Six months later...

Two weeks ago, while we were traveling somewhere between Southern California and Salem, Oregon, it hit me: we had passed the six month mark since I lost my job. January 16th has become an important date in my life -- an anniversary of sorts -- that marks a shift in my personal walk with God, the start of massive change/uncertainty and a season of intense growth. So on July 16th, six months after “you’re fired,” Traci and I reflected on all that has happened during this time.

When you experience a significant life change, time seems to pass at different a pace. In one sense, it feels like January 16th was years ago: a lot has happened to us in the past 181 days. We’ve driven across the country twice, logging more than 20,000 miles in our already aged van. I’ve slept in 30 different beds across 18 different states, and Traci has traveled half-way around the world to minister in Thailand. We’ve learned to live even more simply, and how to accept the grace, kindness and generosity of others.

This time has been a life-changing experience for our kids, too. They’ve had to say goodbye to schools they’ve been with the past two years, pack up all their belongings into a storage shed and had to “tag along” for a ride into the unknown. We’ve comforted all three of them at different times, cried with each them at other times, and watched them grow during this period of faith-stretching, too. All of us have been part of this journey.

Through all of the struggles of being jobless and homeless, through the challenges that come with trusting God and waiting for Him to reveal the next step, our whole family has been changed. God has become bigger to each of us, and without questions, we are all learning to walk in a renewed and strengthened faith. As Traci and talked about life six months after God changed interrupted our lives, here are a few observations we made.

First, God’s ability to provide has far exceeded our needs on every level. When I lost my job on January 16th, I was given six weeks to move out. That means on March 12th, we, literally, became homeless. And yet, since that day, we have never been without a roof over our heads, and we have never missed a meal. God has opened doors -- house doors! -- to provide shelter, beds, kitchens and basic comforts for all of us. We have lived in the city, on a lake, in the suburbs and in the country, we have house-sat vacant homes or lived in the company of dear friends and family. Every time we’ve needed another place to live -- God has met our need.

Second, we've learned that God is a lavish provider. In a lot of the circles I’ve grown up in, I came to understand that faith in God meant He would meet your basic needs and that’s it. Somehow I took away from sermons, missionary stories and fellow pastors that God was in the bare-minimum business, and not in the lavish gift-giving business. God has grown in my life these past six months, and maybe in this area more than any other. He has been so lavish with my family, and He has shown that He doesn’t just meet needs, He lavishly and generously pours out more than our lives are able to contain.

In Psalm 23 David wrote, “You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings” (23:5). Notice that David’s feast occurred “in the presence of his enemies,” in other words, during the tough seasons -- the seasons when he was being pursued or challenged. But God showed up during that time and David describes God’s goodness like a feast, like a Thanksgiving meal, and says, “my cup overflows with blessings.” During our tough season we have feasted on the goodness of God and have seen, first hand, that He doesn't just meet the bare-minimum need -- He fills cups to overflowing.

Third, we’ve learned that our desire to grow is best met in challenges. Last October Traci and I ran our first half-marathon, and -- obviously, we didn’t know what was going to happen just three months later -- we knew the run was a metaphor for life. One of the big lessons I wrote about was the fact that you don’t get the medal that says you finished, unless you complete the race.

For us, that meant months of training, beginning while the snow still covered the ground. We ran when the roads first made an appearance in April, and we ran in downpours and drizzly afternoons in June. We ran in beautiful weather along Northern Michigan farms, and we ran in stifling heat and humidity in parks, roadways and big cities while traveling for my job. Running a half-marathon is hard, and receiving the joy of finishing requires months of hard work.

Likewise, growing in your faith is hard, but the resulting spiritual and personal change is worth it. Traci and I have longed to see some big dreams become a reality, and during this season, God is preparing us for the reality of those big goals. Does it hurt? often. Is it fun? occasionally. Is it easy? rarely. Is it worth it? always!

Finally, Traci and I have come to understand that our kids have to experience this for their good, too. Honestly, this might be the hardest part of the journey, and the burden I feel the most. It’s one thing to have your own life or marriage impacted by outside influences, it’s another thing entirely to watch it spill over onto your children. For years, though, Traci and I have prayed for their faith, and for their individual relationships with God, and we are seeing amazing growth in their lives, too!

Those times we’ve prayed with them, and for them, those times we talked about God-sized goals, and those times we’ve dreamed together as a family -- those possibilities we’ve talked about are beginning to take shape through this trial. To pray for change and growth and dreams with our children, and yet to try and “shelter” them from this hardship is a disservice!

