First, you can see that I have a new blog. You may ask the question why, why do you need a new one when you had a perfectly good blog before? There are several reasons for this. Not a lot of people always got my old blog title. They thought that just a simple mind was me belittling myself, while that was not the intent behind the title and there are other meanings behind the title I can see why people would be confused and so I think it is time to move on. Adventure in Randomness again isn't completely unpacked and people will take what they want from the title but probably has less issues then the previous title. Also, for those of you who know me and know how much I love technology I have recently purchased a G1 (the Google phone from T-Mobile), and I have found that the things in my life are slowly becoming all things Google as a result so it made sense that my blog would be a blog site owned by none other than Google. I have found too that Blogger offers some cool features that Wordpress didn't from their site, things like polls, slide shows that link directly to Picasa, etc... I know Wordpress does a lot of the same things too but I like the simplicity of Blogger. Finally, I have decided in the last few months as I have been working through some pretty major life issues and change that I don't always want to write about it, partly because it is too personal or too raw at the time, but sometimes it is just because I find that my thoughts are not completely thought out and to right down what I'm thinking in the moment often leaves things a bit incomplete. The result of the processing is that I don't update as frequently as I would like to and I want to write more. I also want to write about other things in my life than just what God is doing (not that I don't think that is important or anything) but I do have interests in technology, sports, entertainment, etc... so I think I am going to try and write more about a variety of things that I think are interesting or that others might be interested. So you can sum all this up to say that I think my blogging is going to be evolving into something that hopefully is helpful for others, that gives insight into my world, and possible entertaining (mostly entertaining for me, because I really am not worried about whether people read this or not). Hopefully as I write more my grammar will improve as well but I wouldn't hold your breathe.
So now that you know why I have a new blog I will explain why my life is in major transition. For those that don't know I am no longer employed by my church. It has been very difficult for Julie and I to process all that has happened in the last month and we have gone through a range of emotions. I would like to first say that I do not feel like the church that I was at is a bad church or that they are wrong in the decision. The decision was based of the financial concerns of the church and our economy and the realities that things have not improved and will not improve any time soon and so the decision was made to let go of a staff person and it happened to be me. While this has been a very difficult decision for Julie and I we are confident that God is bigger than any one decision and that He will continue to use us for His Kingdom and I am confident that He will continue to use that church to impact their community in reaching the Lost. Ultimately we will look back at our time there as a time of great growth and personal development with the reality that while we were there God used is in the lives of so many amazing people and we will probably never fully realize that until the day we can celebrate together in Heaven. I have felt truly blessed by the friends who have shown their support to us over the last few months and realize that I have at times taken for granted the incredible privilege it is to be able to be part of so many lives. I am truly thankful and while it is hard to let go of something that I have given my all to I do know that God will use us and has something else that could possible be better (although we have a hard time believing that right now). As I have been spending some time reflecting about this whole situation there are a couple of themes that stand out to me and rather than give you tons of details about them I thought I would just list them and you can spend time thinking about them and applying them in your life. My guess is that as my thoughts clear about these concepts I will probably write about them too. Here they are:
- Kingdom of God
- Role of the church in relationship to the Kingdom of God
- Creativity and its connection to the Character of God
- Going where people are
- Caring for Pastors and the responsibility of the church.
- The significance of church planting in the Kingdom of God
- The importance of Soul Care
- Need for counseling
- What does loving people look like?
- What will youth ministry look like in the next 5-10 years?
- Missional and intentionality
- Our relationships are our greatest ministry.
One of the questions that I have been asked a lot lately is what is next. The answer is pretty simple, I'm not sure. I am so grateful that my loving wife has a job (actually has 2 and probably could have more), that we have housemates who are helping out, and that we have people who care about us and have given us some support (including our church which they didn't have to and I know was tough) all of which has given us some time. I ultimately would like to find a job that would allow us to pay or minimum expenses month to month so that we don't have to drain our entire savings and allow us to take some time to contemplate what will be next for us as a family. Right now I feel like I don't want to limit what God is going to do next so I don't want to rule anything out and am willing to look at all of the options that I have. I will do my best to keep my life updated and in the mean time I will be posting some blogs on a few other topics.
Until next time...
Posts
That was great insite Brian, We'll be praying for you and Julie...and BJ...cheaper dog food just won't do
ReplyDeleteBrian, first let me say that I love your new space!! It'll be nice to have you as a fellow Google Blogger!
ReplyDeleteSecond, I have one thing to say about your list. Under the bullet of caring for pastors and the responsibility of the church. That's something that I've actually been struggling with. As you know, my dad is a pastor and he's been at the same church for 25+ years. One of the most endearing qualities of my dad is his care for others, but it's also one of the most annoying. For several years now the church he pastors hasn't stepped up to take care of basic ministries, and because of that, my dad is out every night of the week trying to care for people. Unfortunately, this really affects us as a family. Granted, I don't live at home anymore, but my mom feels like he does too much, and I can see it starting to take a toll on him physically. I'm not sure how to approach him or anyone else about it. It's been on my mind. Thanks for letting me share.
As for you not being around anymore, I know Ray and I miss you. I hope we can still stay connected. I'm really glad you're going to be taking care of yourself and Julie. We're praying for you both...
In response to Ruth's comment, I am wondering if churches were lay led people would take more responsibility. People simply will not do for themselves what other people will do for them. We see that in all aspects of society. Church, education, caring for the poor, etc. Thoughts?
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ReplyDeleteIt's good to see you going through this process and thinking about it. I am praying for you and hope you figure it all out.
ReplyDeleteHeath! I just saw your blog...I've recently gotten into blogging too! I am sorry to hear about the hard times over at Compass. I am praying for their situation as well as yours. I know God will bring you into a great position in His good timing.
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