One year ago today, I pulled into Lincoln with two of our kids. Excited about this next journey God was taking us on and uncertain about how it was going to work out. We didn’t know anyone. We didn’t have a place to live. We were leading a ministry that was in the middle of a complete transition. We had used up all of our savings both financially and emotionally. There was no Plan B. If God did not show up, we were in big trouble. I still remember those feelings of driving into Lincoln, trying to be optimistic to our kids, but secretly wandering if this was going to work. If we had made a mistake. If it would have been better to not take another risk and play it safe.
A year later as I prepare to lead the LBC youth open house tomorrow morning and cast vision for where we are going this next year, I am confident that God has a plan for our lives, that He brought us to Lincoln for a purpose, and that He unbelievably loves me, my family with an incredible, all encompassing love. Because of what I believe is incredible leadership integrity and character God loves LBC and has an amazing offer for it as it looks to its next chapter as a local church.
This has easily been a top 3 hardest ministry years of my life and I have learned so much about God’s faithfulness, His patience, and His heart for people. We have had a difficult year at times with unforeseen hospital visits, wounds from healing, accidents, relational conflicts, but in it all we have experienced the steadiness of God. He has cared for our kids in incredibly personal ways. He has given them opportunities to experience how He has made them in ways that I could not have imagined or dreamed of. He has revealed Himself to them and they have had to choose to follow or reject Him. Their faith is more real, more secure, more tested than I would have asked or maybe even wanted for them at their age. We have experienced some incredible experiences of God by finding a house that we can afford, in a great area, and close to schools and church. Hannah was able to get into UNL in 24 hrs and has excelled in stepping into her passion. We have made numerous memories as a family getting used to the snow and winter and then experiencing all 4 seasons within one day. We have gotten to live on a daily basis being reminded of why God has given us life.
We have learned that each day we get to choose the life that we will live. We have learned that being numb is a terrible way to exist. We have learned that what God has put in us and what He has allowed us to experience is preparing us for what He has next in our lives. We have learned that we are broken, hurting people that have to lean into God everyday so that we can live the free life He promises. We have learned that we are different this year than we were last year. We have learned if we want to be different next year than we are this year we will need to continue leaning into God and allowing Him to take us through the good, the refining, and the challenging.
I start year 2 at LBC a little more healed, a little more aware of my own shortcomings and downfalls, a little more hopeful that God is going to do something huge this year and a lot more secure in the TRUTH that if I will give my plans, my family, my life to God, He will be all that I need. I am still a little numb at times. I still hurt from some of the past. I still have moments where I wish ministry was easier and that my family would individually and collectively make better decisions, but I don’t spend near as much time worrying about those things. I am committed to spending more time praying, focusing, dreaming about how to bring Jesus to a broken culture that simply doesn’t know how peaceful a life living with God can be. It’s going to be a great year.