Two Weeks

It has been a long time friends. Life the last couple of weeks has seemed like we have been on a ship going back and forth. Last week we had an opportunity to attend the Summer Conference for our network of church's which I will talk more about in a bit. As you all know we recently moved into a new apartment in May but as of 3 weeks ago our chimney was leaking and a week ago we got a storm that gave us 3 inches overnight and our roof was leaking in 6 places :) Now who wouldn't be happy about that.

It was a ruff morning when we awoke to that. Needless to say after this last week of being gone and seeing how much the wall has been damaged. The wall would need to be replaced and mold has started growing in some places, we have decided we can not stay at this apt or that it would be healthy for us. I really do not want to imagine what the attic looks like. We also have been struggling with what to do with sharing a vent system with our downstairs neighbors. She smokes inside alot and we can smell it upstairs. After we talked with our landlord about this apartment not working out she informed us that the neighbor downstairs would be moving out July 1. We don't have a place 100% but we think we do. We really like our landlord just this particular apt has not worked out, so she has told us she has a single standing 2 bedroom home that she is remodeling. We have seen it and like what the potential could be but we are holding off on signing the lease until we see a more finished product. This house has a yard!!!! It has a two car garage(needs a new roof) but Gabe has been daydreaming about a possible place to have his tools. It has a bathtub- for the possibility of a baby sometime next year(I am not pregnant)!

Side Note: Congratulations to Josh and Amy from our Lifegroup they are pregnant!!!! Our first friends here our age to get pregnant!!

All in all on paper this place sounds good but we are trying to be more cautious. You can be praying for us in this moving process again and hopefully this will be a place we will settle for a couple of years.

Last week we had a great chance to be able to spend 3 days in Carbondale, IL. Gabe and I had a chance to spend some time with a great couple from Vine Casey and Celia Raymer. They were great hosts and they were just like us, they had jut been married one year and they love Vine(there local church). It was a priviledge to get to know someone more in depth. I don't have any pictures , I didn't take any pictures, I always forget!!

The conference was a great time to worship, connect, and spend time in God's presence. One of the speaker's that stuck out to me was Jeff Miller the pastor of Clear View Church. He spent time in Luke 15. In his sermon he spent some more time focusing on the older brother and the response that he had to his younger brother leaving, taking all of his inheritance, and spending it all. It hit me like heavy bricks that in some situations I sit outside and pought because someone else is being recieved and cared for more than me. Like the younger brother recieved a party from his father when he returned. This is totally selfish but I have at times sat outside what was happening and pouted. I was not willing to engage and I would overanalyze what people thought of me. As a follower of Jesus we should be more and more excited each time someone new comes in, each time someone comes back to Jesus if they have walked away from God but have come back. Basically Jeff explained in language I could understand feelings I have felt and helped me to work through frustrations.

I also loved the conference because Steve Morgan one of the other pastor's puts it very clearly what this network of churchs' is about and what God is doing in them. This network of churches is about giving all of our time, energy, resources to do what he wants for his kingdom, not what we want for our lives. It is sold out to planting church's in University Cities that will continue to plant more churches. We are about making disciples. Our vision should always be looking forward to Father's house, to being home with Father. That is what we live for to be in Father's house some day. If we loose sight of this the world can distract us and pull us off course. A good sized church for this network is between 800-and 2,000 people. If a church gets to 2,000 people we will be planting churches like crazy so that more people can be reached. More and more we don't live this life for ourselves. It is so amazing to get to see other people have a growing relationship with God and changing their hearts to match his desire for their life. Sometimes I get frustrated becuase I want people to see and love Jesus so much that I try and take control. I trust that God will move in every heart that he wants, and wants to grow.