It’s Growin’ Time!

Photo Credit: Dany_Sternfeld via Compfight cc

I’ve started a new blog at www.droppingtheact.com. Check it out for the latest content.

It’s almost planting time in Iowa! The promise of a fresh start. I love the flurry of activity this season brings; tractor beams moving, ghostly, through the fields late into the night, as if floating through the open plains. And by day, plumes of dirt trailing behind the lumbering machines like an organic bridal train.

Green nubs are finally breaking through the too-long-frozen ground in my garden, and green tractors are populating our roadways and the fields, turning up soil, preparing it to nurture and grow the promise of a future harvest.  

With the changing of the season, there’s a palpable sense that each farmer, poised with a sense of destiny–a feeling that this is what they were born to do–is waiting with anticipation for the exact right time to plant in order to partner with nature and God to call something life-giving from the dirt. 

This got me thinking about my response to changing seasons within my own life.

Whenever things around me are changing I find I have two choices: embrace the possibilities or fear the uncertainties. And often my natural inclination is towards the latter. So often I miss the opportunity to partner with God to call something life-giving from what, at first glance, appears to be useless dirt, and by focusing on the things that are out of my control I fail to recognize the possibilities staring me in the face.

How can I be so confident that there are always possibilities to embrace?

Because even in my darkest moments I’ve seen the fulfillment of God’s promise to work all things for my good. 

Thinking back to the farmers, I’m sure as they’re planting they could fret about the summer hail storms that will surely come and wreck havoc on all of their hard work, or the potential for a blight of insects. All things completely beyond their control. But in the end, they have to trust that they’ve cultivated enough ground that they’ll be able to withstand the loss.

The same is true of my relationship with God. When I face change, I find that the amount of ground I’ve cultivated with him through prayer, conversation, and experience, is directly proportionate to the trust I put in him in the face of uncertainty and the amount I’m able to withstand. This season I’m looking forward to cultivating more ground with Jesus, and plowing new rows of trust.

How about you? What’s your natural reaction to change in your life? Do you embrace it or do you feel afraid? What areas in your life seem like useless dirt, but God is actually calling you to partner with him to see something life-giving spring from it? Leave me a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

 

 

.

 

 

 

Let’s Have a Grand Adventure

“When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an adventure is going to happen.” –A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

I’ve started a new blog at www.droppingtheact.com. Check it out for the latest content.

I was driving the now familiar route between Cedar Falls and Waverly a few days ago when I had a moment of deja vu. My mind went back almost two years to the moment when our family was driving that same stretch of Highway 218, headed into uncertainty and possibility as we went to interview at Crosspoint Church. On that day, Oceans started to play on the radio and as the music filled the car and my heart, Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders…take me deeper than my feet could ever wander, and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior, I knew that whatever happened when we got there that I wanted to live those words.

See, two years into this adventure of pastoring at Crosspoint I’ve had the joy of getting to know some of the most amazing people and calling them friends. But on that day two years ago, I had no idea what was ahead. There were any number of good reasons not to even interview. What if my kids didn’t adjust well to a new school? Would we be a good fit for the church? What if we move there and then they decide they don’t like us? We love what we’re doing and it’s going really well. Why should we give up the certainty of Chi Alpha for the uncertainty of church planting?

All I knew for sure was that I saw God opening a door, and I had a choice whether to walk through it or stay rooted in my own comfort. I don’t believe it would have been disobedient for us to continue in Chi Alpha, but I do think we would have missed an opportunity to go on another adventure with God, missed a chance for our faith to grow deeper and to be stretched in new ways. I’m so glad we chose to open the door to adventure.

Is God calling you on a new adventure with Him? Are you willing to step out into uncertainty with Him?

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!