Moving On

I've been trying for several days now of a way to tell you what's going on and to tell you in a way where you won't think we're crazy. I've been completely unsuccessful so I think I'll just start at the beginning, and if you think we're crazy, that's okay.

Almost 3 years ago Brian and I both just really felt the call to do something more. It's not that we were unhappy really with our current life as the youth and children's pastor at our church, but it just felt like God was telling us He had something different in store for us. We began looking into international Christian schools, specifically in Korea and China. Our family all thought we were a little nuts. For whatever reason, door after door kept closing, and we knew that God was very definitively telling us no.

As the last international door closed, Randall Wright (our former pastor and friend) spent the week here in town and as we visited, he mentioned his desire to start a new church. We told him we'd be happy to consider that, but to be perfectly honest, it wasn't something we'd ever really had any desire to be a part of and we were pretty sure that possibility would never really come to fruition. But shortly after that week, he called us and had started preparing to resign his current position and was putting together a team to start a church just outside Dallas, TX.

I had never thought of Texas. In fact, all I know about Texas came from Friday Night Lights so naturally, I was scared to death. ;) We had even told Randall that we did not really want to be in the south, and Texas is pretty southern! Fast forward to a trip to McKinney, Texas, with Randall and his family in July 2010 and we knew that this was what we had been looking for. We resigned our church and started fundraising in January 2011. On March 30, 2011, I was diagnosed with stage 3c ovarian cancer, and we knew that our plans to move to Texas in June was just not meant to be. We struggled with that alot.

Alot. Actually, Brian struggled with it. I just tried to survive.

In September 2011, we received the news that my cancer was not in remission, probably would never be, and we pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that Texas was not in our future. We resolved to make the most of our lives here in Tennessee. In October 2011, we visited Texas and our desire to be a part of Clearview Church grew instead of diminished. We began praying right then that if this was still meant to be, that God would show us a way. In January 2012, I was given a break from chemo. That short break allowed us to clear our heads and start entertaining the idea that just maybe God still had a future for us in Texas.

In February 2012 Brian resigned from his position at the church (where he has worked for 12 years) and we headed out on the road fundraising for the new church. He passed the TX state education tests (with flying colors I might add) and prepared to apply for a new teaching job in Collin County. Now this job is massively important. More accurately, insurance that comes with a teaching job is crucial. When you have/had cancer, insurance is about the most important thing in the world. 

On April 24 we learned that instead of having a house to live in through the summer while Brian searched for a new job, that we would need to move in less than 30 days. And there's no job yet.

I probably don't have to describe to you the tears that have been shed as we tried to decide yet again what God's plan was for us. We had two choices: (1) try to find a short-term apartment, hopefully secure a job for Brian and move to TX. If he didn't find a job, it seemed as if our dream of TX would be over or (2) go ahead and move to TX trusting that Brian will find a job. 

Even though staying here seems the most logical (and definitely the safest), staying here just didn't seem right. We agonized and agonized over what to do. Moving to TX without a job seemed so hard. Maybe not the smartest move financially. And yet it's what we kept coming back to.

Sunday morning, May 6, we discussed yet again what we needed to do. Anyone remember that moving date is coming up in 2 weeks, and we still haven't made a decision? Earlier in the week we had decided that we'd like to attend Crosspoint one more time before leaving Nashville. We left bright and early to attend the 9:00 a.m. service and planned to have lunch at McDougals one last time. You know, my favorite jiggly chicken place?

Pete Wilson, pastor of Crosspoint (whose father was our psych professor in college), spoke on faith Sunday morning. And not just faith, but blind leaps of faith, stepping out in faith in big ways, starting new churches kind of faith, moving to TX even when you don't have a safety net kind of faith. He must have used the phrase "stepping out in faith" 6 dozen times. Brian and I both got in the car after that service saying to each other, "Okay, God. We get it. We'll go to TX."

So May 22 we'll be loading up a Uhaul and moving to TX. No, Brian doesn't have a job yet. But we're trusting that he will. We're trusting that God will provide, and we know that we're saying "yes" to God's plan for us. My mind keeps coming back to our verse for 2012: "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

We would certainly appreciate prayers as we make this transition. I imagine that it's going to be difficult for all of us. We're moving into a small 2 bedroom apartment (hopefully temporarily). The kids are pretty excited about the pool that comes with the apartment complex, but sad to leave their trampoline, school, friends, yard, family behind. Our biggest prayer request is a job for Brian. He has a really hopeful lead with the school where Clearview Church currently meets. Please pray that God will provide the perfect teaching position. Continue to pray that my cancer stays gone, gone, gone. And pray that God uses Clearview Church in a fantastic way as we try to serve McKinney, TX.

While I am not delusional enough to think any of this will be easy, I feel good. And we feel confident that, crazy or not, this is right.