It's About Time...

So I realize that I have done a less than efficient job updating this thing... I believe my last post was in... 2008? WOW!!! I skipped an entire year, an entire pregnancy, several moves, and 5 months of a beautiful baby's life!

Most of you that would read this know us and have a pretty good idea of our whereabouts and know about Miss Abigail Faith - so the purpose of this post is not to update everyone but to say... "I'M BACK!!!" and this time I'm determined to do better. Hold me accountable, friends! I will share my life with you... I will!

A New Course ... New Steps

So here it is! The blog you have all been waiting for... many were promised it would come, and it has now arrived!

We have gotten all moved into our new house, I (Allison) have started my new job, we've both started new classes, and the Lord has yet to show us what steps he would have us take from here... What church family we are to join; where JD will get a job (which ties into the first); if we are even supposed to be in full time ministry at this place in time, etc. Being out of ministry, we feel, would be like losing a limb. It's our heartbeat... it's who we are. But with all of the growth going on between us and individually, we are wondering if we are supposed to be on a sabbatical vacation; maybe this time he has given us to grow and be fed is something that he has purposely placed in our lives to force us to rest, relax, and restore some broken places that otherwise would be overlooked.

Take a glance at the verse above - Proverbs 16:9. It's not really our choice where we walk. Like a child holding tightly to the hand of a loving parent, we walk where He leads us, not where we may desire to go. When our walk with Him is close, where He leads and where we desire may come into line. So right now we wait. We pray. We strive to be the closest we can to Him so that we can ask Him where we are headed! We ask that you join in this prayer with us. That you would pray that we would hear His voice and follow in His footsteps. That He would reveal the path at the present is completely dark and impossible to discern.

On a more fun note, JD and I went on our first "fun" outing since the big move. We have been to work and back, school and back, Wal-Mart and back, and now we have been to the Ft. Worth Zoo and back! Apparently it is the oldest zoo in Texas (little known fact!) and we really enjoyed it. I tend to be a little obsessed with zoos. Put me in view of a non-domestic animal of some sort and I am in a zone... I can sit and stare for hours! Here are some pictures from our adventure:

JD with his flamingo friends ... it's amazing that such a beautiful bird and be SO smelly!

I am slightly obsessed with Penguins! It's a sickness :)

Wallabies! They really had a wide variety of animals ... not many zoos have Penguins & Wallabies! I was pumped!

I thought this tiger was absolutely gorgeous. For a girl who does NOT like house kitties, I sure do enjoy these big ones!

That's about it for now. Eventually I'm going to teach JD how to use this and then hopefully we can be more efficient at updating this thing :)

In the most unexpected places...

So I spend a lot of time at home these days, and I'm always getting something done ... straightening the house, cooking, paying bills ... but whatever I'm working on is almost always accompanied by watching TV. Actually, not even watching TV half the time, just listening to TV. I always have the TV on because I have a hard time with silence. I am aware it is a spiritual discipline I need to work on, for God often speaks through the silence. But today, He spoke through the noise...

There are many things on TV today that are unwholesome and inappropriate ... Grey's Anatomy is full of unwholesomeness and inappropriateness, therefore I am embarrassed to admit that I catch an episode occasionally if there happens to be one on. And this afternoon, my God knew that I would come home, turn on the TV, and find a rerun of this inappropriate show. He knew that when I did, I would hear this:

Don't wonder why people go crazy; wonder why they don't. In the face of all we can lose in a day, in an instant, wonder what the heck it is that makes us hold it together.

And immediately, from all the way across the house, listening to the TV to avoid silence, I became excited! I became excited because I know the answer!!! I know! I know what the heck it is that makes us hold it together... I know why we don't go crazy... I know!! And in the most unexpected places, my God, my Savior, spoke through the noise. He spoke through the noise to remind me of who He is ... to remind me of His love ... to remind me of His power.

Colossians 1:16-17 says this:

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and IN HIM ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER.

The Message phrases it this way:

For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels - everything go started in him and FINDS ITS PURPOSE IN HIM. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment.

Did you catch that? In HIM!! In Him all things hold together ... In Him we find our purpose! In Him our hurts are healed, in Him our sins are forgiven and in Him we are made clean! I've heard Him referred to in this passage as "spiritual super-glue." Regardless of what we are going through, He is there and He holds us together. He is the glue! We don't have to wonder ... WE KNOW!! ... we have Truth...

So why is it that we live as though we don't know this truth? Do we know the God we claim to serve? Do we find hope in our situations that seem hopeless? Often times I don't ... and in the most unexpected places the God of creation shows up to remind me He's there... He's the hope ... He's the glue...

Let's get this thing started!

So I've never been very good at stuff like this, but I have been encouraged by several to start this. I decided it might not be a bad thing with our upcoming move to Ft. Worth in the fall - this way I can let people know what is new in our lives without having to call the whole phone book! Someone might have to keep on me about updating it on a regular basis ... but I'll do my best!

May is always a crazy month in youth ministry - it's the kickoff for the even crazier summer months ahead. With seniors graduating, with big end of school sermon series, etc. It's exciting, but exhausting. We find ourselves spending more time in the church building than at home! But that's the thing about ministry ... as tired as you may get, and as often as you may consider quiting and just staying home... YOU CAN'T! We talk often in our home about the fact that if He has called you to be a minister, you don't have a choice. JD can tell you how many times I have threatened to leave the church building for good... and well ... you see me there, right? I can't help it... ministry is my heartbeat and the one place where I feel like I am truly living the life He made me to live. So regardless of the lack of sleep, the tired body, the fast food meals ... it's the life we live and we love it! So we wake up each morning and hit the ground running ... summer here we come!