Return of the Jedi

We have big news!  It is with great joy that we recently found out of all the places we could be deployed in Europe, we've been assigned to RAF Alconbury in Cambridgeshire, England when we head overseas. This is the same base where I lived when I was Eli and Liam's age while my dad served there for three years . What a privilege to come full circle and be able to do ministry where I lived as a boy! It will be exciting to see my boys making memories on the same base I did.

I have a lot of fun memories from there: walking to kindergarten and having my cats follow me to school... getting stuck in a bentwood rocking chair.... a bird flying in our house and causing my mom to freak out.... But one memory in particular stands out...

In 1977, my dad took me as an almost 5 yr old to see a movie that captured my imagination.... Star Wars.  I remember sitting through what felt like HOURS of bad British commercials and film shorts before finally being transported to a universe with light sabers, talking droids, and Obi Wan Kenobi. Throughout my childhood (and yes, admittedly, adulthood), I was a huge fan of the Star Wars story and characters, and to some extent, became a part of who I was. 

Now as a parent, it's been fun to see my boys be captured by the same story, playing with the same toy figures I had as a kid. With Disney promising to resurrect the Star Wars franchise with new movies in the theater starting in 2015, I can't wait to take my boys to see their first Star Wars movie in a theater, overseas, the same place I did over three decades ago. 

Returning to this same base is poetic for me, and I can't help but think it's not coincidence.  God has a way of providing in big and small ways, and in this case, a pretty cool way.  Keep us in your prayers as we begin preparations for the "return" to Alconbury!

Abiding

The last couple of weeks my stress level started creeping up.  How are we going to fundraise this amount? How are we going to see all the family we want to before we leave? How are we going to finish all these house projects to get it ready to sell?  How do we decide what to sell, give away, store, and pack to take with us?  The to-do list can be overwhelming, and time is not slowing down.

And with that, this Tuesday I went to a Bible study where the teacher (a fellow youth minister friend of mine) spoke on John 15: Abiding in Christ.  It's something I've taught and even preached on, and yet God used it afresh to remind me: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser."  He is in control, provides, and nurtures; there's no need for me to worry.  "Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."  Pretty straightforward: if I'm trying to do all of these things in my own wisdom and strength, it's going to be pretty discouraging.

In his commentary on John, Dale Bruner expounds upon "abiding in Christ" in chapter 15 as "making our home in Christ."  Resting in him.  Feeling comfortable and restored by him.   As we are in the process of uprooting one home and starting to establish another, I am reminded that my part is simply to make my home in him, and he will provide.

More Celebration!

As Chris returns from a wonderful week at camp with our Thomas County kids, I am excited to see before me a growing (and more organized) garage sale pile and all four family passports in my hands!  Praise God!

As for our fundraising progress, I am updating the charts at the right every few days...