What's Next?

(View from the top of The Homestead)

Yesterday, my dear bride and I celebrated our 19th year of marriage.  I don't have to tell you what an incredible person she must be to put up with yours truly for nearly two decades (longer, if you count our entire relationship)... if you'd like details on the kind of woman she is, look up Proverbs 31:10-31.

When we first began our life together, we both had the seeds of desire for "Wide Open Spaces".  And as long as we lived in the city, dog-gone-it, those seeds just would not stop sprouting, in our minds.  So, while still living in Metropolis, we dreamed about our Homestead:  40 acres of half-timbered, half-pastured land, with a year-round creek running right next to our home site.  We'd build our log-home from the trees on the property (without so much as making a dent in the forest's aesthetic appeal), and live happily ever after.

Well, it seems our Provider has revealed His own set of details.  Like, "Move to the country FIRST, by faith, and watch for Me to unfold the remaining details."

After nine months of getting our footing in NW Montana (the first 3 months, we lived in a tent — no joke), and after much prayer and consideration, we have resolved ourselves to purchase (from a dear relative) three+ acres of gently-sloped, well-timbered land in Whitefish.  Not "pasture land", in the purest sense.  No creek.  No electricity yet.  However, with the provisos offered in the deal (no interest on the loan and free rent in an adjacent home for the duration of our construction, among other providential features), it woud be foolish and discontented to pass it up.  We'll be planning and building our home as frugally as possible, with an eye toward warmth and dryness.  :-)  Though we have not yet entered into the official (legal) agreement, we have begun, by faith (and with the land-owner's permission) to clean up the deadwood around the property, cutting it and sorting it into either "firewood" or "construction material".  All the kids are excited to help, and we have had many a picnic there, building up sweat equity.  Here are some pictures of our work, thus far.  Enjoy!

Feeling like a nobody?

I've been thinking a lot about my identity.

By certain standards, I used to be a "somebody".  I was a long-time leader in a church of what must now be around 1400 attendees.  I was responsible for a team of about 40 volunteers, all of whom seemed to be highly-motivated to be part of the worship ministry.  Heck, my wife and I would even once-in-a-while be approached around town (back in SoCal) by total strangers, calling us by name, telling us how much they appreciated our ministry.  I must now confess that it was a big inflation of my ego, yessir.

But now, through the compulsion of the Holy Spirit to leave all of that, I find myself to be a much smaller "fish".  Granted, I love my present "pond" much more — who wouldn't?  I'm in NW Montana, for Pete's sake! — and the Spirit of God is causing some lifelong dreams to be fulfilled (to the praise of His glorious grace).  Still, sometimes I mourn the loss of my former community, and yes, my former apparent "significance".  I get the feeling that some of my friends and extended family are astounded that I would depart from such measures of success, only to jump into a totally different life and certain obscurity.  (I'm tempted here to go into a long defense of such action, citing scriptural and historical justification, but I'll not digress.)

Yet, there is something wonderful coming of all this.  Jesus is becoming more real to me.  I'm learning — experientially — that He is jealous for my affection, for my trust, for my future; and that He, being the Consuming Fire that He is, will burn up anything that gets between us — financial security, social position, pharisee-ism.  Yes, I owned all of these, and they are being melted away.  Yet, He remains:

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.

— 1 Corinthians 3:11-13

They say "You're nobody 'til Somebody loves you".  Well, I guess that I'm not a nobody, after all.

Somebody — The great I AM — loves me as much as His One and Only Son.  AMAZING!

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Please continue to pray that the Lord would continue to shape our little family into His likeness, that He would provide for us in all areas, and that He would expand our impact in building His Kingdom on earth, as it is in Heaven.

Next Post:  Pictures of our family, preparing the "Homestead" land that the Lord is providing for us.

Quote of the day...

"If a community, or a section, or a race, or an age, is groaning under industrialism, and well aware that it is an evil dispensation, it must find a way to throw it off. To think that this cannot be done is pusillanimous. And if the whole community, section, race, or age thinks it cannot be done, then... it has doomed itself to impotence." —Twelve Southerners

Doing what she's created to do...

This evening, we were treated to quite a show after our evening walk, and the whole family clamored for a front-row seat.  This otherwise-very-friendly feline (she always comes around and purrs at us) had hit the jackpot, and was enjoying her prize:



Just a few minutes later, my little Munchkin (10-yr old daughter) reported that Lucy had ingested the whole mouse.
Simply amazing!  Way to go, Lucy!