Just as Traci and I realize our greatest growth occurs in the shadow of hardship, our kids’ greatest growth will occur as they see how Traci and I navigate pain and change, and as they learn to work through it themselves. During this season, more than once, their faith has lifted Traci and I when we were running low. And every time they see God answer a prayer, provide for a need or show up in grand fashion, their future lives are being shaped in ways that wouldn’t occur without hardship.

While I can’t honestly say I want the next six months to be anything like that past six months, I can honestly say I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. If you’re going through one of these season, I want to encourage you to reflect on how God is showing up in your life. For me, the more time I take to see His fingerprint in all of this, the more my faith is strengthened even in the face of extreme uncertainty. I'm confident if you look for God's hand in your hardship, you'll experience growth in your faith, too!

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water.

Lessons I don't always like.

Over the past three weeks, Traci and I have been riding a roller coaster of emotions and feelings following the loss of my job, and the reality of facing a very uncertain future. God threw out a big stop sign, and we’ve been in the process of trusting Him while figuring out what’s next for our family. During this process, I’ve come across Psalm 143, and in particular, verses 7-10. Read them as written in The Message translation:

“Hurry with your answer, God!

I’m nearly at the end of my rope.

Don’t turn away; don’t ignore me!

That would be certain death.

If you awake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice,

I’ll go to sleep each night trusting you.

Point out the road I must travel;

I’m all ears, all eyes before you.

Save me from my enemies, God --

You’re my only hope!

Teach me how to live to please you,

because you’re my God.

Lead me by your blessed Spirit

into cleared and level pastureland.”

Those four verses have been powerful reminders in my journey the past few weeks. And here are five lessons God has been teaching me through this time:

1. God is never in a hurry, He is never rushed. You and I feel the pinch of time, and we experience the anxiety of watching the sand fall through the hour glass. That’s why David exclaims, “Hurry with your answer...I’m nearly at the end of my rope!” God, however, is never pinched by time. God is never caught off guard by our experiences or sudden changes of direction; instead, He is able to keep a perfect perspective on our lives and circumstances. His timing is always precisely right, because He sees the big picture you and I are unable to see. I can’t remember who said it, but the quote goes something like this: “God is rarely early. He is never late, but He loves to make a grand entrance at ‘just the right moment!’” Indeed. I’m feeling the pinch as we are getting closer and closer to the time we have to decide what’s next about my job, our housing, the kids’ schooling etc... and I’m learning to trust God’s timing, even more, as the clock gets closer to zero.
2. God’s love can be found every single day. Each day you and I wake up, is a new day for you and I to experience another facet of God’s love. David said, “If you awake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice...” It really is more of a statement of certainty than it is a statement of possibility. In other words, David is really saying, “Since you wake me up each morning with the sound of your loving voice...” In the mire of daily life, we can sometimes lose sight of the love of God actively playing out in our lives. Trust the Word -- when you don’t feel the love of God it’s not because God has suddenly vacated His commitment to love you! During this time I’ve discovered the love of God in so many details of my life; this hardship has enabled me to see His love more, not less.
3. God knows the best path. 23 months ago, when Traci and I packed up our family and took this job in northern Michigan, God already knew that our plans and dreams for this chapter in our life were going to be cut short less than two years after arriving. We were thinking long term, but God knew it was going to be a short-lived experience. Despite the current situation, we both remain confident this was the right move for our family, this was the right path for us to start traveling. If it’s true that God laid this out for us in March of 2013, that means the uncertainty of the path before us in February of 2015, remains the best place for us to be! David can say, “Point out the road I must travel...” because He knows that God knows the best path for this life. I’m truly learning to trust the Lord for the best path, believing that whatever happens on that path is best for me, my wife and my children.
4. Obedience is always right. At the end of the day, I’ve learned that obedience is always right no matter what it costs. While I can’t control the words and actions of others, with God’s help, I am able to work on controlling my own words and actions. As I wait for God to reveal the next step in our lives, I must choose to remain obedient to what I know He wants me to do. God delights in the obedience and righteousness of His children, and no matter what circumstances are before me, I can always choose the path of obedience.
5. God is leading. I love David’s thoughts in verse 10: “Lead me by your Spirit into cleared and level pastureland.” God is leading me somewhere, even when I don’t know where that somewhere, is. And He is leading me to a place that is cleared and ready for me to be nourished. “Pastureland” is the place where the sheep were fed, and were given rest from their travels. God is leading me somewhere, and when we get there, there will be rest and there will be nourishment. Over the past three weeks I have been reminded that The Good Shepherd hasn’t abandoned His duties as the leader of the flock.

