Have you ever been hiking at night? If the woods are dense enough, almost no moonlight or starlight penetrates the thick canvas of the forest roof. When you turn your headlamp on, the immediate area in front of you lights up, and everything else is draped in blackness. You can see clearly for maybe thirty feet, then after that it tapers quickly back into pitch black. There’s a certain amount of faith that you have to walk in when you are night hiking. You have to trust that the trail will take you where it is supposed to go. You have to have faith that the trail itself is safe, even if it runs alongside a step cliff or next to a rushing river. You trust that the noises you hear are really just big squirrels and not hungry bears looking for tasty, out of shape and slightly plump, stray hikers. So you hike in faith, knowing for sure only what lies 30 feet in front of you and hoping that you’ll reach your campsite before Roscoe the Mountain Man jumps from the shadows to demonstrate to you his deep knowledge of the movie “Deliverance.” It really is exciting. Believe me. Try it sometime. Well, I am on a night hike of sorts right now, figuratively speaking. All of us that have entered into this amazing adventure that is following Christ are on night hikes. Our destination is certain: the Kingdom of God. Our trail is firm: the Path of Righteousness and the Way of the Cross. Our light, The Holy Spirit, illuminates all that we need to know in order to navigate through the world that is shrouded in the darkness of sin. The path that I am currently on is not one that I ever thought that I would take. It is a crazy trail that already has seen miracles, struggles, leaps of faith, and mighty acts of God. And we're only at the beginning. My hiking companions are my wife Brandie, and my three sons, Sam, Jack and Luke. It is a journey that we would love to share with all of you, if you want to read along.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Stepping onto the trail...

So here is the short version of where we are. Maybe I'll go into more details another day, but for now:

I married an amazing woman who I have been in love with since the 8th grade. About 7 years and three children into our marriage, she looked at me and said that God was calling me to be a pastor. Two years later God miraculously provided the resources for us to move to Kentucky so that I could go to seminary, and I began studying at Asbury Theological Seminary. Now a year away from graduating, God is beginning to show us where we are headed next.

Henry Blackaby, a pastor and author, wrote in his wonderful study Experiencing God that we should look for where the Holy Spirit is moving and then join Him in His work. Well, I have looked and seen the Holy Spirit working in incredible ways in the Anglican Church. Through an organization called Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA), God is planting churches that are dynamic, Spirit filled, evangelical Bodies of Christ that have an ancient foundation.

Right now we are praying about planting an AMiA church in Marietta, GA, our hometown. We have some friends that are interested in helping and the doors are wide open. Now we need to pray, fast, and seek guidance. Could I ask for each of you to support us through prayer? Send us an e-mail and give us your thoughts. We would love to hear from you.
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1 comment:

  1. Kelly LawsonMay 27, 2010 at 7:23 AM

    Excited about this. Excited about your adventures AND your blog. I'll keep reading. :)

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