Rice Field

Sometimes I wish I could live with a hindsight perspective NOW! If we could already see the end result of all that God is up to, especially when we’re going through pain or confusion or transition, we might live with more peace and hope. But FAITH is about hoping for what is unseen! There’s something bigger and deeper and more transformational that God has for us as we walk through the unknowns of life.

Our condo that we bought 3 years ago out of a sense of, “this is a good investment - its the responsible, grown-up thing to do,” is now worth almost 1/2 of what we bought it for and we’re having to do a short-sale on it in order to make the move to San Diego. Its VERY easy to slip into thoughts of regret and, “if only we had known where this would lead we may not have made the decision we did….” mentality. The difficult part is trusting, first, that God was leading us 3 years ago as we asked Him for wisdom and guidance on whether or not we should purchase the property. And second, trusting Him for the unknowns of how we’ll possibly sell this place in the midst of the current economic melt down in our society and our world at large!

If only we could live with hindsight now! So often I’ll look back on the timeline of my life and take a deep breath, deeply grateful for all the things that God has taught me as He faithfully brought us though each life step. The end goal of every puzzle piece of our life story is GLORY. Glory for a God that creates beauty out of ashes, gives meaning to confusion, showers His light to drive out darkness and ultimately transforms us into the image if Jesus.

So, God, about our condo…… we trust you. It is all for your glory. Make this transition beautiful, give us HOPE as we walk through the unknowns, help us to walk in your light and transform us to be more life Jesus and closer to your heart.

So many details of moving our life and taking this symbolically huge step as a family….. trusting God with the complexities of selling our condo, continuing to raise the support we need to make the move, starting to pack things up, learning and growing as we prepare for our new ministry roles in San Diego, and, of course, starting to say “Goodbye” here in LA.

OK, it isn’t really “GOODBYE” Goodbye.  It’s more like, “We won’t be seeing you as often.”

Thursday night, at church, we are the guests at a special open house in our honor.  So much has happened in the five years we have served at Baseline Community Church.  We have many friends, we have grown together, we have shared joys and sorrows with so many.

And of course, this is the first church our little girl attended.  These are the people who have loved us and love her.  While she won’t really remember any of it, we have been truly blessed to be here during these important years.

We will come back and visit, and our friends here will come visit us in our new home.  It isn’t really that far.

But it isn’t the same as being together every week.

We’re really hoping that we get to see everyone on Thursday night.  It will be bittersweet, but we cherish the thought of one more chance to look into their eyes, tell them what they have meant to us, and to hug them again.

Soon, we will be “visiting.”  But for this one more moment, we are truly thankful.

If you are in the area, please come by and, once again, let us share our lives together.

Thanks.