The Overboard Life will constantly challenge you to grow in the expression of your faith. I know I’m being stretched more now than ever before, but I’m also confident that this is precisely where God wants me to be. Are you experiencing the pinch of time or struggling to see God’s love in a particular circumstance? Are you searching for the best path or struggling with obedience? In the busyness of life, have you lost sight of the Shepherd? If any of that describes you, let me encourage you to make Psalm 143:7-10 a part of your life today. Embrace God’s truth and hold fast to the course He has given you.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water.

Please pray

Over the past couple of months, you have probably read a blog post or two about my friend Andy. He, his wife Jodie and their four awesome kids, have taken off on a whirlwind adventure of loving God and loving others. They have left everything they know, all their close family relationships and comforts, and headed to a part of the world where electricity is a luxury that they do not get to enjoy. A place where water must be collected when it rains, where daily life is primarily about survival, where they do not know anyone or the language of the village and most importantly -- a place where God’s love is not known. They have been in this remote village for two months and have been blasted since day one. Let me give you just a small list of the trials that have hit this amazing couple and their children:

* They have been attacked by poisonous snakes

* Their third-born contracted malaria

* Their third-born recovered from malaria, only to contract it again

* All of their kids and family contracted severe diarrhea and stomach ailments

* Jodie cut her foot and experienced a debilitating infection with severe pain and massive swelling

* Andy and Jodie both contracted malaria

* Their oldest was bit by a scorpion and had to be “shocked” to curb the pain and limit the spread of poison

* Twice their life-giving water supply was contaminated with dead animals, forcing them to empty every last drop

* The oldest two children also contracted malaria

* Several of the kids have had severe fevers in a comfortless, hot and humid region

This is only a partial list and keep in mind -- it’s only be two months!

So as I woke up to start the morning routine and get the kids to school today, I stopped my running around when I saw I had another email with their latest update. I read these the moment they come in since it takes them 45 minutes to an hour, each way, to travel to a place from where they can send updates. They don’t take the stroll to tell me how the weather is doing -- I know these emails are important.

My heart broke again as I heard how things have gotten worse for this family. They are serving in this village with a team of people from the states, but none of whom are having the same trials Andy and Jodie are experiencing (although each of them is certainly facing tough times!). The team leaders has been working closely with Andy and Jodie to try and help, support and encourage them, and he has also been communicating with their unit leader back here in the states.

This morning news came down that for the sake of their family’s well-being, Andy and Jodie and their four beautiful children will be pulled off the field and sent back home to the states.

This family loves God and has a passion to love others anywhere in the world. They have been excited and passionate about doing this in a village where God’s name is not known, yet as God leads, it is apparent that they must return home from this part of their journey. I can’t imagine how difficult a decision this was for everyone. I can’t imagine the heartache the family is experiencing as they process the return trip. I’m sure there is also a little joy at the thought of being back to what’s familiar, but also a sense of loss as a big dream and goal is slipping away.

Will you please pray for this Overboard family?

I’m so proud of Andy and what his family has done. The choice to live Overboard and follow God, even in a set a circumstances that seems less than ideal or not at all how it was initially envisioned, is what makes Overboard living such a matter of faith. All of us love the mountaintop experiences where the view is clear, the path behind us is well-defined, and the struggles of the climb are swallowed up in the beauty of the view. But the Overboard Life isn’t defined by the view from the top, it’s defined by the choice to start the journey -- the decision to step onto the trail in the first place.

God doesn’t promise us any mountain tops in this life, He just asks us to start on the trail.

And when we start the trail, God promises to give us peace, comfort and rest.

Andy’s Overboard journey has just begun. I’m confident that path God has for Him will continue to unexplored lands, and adventures that only God could orchestrate. In the mean time, please pray with me, that Andy, Jodie and their children will find the comfort, peace and rest they are most certainly in need of. Pray that God will make clear His plan for them in the next part of the journey, and that whatever and where ever it is, they will be ready to go. Maybe a return to the place their leaving? Maybe a return to local-church ministry? Maybe a whole new adventure where the last few years will come into clarity and they’ll see God’s precise hand in all that has transpired. Whatever is next, God knows, and let’s pray for this dear family and their journey.

And as we do, let’s pray that you and I would be willing to live as Overboard as Andy and Jodie have. May God raise up many more who take up the Overboard Life like them.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!

A Little Perspective, Please.

A week before we moved to Michigan, we began the process of getting internet connected at our camp house. Three and a half weeks later, we’re still without internet, although the promise of digital goodness is just a day or two away (so they tell us for the fourth time!). It’s amazing how much our family has missed our internet connection. Every day Celina asks us something that requires the answer, “No honey, that app needs internet.” Each of us has had a moment on an iPad or on the laptop trying to open something before we realized…oh yeah, that requires internet!

