The Move. . .

Since so many of you have questions about our move, I figured I'd type up a quick summation of our calling, reasoning, obedience, and excitement. . .for the future we're about to embark upon.

Who:
My husband & I

What:
Feel a calling to move to a place more culturally diverse with more challenges so we can really live our lives like Christ. . .Jesus didn't just stay in a "safe" comfort zone with his favorite 12 disciples all the time. They didn't hang out with each other watching movies all the time. . .Jesus hung out with people who were different from Himself. Since we life in the self-proclaimed Bible belt, finding people who have different beliefs is a challenge. Even though there are truly people here who are non-believers and who have differing beliefs from myself, most of them are not real about it. We're looking for real people to be in our lives who say they are not followers of Christ. . .people who aren't afraid to be honest about who they are. Plus, we want to live in Asia, hopefully in the next five years. Asia is a very dark place, a place of spiritual warfare. Moving from GA to Asia is like moving from the light to the dark. . .there's no grey area there.

Hence, we're moving to Seattle in June. Cultural diversity, a different place, an unchurched region, and an awesome, growing, biblical, NOT AFRAID TO SPEAK OUT AND STEP ON TOES church. Amen, hallelujah. We want to be a part of a church where people aren't scared to be themselves, where the pastor gets out and is active and missional, and a place where we can use our spiritual gifts. There just isn't an outlet here for mercy. At Mars Hill, there are tons of opportunities, community groups, outreach activities, and a very much missional community of people who may not be cookie cutter Christians. . .but being a cookie cutter is not something to be desired. Each has been given a gift, and each gift has a purpose and is to be desired.

When:
June, after our dear friends get married.

Where:
Somewhere within 10 miles of the center of Seattle. Hopefully neighbors with some funky people who can challenge us. Push us outside that comfort zone.

Why:
Because we want to follow God's call, we want to be around a larger Asian population, and God tells us to go to the world. He didn't tell us to sit in the living room and wait for something/someone to fall into our laps. Don't get me wrong--I believe in God's providence, and I believe that God brings things to us. . .but we aren't supposed to sit around and be lazy about things either.

If we're supposed to be like the farmer who goes out and tills the soil because he trusts in the rain, then we as Christians have to act on our beliefs. As an old-school pastor of mine who used to jump the pews said to me at a young age. . ."If you're going to talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk." In our case, we'll be "driving the distance" or something catchy like that.

As we say in my classroom, Amen, Hallelujah.