The Whirlwind Continues...in a good way.

Well, when things begin to happen, they seem to happen all at once.  On Wednesday we got our final contract back on the house and we are now in the 10 day inspection period.  The inspection will be Monday and prayerfully and hopefully all will be in safe working order (i.e. nothing BIG is wrong) and we can proceed to closing.  We really do not want to go through the looking, offering, negotiating process again if it can be avoided.

On the day before we had our second small group Bible study.  We added a few people (and some more children too) and had a great time.  We discussed an article by Ray Ortlund that was from a seminar he gave at this years Gospel Coalition Conference.  The basic premise is that the gospel, in particular justification, creates a culture of grace (or at least should) and counters our proclivity to self-justification.  I will quote just a little bit to give you a teaser of the worth of this article.

"The gospel does more than renew us personally within.  The doctrines of grace also create a culture of grace, called a healthy church, where the gospel is articulated at the level of doctrine and incarnated at the level of culture and vibe and ethos and feel and relationships and community.  But getting a church there and keeping a church there is not easy.  Without the doctrine, the culture is unsustainable.  Without the culture, the doctrine appears pointless and powerless...justification alone creates a culture of acceptance and warmth and beauty and safety: 'Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God' (Romans 15:7).  The more clearly that doctrine is taught, and the more beautifully that culture is developed, the more powerfully a church will bear prophetic witness to Jesus as the mighty Friend of sinners.  He will be honored, and people will come."
That word is compelling to me.  I want to see the Lord glorified and I want to see people come to know Him so they can experience true grace, true life, and real hope in everything.

Life is moving quickly right now, but I must say we are enjoying the ride.  Just a few months ago we weren't even sure where the Lord wanted us to plant a new church, and now we have a home under contract and a Bible study that has been a true blessing.

Great Developments

Yesterday was a pretty eventful day in our lives. It really was a day that I had been looking forward to for quite some time, and it happened in two different ways. The first is the biggest and the day I've been waiting for much longer. Our first small group was held in Fairfield Township! We had 6 others couples besides me and Erin and we are hopeful for 2-3 more in the next week or so. As we were driving along 129 (a road we will be taking quite often over the next few months) I told Erin very simply: "This is exciting!" I wasn't really sure what else to say. I thank God and praise Him for what He did. Just a few months ago we weren't even sure where the Lord was leading us to plant this church and now we have 6-9 couples on board with us (some more fully than others) who also want to see a church planted in this area. The faithfulness of God is astounding! We had a great time. We studied Scripture together about the hope that we have in the Gospel. We prayed. We laughed. We began to get to know each other. I know every night will not be like last night, but it was sweet to sit in God's Providence and love. The second thing that we have been waiting for happened once we got home. As I was getting ready to get Anna to bed I noticed a message on my phone from our realtor. I gave her a quick call and the gist of it was we now have a contract. It was revised by the bank and we signed it, had it checked over and now are simply awaiting the return of it with signatures from the bank (which the selling realtor said should go quickly) and we will get our inspections in and we are to close by November 3rd. Great answer to prayer so far, but please continue to pray for this process. God is good and it was fun to see that very visibly last night.

Still waiting...

Our offer with the house was countered by the asset manager and we accepted.  That was on Monday and we have yet to get the final papers back.  There is a little snag with a previous contract that didn't work out.  We knew there could be snags and we would ask you to pray that it all would finalize early in the coming week.  Thanks.

Housing...another decision

It seems like all of life is just one big decision.  I have been feeling that more lately and I will write more in the next few days about the comfort and assurance I have found in the words of Psalm 121.  However, before I head off to bed tonight I wanted to update you on our move to the Fairfield area.  We found a house that we liked this weekend and spent more time in it on Tuesday looking through it closely.  It is a foreclosure and will need a little bit of work (missing all kitchen appliances - except a pretty beat up and disgusting dishwasher).  However, tonight we wrote up an offer.  Please pray for the whole process and for our peace during.  It is exciting for us to think about getting settled in but this can still be a daunting process.  We appreciate any prayer.  Thanks.