Over the past two years we’ve been without conventional television, choosing instead to be a Netflix family. So being without internet has been a double whammy, because our entertainment via Netflix has also been disabled. Life is rough here in Northern Michigan!

Alas, God gave us some much needed perspective when we got an update from our friends Andy and Jodie, who are serving God half way around the world. Andy was the feature of my 100th blog (a few blogs early due to his departure from America; you can read it here). He and his family are an inspiration to anyone living the Overboard Life, and he has been one of my dearest and best friends over the past 12+ years.

Andy and Jodie are adjusting to a brand new culture. They are experiencing things I’ve never come close to: things like real hunger. I’m not talking about the kind of hungry when I just can’t decide which of the fast food restaurants I’m going to eat at, or which thing in my overflowing fridge I’m going to devour. I’m talking about the kind of hunger where you’ve eaten your “food” for the day, and your bowl of rice just isn’t cutting it at 9pm. The type of hunger where the nearest real store is 2 hours by car, and that’s if you only get one flat tire, and aren’t stopped by authorities to pay a “tax” (a tax that isn’t written anywhere and is required if you wish to proceed). A kind of hunger where you really are wondering where your next meal is going to come from, and where you have no answers for your kids when they ask about food. There is no electricity, and therefore little-to-no cold storage. Meal gathering and preparation is a full-time task, taking up over 1/2 of the hours he and Jodie are awake.

As I was lamenting my loss of internet, Andy was a million miles away, lamenting a lack of safety. Each night before they go to bed, he and his wife spend 90 minutes securing the mosquito nets for their kids’ beds to keep them free from malaria-carrying insects. He kills giant spiders and scorpions by the twos and has already had several encounters with deadly snakes. He spends the afternoons taking a machete to the tall grass; a way to keep the snakes from getting comfortable near their home.

Andy does have internet however. If he’s willing to take a 90 minute hike (one way), up a hilltop outside of his village, where he can use a regional cell phone to tether a signal and send a few emails. Not enough signal to do any web browsing, but just enough to download his current batch of emails, and send the ones he worked on back in the village. Then he walks 90 minutes home, all the while keeping a watchful eye for dangerous creatures.

Yeah…but I have to walk five minutes to my office to get internet!

Sometimes, a little perspective can go a long way. There’s no doubt that not having internet has been an inconvenience. But that’s all it is. I have access to it elsewhere, I can plan better for my time, and I still have an iPhone (with the old school unlimited data plan!) that gives me all the access I want. In the big picture, my life is still pretty good even without internet.

This unintended internet fast has been good for me, and good for my family. Is there something in your life you should take a break from in order to gain a little perspective? My friend Aaron is a 20-something young married who gave up video gaming for the month of January. That was like cutting off an arm for him, but half way through the month he told me, “I can’t believe how much time I have now!” Indeed. What about you? Is there a “necessity” in life that you could go without to gain a little perspective? Spare me the excuses (I’ve heard and used them all), and get down to the nitty gritty: how much do you really need that thing in your life? Heck, my friend Cal still doesn’t have a cell phone and he somehow manages to still stay pretty connected to his friends and family. (Although really, Cal, ditch the rotary phone and go with the touch pad!)

Living Overboard requires us to identify what’s really important, and to make sure we never compromise the important and essential for the convenient and fun. Yes, it’s ok to enjoy conveniences and to seek out pleasure and fun; it’s just not ok to think either of those things is essential in our lives! What starts out as ok, can easily become a driving force, and a real distraction from living Overboard.

One time, a rich young man came to Jesus and boasted in his diligence to obey every law (613 of them, give or take). Yet he knew, inherently, something was still missing. So he asked Jesus, “What must I do to be saved?” Jesus’ response was shocking: “Give all that you have to the poor, then come and follow me.” The man was rich, and he couldn’t imagine parting with his wealth. He left rejecting Jesus and embracing his wealth.

Jesus wasn’t telling us that having things (ie. conveniences or money) was evil. He was pointing out that it’s far too easy for those things to drive us, instead of us driving them. The rich man who came to Jesus was boasting in his actions, and Jesus was revealing where the man’s real treasure was. In much the same way, Andy’s situation has helped me identify some troubled areas in my life.

What convenience or possession or piece of entertainment has a strong hold in your life? If you’re brave, post it in the comments for others to see. Then, find a creative way to take a break. See how you can gain a little perspective and make sure your Overboard Life isn’t being limited because of poor stewardship on your part.

Go ahead and take the plunge…life is always better on the water!