day, now moods are darker. Many attribute these changes to the psychological state of mankind, who needs sunshine and human companionship. What isn't acknowledged always is the darkness of the spiritual realm here. The enemy doesn't want people to know about Jesus. The enemy wants to muddy the water of spiritual things by dividing people into groups, with some following one line of thought and others following a different one. The tragedy is that there is only one way, and few people here have found Him.
Matthew 7:13-14New Living Translation (NLT)
13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell[a] is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.
We were joined that week by Rick Whitaker, missions pastor of Humble Area’s First Baptist Church. This was yet another tangible expression of their level of support for us and for the calling God has placed on our hearts to come here to Everett. Rick has been a friend for a long time and it was especially fun to have him in our home for the week, catching up on events from his recent mission trips.
The boys were particularly interested in hearing about how people in the jungles of Peru eat grub worms for a meal. Rick showed them pictures and a video of the mission team cooking and eating these critters.
The training itself was very good and very overwhelming. I was confronted each day with the fact that I’ve never been down this road before and am walking blindly forward in a human sense. Fortunately for me, Jesus continues to lead the way. My discomfort with all of this comes from the realization that leading and leadership in God’s kingdom is opposite of what we see in the world. The world says you can only take someone down a path that you yourself have traveled before. Nope. The world says that leaders need to be out in front, confident, secure, and have worked extremely hard to get to where you are. While I am out in front, I admit to lacking confidence at times, and the only reason I’m in this position is because God has brought our family to this point. While some of you may read that as a bad thing or may be tempted to think that what I’m describing is something you should feel sorry about, I can tell you that God is in control of this thing. What you are witnessing is His remaking of a person, which often turns them and everything they think they knew completely upside down.
I left last week’s training with a long list of things to do to prepare to launch a church in north Everett. On the surface those things seem overwhelming because the list is so very long and time is so very short. In the still, quiet moments with he Lord I feel Him telling me to simply follow, to do the tasks that I am given right now, and to trust Him to make it work out in the end. There is genuine peace for me in that kind of approach. Let’s face it, God doesn’t need my particular skill-set to accomplish what He has set out to do in Everett. He can do it with our without me. The only concern I have is what degree of surrender I have to His will. That doesn’t make a lot of sense in earthly terms, but makes perfect sense in His kingdom.
Our immediate tasks for now involve deciding on a name for this new church, developing and refining the vision and values of it, and continuing to be out in the neighborhood and schools to connect with people and see what God does.
Family Fall Festival
Last week ended on a good ministry note with our participation in the EFC Family Fall Festival at Family Tree Apartments. All of us got costumes on and went to Family Tree to play games with kids, eat candy, and enjoy a good time together. This is yet another way that EFC reaches out to families at the apartment, and we were able to connect again with many people that we have not seen in a while.
In private, I continue to go through days of great encouragement and other days of wrestling with the Lord. I am so fortunate at work to have the ability to stop what I'm doing and pray, which is really what I need to be doing above all things right now. At work there is a current push called "Walktober" which is an initiative to get people up and walking rather than sitting at their desk all day. I have used this to go prayer walk on the city streets during lunch breaks, and to just take a few private minutes to walk with the Lord and talk to Him. He is forcing me to confront inner selfishness that still remains, and I'm bringing to him my huge feelings of unworthiness, inadequacy, and fear of the future. I've been told recently that we as a family stepped out in faith just by agreeing to come here, and that is true. Our next moves will be an even bigger stepping out in faith as we consider when to officially start the church, what it will look like, and what we spend our days doing. And even as we consider those things in the future, our God is already preparing us right now for the work. Truly we are blessed to be on such a great adventure with Him.
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