The Redemption Blog

Charting a Course...

Do you have a vision for your life? 

Maybe something you want your life to count for, or something you are working towards professionally, financially, or spiritually? Most of us have a vision for our vocation, or a vision for our ministry, but over the last year God has convicted me of an area that I have not sought Him for vision: 

My Family. 

As husbands, I think vision for our families is one of the easiest to overlook areas in our lives.  I tend to assume that as long as I simply love my wife and daughter than we’ll just happen to live happily ever after, but the more I have prayed about this the more convicted I have felt concerning this issue.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Tami and Ava with everything inside of me and by God’s grace I do my best to love, lead, protect, and provide for them, but I have not prayerfully charted a course for the future of our family. 

After going to Tami a few months ago and repenting for this, I started praying about what God’s vision was for our family. This led to some questions.  What are the things that define our family?  What are the things that God has said in His Word should define our family?  What is God’s heart and desire for all families in general and my family in particular? 

With these questions in mind I decided that I needed to sit down and write out a plan for my family the same way I would in other areas of my life and ministry.  I need to define the purpose, clarify values, set goals, and start to work toward this vision by the grace of God.  

So what is the purpose of the family? 

The Westminster Catechism begins saying, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” (Ps 86:9; Rom 11:36; Rev 4:11; Ps 16:50-11; Is 12:2; Phil 4:4) 

The reason God made me is to glorify Him. 

The reason God made marriage was to glorify Him. 

The reason God made family was to glorify Him. 

Everything exists for His glory!  Scripture is clear on this and since Scripture is highest authority, the reason my family exists is:

“To glorify God in the way we live with and love each other.”

Pursuing a better marriage apart from God’s glory is pointless.  Pursuing better parenting apart from God’s glory is pointless.  We have been created to glorify God so this must be the starting point for charting a course and clarifying a vision for our families. Now I can start to chart the course...

Push

Matthew 11:28 (ESV)
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Sunday was a tough day for me.  It was our first weekend after the closing of The Crossing and it was really strange and sad to be home on a Sunday morning.  Tam and I decided to take a week before going back to church somewhere so I was home thinking things like, "Oh it's 7 AM. We'd be unloading the trailer right now. Oh, it's 9AM.  We'd be meeting for prayer right now.  Oh, it's 10:15AM. I'd be getting ready to preach right now."  It was just really strange and I found myself feeling quite depressed for much of the day.

I realized Sunday afternoon that I have been running on empty for the past month or so.  There has been so much to do and so much has happened so fast that I've just kept my head down and moving forward, until I hit a wall on Sunday.  But then Sunday night God, in His grace, saw fit to teach me a lesson through my 7 month old daughter...it's always humbling when someone who can't talk teaches you something...

I was putting Ava to bed and she was so over tired that she was thrashing around all over the place and could not rest.  I picked her up out of her crib and tried to hold her to my chest so she would calm down, but she kept pushing away from me with her super-human baby strength so that I could not console here. I just kept thinking, "Ava, why don't you just put your head down on my chest and let me help you calm down and get the rest that you need."  And than God said the 4 words He consistently speaks to me when I observe other people and think the answer to their problem is so obviously simple. God said,

ARE YOU ANY DIFFERENT?

I'm looking down at my baby girl wondering why she won't just rest her head and let me comfort her and I realize that God is thinking the same thing about me.  The truth is, in spite of my personal fatigue I have been having a difficult time going to God in prayer.  I have been spinning my wheels trying to keep my family encouraged, keep my church family encouraged, trying to figure out what's next for me, and how I'm going to provide for my family, but I have not done a good job of simply laying my head on my Father's chest and allowing Him to give me rest and refreshment. 

Last night I sat in bed, unable to sleep and begged God to give me the grace necessary to stop trying fix everything and figure everything out and simply rest in Him.  It's funny how easy it is to preach this stuff, but how difficult it is to pursue it in my life.  I guess the big idea is that God is truly good, He is gracious to me and He wants to give me rest and refreshment so that I can pursue His mission in this next season.  I know that to be true, but I need God to continue to help the gospel drop in my own life.  Pray for me...

Our Next Steps...

I've been getting a lot of questions about what Tami and I are going to do now with the closing of The Crossing, so I thought I would actually ask for your prayer about that.  We have some different options and ideas that we are trying to sort through and we could really use your prayer. 

I've known for a long time that church planting was in my future, so we are now planning and praying seriously about when and where that will be.  Church planting is really risky and feels a bit like jumping off a cliff and not knowing what you're going to land in.  Right now we have very few details and are simply praying and seeking God's will concerning this matter.  We covet your prayers as we seek God for wisdom and direction.  I'm working on starting a weekly prayer update newsletter that will let everyone know what we're doing and how they can pray, so if you are interested in being a part of that click here and give me your email address.

I'll be blogging through this whole adventure and I'll keep you posted about where we are and what we're doing!  Thanks again for your prayers...

A New Chapter...

As most of you know by this time we entered into a new season as a church family at The Crossing (You can hear the announcement here...).  This past Sunday was our final Sunday meeting as a church and as promised I wanted to provide a few recommendations on other area churches that you might be interested in trying out...

Willow Creek
220 Exchange Dr
Crystal Lake, IL 60014

"Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, Willow Creek offers a variety of experiences, resources, and classes to help you grow closer to God."  This would be a great place for people on the front end of their spiritual journey and great place for families.

Harvest Bible Chapel
580 Tracy Trail
Crystal Lake, IL 60014

Harvest has some of the best Bible teaching in the country and they are in a great new facility in Crystal Lake.  They offer a wide variety of programs ranging from adult ministries, student ministries and children ministries.

Springbrook Community Church
10115 Algonquin Rd
Huntley, IL 60142

Springbrook is a great church committed to helping people find their way back to God through a lifestyle evangelism and other creative evangelistic methods.  Stylistically they are very similar to Willow Creek, but if you live in Algonquin or Huntley this may be a better fit for you.

The Orchard Church
768 Ridgeview Dr
McHenry, IL 60050

The Orchard is a newer church located out in McHenry and has lots of opportunity to be involved and get connected.  They are growing rapidly and have lots of exciting things to be a part of.

Make sure you check out one of these great churches and let me know what you think.  Know that I'm praying for you and I'm available if I can help in any way!

Be Back Next Week...

It's been kind of a crazy week, so my posting has been non-existent.  I promise to kick it up next week...hope all is well!