Update from the Port City!!!

It's been a week, but we've been busy setting up interviews, finding places to interview, exploring, sitting on the beach...you know, typical life! So here's the update: we're loving it here, we miss everyone, and the fact that we have no friends yet is kinda a bumber, but hey, we've been here a week. I've had several promising interviews with the likes of the City of Wilmington Parks and Rec, wbsurfcamp.com (pretty sweet gig there), and I've already got one job with Coastal Horizons working as a prevention based organization using the outdoors for an outlet(high ropes, low ropes, sea kayaking)...and Sara has an amazing opportunity to work with a local magazine here in Wilmington called Wilmington Parent that she has an interview for on Wednesday of next week! Be praying for us, I know God will provide, but we'd really like some info on how(haha). We'll be participating in a work day tomorrow with Horizon Church (wilmingtonchurch.net/home)-the church that offered us a place to stay when we visited-that will help them clean up the facilities, and I've got a chance to go to a church planting conference in Myrtle Beach next weekend with Gary, the pastor, so we're getting plugged in there, but we will be checking out a few other churches this Sunday, PC3(portcitychurch.org) and also Lifepoint Church(lifepointnow.com)! I'm looking to also get plugged into these ministries in any way possible to continue ministering to youth, so just looking for the open door and waiting to see what can happen! I'm pumped about our opportunities, and can't wait to see what happens!

One quick thought, God is really putting on my heart the importance of study with Him. I've realized that the nights that I go to bed after spending time looking at, studying, and reading His word, I seem to sleep much better, that is unless He puts something on my heart and I can't stop thinking about it!!! God is awesome, and has truly been faithful to us in this move! Please take the time to thank God for His grace, because without it...I know Sara would have probably already KILLED me by now! HAHA....P.S. Sara says Hi, and thank the Lord for Income Tax Returns! COME VISIT IF/WHEN YOU CAN!!! We'll hook you up!!!

We're here!!!

So, rain, clouds and cold weather...(haha, 50's and low 60's) were not what we were expecting, but hey, it's all good! We are getting everything settled in, love the apartment, and are loving the area...I know...it's been 4 days. Physically, emotionally...we're done, can't seem to find the energy, but we are ready for things to get going here! We have been in contact with all sorts of job possibilities, and everything looks positive. God is preparing us for something, not sure what it may be, but definitely getting us ready! We're missing friends and family already, and saying by to my parents is quite possibly the hardest thing I've ever had to do! Well, in a bit of a hurry, so I'll explain more later, but looking foward to fresh life, and new experiences! Love you all and please call us, we miss everyone! More coming soon!

Well, we're off!!!

Alright, I'm not sure what I expected when Sara and I jointly decided that God was calling us to Wilmington, but the emotional roller coaster that we've been on for the past week has been CRAZY!!! After having the opportunity to see almost all of our family and every friend we could get a hold of, we realize how blessed we are here. We want to thank everyone for supporting, encouraging and praying for us as we go off on this amazing journey.
The realization finally hit me; not after saying goodbye to family, friends, etc...but when I realized that I'd be waking up tomorrow morning, hitting the road, and not being in Arkansas for the next several months. When I know that the place I've always called home will no longer be within an hours drive...it starts to pull at me, and Sara's the same way, the only thing that we can say has been consistent throughout our lives is now not going to be within immediate reach. And I can't openly go outside and call the hogs and instantly have others join in...I'll just get the neighbor who thinks I'm absolutely insane!
It's something that I've done for the past several years, and while it may sound weird, it strikes a cord with me and has convicted me. I try not to say "Goodbye" when leaving friends and family...I purposely say "later" because I plan on seeing everyone again, no matter the time, date, or place! Not sure why I share that, but it truly makes me look at my relationships in a Godly way...and I honestly do want to see everyone again!!!
We have reached a point where the emotion of leaving our amazing friends and family has taken hold, but we do want everyone to know that it is out of love, not sadness! We look forward to hearing everything that is going on with those we care for, and also look forward to sharing our story with those interested. So, as I sit here knowing that I'm about to go to bed at 8, wake up at 2...and hit the road, I'm ready! SO READY, to see what God has in store for us in Wilmington! God, PLEASE protect us...and be with our friends and family! Bless them as much as you have used them to bless our lives day in and day out!!! Amen

Love you ALL!

Next time we talk, I'll be a hog fan in a state of BLUE??? GO HOGS!!!

T-Minus 7

So, 7 days from this very moment we'll be on the road, at some random hotel in either Alabama or Georgia, on our way to Wilmington, NC! We'll be leaving the 12th and moving in the next day. My parents will be going with us to help us get everything out there, and then they will be heading back to VB on Sunday or so. Not only do we ask you to pray for us and our safety traveling, but also for my parents on their way back, and for the opportunities and the hearts we will have the chance to touch when we get there!
I have gotten a job with Coastal Horizons, a prevention based organization that works with teens and other individuals that are high risk or at risk of drugs, alcohol, etc... What I'll be doing is working with the Outdoors center working with teens and such on the Alpine tower high ropes, low ropes, and also sea kayaking/canoeing down in the ocean and in the bay of the Cape Fear River. Sara has gotten some freelancing work with several of the area magazines and is also most likely going to be working with the Magazine-Wilmington Parent. She will be doing a lot of the same stuff she has been doing/will continue doing for Peekaboo in NWA!
So...to put it straight, things are actually coming together! I don't think there are very many people ready to leave comfort as much as Sara and I are. We can't wait to get out there...just trying to be patient. God has really been working on me in several different ways, and its stretching me in ways I didn't realize! I'm growing as a youth pastor, and I'm not even pastoring youth yet! He is showing me things that will be very helpful in the days to come, and I'm pumped! God has made it very clear to us that He wants us in the Wilmington area, now we just get to see what he has in store for us! As always, we will miss everyone, and we would love to see everyone before we leave, but that's just not Humanly Possible! Please feel free to contact us any time you want! We love hearing from people and getting a glimpse of what God is doing in those that we care abouts lives!

Just a small something to chew on! I've been reading through Matthew...and God's shown me things that I've never realized before, maybe because I'm a bit slow sometimes, but man is this awesome! It blows me away in chapter 16 when Jesus is talking to Peter. Jesus asks who am I, and after several "answers" He asks again...who do you say I am? Peter replies and that conversation ends up with Christ telling him that on him, on the rock, God will build his church...the CORNERSTONE OF THE CHURCH! Right after that in a matter of 5 verses, Jesus tells of His soon to come death, burial, resurrection. Peter pulls Jesus aside and REBUKES JESUS(that's just dumb), and tells him that this would NEVER HAPPEN! Peter just doesn't know when to keep his mouth SHUT!!! Jesus then looks at the CORNERSTONE OF THE CHURCH and says, get behind me Satan, you are a stumbling block to me because you are to worried about the things of man, and not God! If that not encouraging to those feeling like they are called to lead, I don't know what is! When the cornerstone of the church can also be the stumbling block to others, then I know that I have no right to be anyone great, but God is still going to use me and call me to do so! I'm ready, who's with me?