Crazy!

“Hey! How’s life?” 

When people ask me that question my standard response right now is “Crazy!” its the most honest response I can think of at the moment. 

Last month I started a new job as the Director of Student Ministries at First United Methodist Church in Cleburne, planned to move into a new apartment, found out that said apartment was known as “Meth City” among several locals in Cleburne, canceled my move into that apartment, assisted my beautiful fiance in the wedding planning process, started taking correspondence courses from Andersonville Theological Seminary, and have struggled to keep up on my P90X workouts (I’m trying to do it twice before our wedding in August). I didn’t even mention trying to figure out a budget. 

Yes, my life is crazy. Yes, there are days where I want to pull my hair out. Yes, I get stressed. I wouldn’t have it any other way though. 

I love my job. I love the fact that God has blessed me with a means of taking care of myself and my future family, I love that my office has a plastic owl with large creepy eyes, I love the fact that I get to hang out with  Jr. high and high school students, and I love the fact that partnering with parents to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ is at the center of my job description.

Every Wednesday night I get to stand up and read the Bible, preach, and speak truth to an awesome group of kids. I get to show these kids who God has designed them to be and more importantly, who they are to Him. Granted, I don’t do much of anything, God works through me. 

There’s a ton of preparation for Wednesday night services (we call it Fusion), sometimes its stressful and frustrating, but every ounce of it pays off when God stirs a kid who didn’t know Him before towards Himself, convicts a kid of sin, saves one of His children, and meets our kids where they are. On a weekly basis I’m reminded why I have the most amazing job in the world. 

While my moving to Cleburne on February 1st plan fell through, I’ve been blessed by the situation. My two hours in the car every day lets me listen to my college lectures as I drive, and I get to see my family and future wife a lot more than I would if I had been able to move. My time in the car is awesome, I’m going to miss it when I do find a home out here. It even gives me some time to talk to God in the morning.

Wedding planning is probably the most stressful thing on earth, but it hasn’t been too bad for me. I think its because I have been blessed with a wonderful future wife, and a mother in law who is one of the most on the ball people I’ve ever known. The fact that I’m planning to marry one of the most beautiful, intelligent, and humble women on earth in a little over 5 months makes planning seem more like a privilege and less like a burden.

Almost seven months ago I sat down at Blue Mesa Cafe and talked about everything and nothing, laughed at funny stories, and barely ate anything with Lyndsi. Even though we had  just met for the first time, it felt like I had already known her for my entire life. It is so awesome to know that I WILL know her for the rest of it. The events leading up to our wedding and the fact that God has thrown this beautiful woman into my life are the greatest things to happen to me since my salvation. I’m so stoked to spend the rest of my life with this beautiful, Godly woman. 

I’m loving Andersonville Theological Seminary. I love the fact that my classes are presented in an easy to do format with no quick arriving due dates, my classes are extremely practical and usable, and every single class I will take for the remainder of my education is based on what God’s word says. At the end of this process I’ll have my elusive piece of paper that says that I can jump through an educational institution’s hoops (a B.A. Degree in Theology), and I’ll have a better understanding of God’s Word. I’ll also know how to be a more effective minister for Jesus Christ.

I love my workout routine. It keeps me healthy and will allow me to do the work that God has called me to. What kind of witness would I be if I didn’t have the energy or health to do what I knew God had planned for me? I’m not doing my future wife or future (way future) children any favors if I’m not staying healthy and fit enough to support and care for them.

On top of all this God has still managed to give me time to rest and recharge. He’s so good and so faithful. I absolutely love my crazy life. I love the craziness because God is at work behind every ounce of it. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My prayer for you, is that you would look hard for God in your crazy life, that you would see Him at every twist and turn, and that you would grow to embrace His Son Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. 

While I love my job, my future wife, my home, and my health, none of it is halfway comparable to what God has bought for me with His Son. I didn’t do anything to deserve it.

“Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”

-Ephesians 2:3-5