Tiger

Tiger

He's finally here! Our new little puppy finally arrived Wednesday morning. His name is Tiger. Birdy has already taken him under her wing and already loves him more than us. All they do is play together, sleep, play together, sleep, eat, play together and so on.

He's a cutie for sure. Not like the "oh you're as cute as a button and so adorable I just want to squeeze you" cute. But more like the "you got a crazy look in your eye and all the fur on your head makes you look like you're wearing a helmet, and you look ridiculous" cute. We love him.

Here's a few pictures of him taken on the first day we got him. He's just under 10 weeks old in the pics.

there's less Son here than you think

there's less Son here than you think

We wanted to share with you a little about this town that God chose to send us to. The more we learn about it, the more it seems like no random chance or coincidence at all. We live on the boundaries of a small tight-knit and exclusive city whose foundations seem rooted in darkness. A brief history of the town is this:

A few decades ago several communities were developed around a high class, very wealthy, ritzy country club which lay on a nice golf course. Over time the area developed more communities, most of which centralized around this country club and golf course. Sometime in the 70's this small area managed to become recognized as an official city. A very small city, but nonetheless... a city. It's new, more expensive to live in, and from what we've heard, carries a little bit of the "snooty" attitude, and the people here are extremely liberal and quite anti-God.

The interesting thing about this city is that they have intentionally written in their constitution that there are no churches allowed. None. From what we've been explained, they were quite clever in how they went about this, and covered their tracks perfectly. With the exception of a very few select churches that were sort of "grandfathered" in to the city (that is, they were there before the area became an official city, and therefore they can't do anything about them), you cannot have any church here, nor use a building for the sake of large bible study gatherings. This is just a glimpse of how dark this place is. It isn't just physically dark here.... but quite spiritually dark as well. There's no sun and no Son. This impression gives us just a little understanding to why this state is the most unchurched area in the country.


May the Lord break the rulers of darkness in this world, the spiritual wickedness in high places. May he set at liberty the captive with his unconquerable light.

Romans 13:12
"The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light."

II Peter 3:9

II Peter 3:9

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness..."

This has been the word God has reminded us several times of since we got here. For the first two weeks we were here Lynsi just couldn't get that scripture out of her head . Perhaps this is because we have already experienced how not slow God truly is in fulfilling his promises, especially those he made to us in regard to moving us here.

Before we even knew God had plans for us to move away from our home in Colorado he gave us a specific vision for a purpose and ministry. He told us that he was going to "send us to the ends of the earth to bring people into his church." He did this through a powerful dream and then confirmed it through several good words. Moreover, while we were preparing for our move we heard from the Lord that there would be people here waiting for us. That is, people would know that God had sent us, and it would be an answer to their prayers for help.

We also knew that God wanted us to continue to pour into students (high school/middle school) as well many people who live in this area.

We hadn't been in this state 3 hours yet when we got the first phone call. It was a friend of a friend who lives in this area, and who knew of our heart for God and for youth. He asked if we would at all be interested in serving in a youth ministry at a church here. And went on to say that the Director of the Student Ministry was currently seeking out people to serve on his "team", and that he had told him about us and that he was excited to meet us. We agreed to go to the church the following Sunday. When we arrived we met a few people there that said some interesting things that strangely related to what God told us before moving here: an elder of the church proclaimed, "Oh, you're the couple I heard about that was moving here right?", the senior pastor of the church found his way over to us after the service because he noticed we were new, and once we told him our names he proclaimed, "OH, you're the couple from Colorado!". We've been to the church several times now, and that was certainly not the end of hearing those kind of remarks... needless to say, it seemed like somehow people here were "waiting" for us and "expected" us. We just looked at each other each time that happened with the expression of "what is going on??"


In the few short weeks we've been here, the Lord has already put awesome, solid people into our lives and confirmed to us in cool ways that we are at the very place he wants us (to live and to serve) at the precise timing that he wants us here, and that he has a plan for us here. It seems he has placed us in a church where their vision for the future lines up perfectly with the heart and vision God has given us for our time and purpose here. Moreover, he has reiterated that our sole reason for being here is for his Kingdom.

It all is happening in such a funny, uncanny way: we haven't really done anything at all. It has all just happened. Somehow we were plugged into the student ministry without doing a thing. Somehow we've been given the opportunity to share our testimonies to the church on Easter Sunday during the service. But we haven't done anything. It's so weird, but God's style.

Besides, we have to believe that no one is really interested in us, they just somehow know that God is moving. That God is in control. And all we know is that somehow God is moving, and God is in control.

not sure what to make of this picture...we've had to entertain ourselves since we are our only friends here right now.

Welcome

Welcome

We really want to be able to share what is going on in our lives with our family and friends. We'll be updating this blog with things that God is doing in our lives, as well as any other shenanigans we find our selves in.

So... we thought it might be appropriate to share some photos of where we just moved to in the great pacific northwest. We'll get some more photos up in time, but until then... Enjoy!




Photos (From Top Left to Bottom Right): Front, From Back Deck, Driveway, Living Room