Anyone who has known Leslee and me for any amount of time knows this:

• We’re nuts about each other.
• We’re nuts about our kids.
• We’re nuts about Jesus, and love making much of who he is.
• We’re nuts about Notre Dame football.  (Well…keeping my fingers crossed for Leslee)

For those who know us well, our love for a gathering of believers called Westport Church has also been no secret.  Since before moving to Portland in 2005 to launch the church, Westport has captured a big place in our hearts, thoughts and prayers.

After a great season of ministry at an incredible church in the Midwest, our family returned to Portland last January with great hope and belief in what God would continue to do through Westport.  We celebrate the lives that have been changed, new people encountering Jesus, and the impact taking place in the western region of Portland and beyond.

In recent months, however, Leslee and I experienced a wrestle in our hearts regarding our future at Westport.  The wrestle resulted from many factors – and was a surprising one for us, leading to much prayer and seeking counsel.   Through this we came to realize a difficult yet clear truth:  we’re just not the right fit to continue to lead at Westport.  We announced this to the church last month, and this Sunday will be our final weekend at Westport.

There is certainly heartache in leaving a church we love, yet as we launch out and seek what God has next for us, we do so with great hope and faith.  Since announcing our transition last month, we’ve seen God’s favor and protection in special ways on our family – including selling our house in just four days!  We’re currently in conversations with some dynamic churches, praying deeply that God will show us where He desires for us to bring hope and transformation.  We also continue to lift Westport in prayer.  We believe in the mission of this church and pray that it will be realized in great ways in the years ahead.

Our family is grateful for your prayers as we explore and anticipate what God has for us in the journey ahead.

Exodus 33:13 – Teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.

What reminded me of it?  The awareness that I haven’t been doing it very well.  At all.

• Lately there have been too many times I’ve caught myself in a dialog with someone I love – sometimes in person, sometimes on the phone – only to realize I’ve been having a conversation in my head with someone not even in the room.

• I’ve caught myself playing and laughing with my kids, only to realize I was ‘pretend laughing’, completely preoccupied with something that has hurt or bothered me.

• I’ve been out – driving, walking, hiking – surrounded by beauty, yet oblivious to it.  Too consumed by the weight of the journey to fully enjoy the journey.

And here’s what I’m recognizing:

• Each time I do this it results from focusing on what’s temporary over what lasts.

• Each time I do this I fall into the trap of “rehearsing my anxieties”, rather than releasing them to my Father, which is what He’s told me to do.

• Often when I’ve done this it’s a result of being preoccupied with something or someone that’s life-draining, not life-giving.

• Often when I’ve done this I’ve been so preoccupied with what doesn’t matter, that I’ve risked missing what does matter.

The things that give life, the things that cultivate hope, the things that ignite my faith and joy – they can be right in front of me, happening right around me. And I can completely miss them.  Consumed with the wood, hay and stubble, I can completely miss the gold, silver and precious jewels God is showing his love and favor through.

My guess is you can as well.

So…wherever you are, be all there.

I’m committed to focus more deeply on embracing the moments God has ordained for me, fighting the attempts of the enemy to steal my joy with distractions and anxieties that weigh me down and cause me to miss what matters most!

“So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.”

Colossians 3:1-2 (The Message)

Yesterday Renae Niebergall sent an email giving an update on one of the beautiful young ladies we support named Suchita.  When I visited Pune last October, I met Suchita and was instantly struck by her smile and joy!  Today she turns 21.  Know what she’s doing for her birthday? Read on…

Suchita turns 21 tomorrow. She has talked about being baptized and asking questions for some time. Baptisms in India are a very serious decision and can at times be dangerous to publicly proclaim your faith. Dr. Edwards told Suchita that at 21 she could make the decision for herself. She has decided that she wants to publicly proclaim her faith. There is also a very strong honor for family in India. Suchita has an aunt and an uncle that brought her to the home to live when she was a child. She has visited her aunt and uncle, told them of her decision and asked for their support in her decision. They have agreed! This is amazing since they aren’t followers and I find it fascinating that Suchita still feels so much respect to honor them despite the fact that they abandoned her.

I wanted to share her story with you so you could celebrate with me. Westport is a part of Suchita’s story. When I first met her she was a lost and scared 16 year old girl. Today she is a lovely young woman that trusts God with her life. We have ministered to her, built a relationship with her and prayed for her as she sought hard after God. She is a disciple of God now and is risking much to publicly proclaim that. I thank God for Suchita and her story. Daily she reaches to the “least of these” living in bondage (drugs, AIDS, sex-trade) and shares with them the God that saves.

Happy Birthday, Suchita.  I’m so proud of your faith, so grateful for Westport’s generosity, and so amazed by God’s grace.

Stumbled on a great quote from A.W. Tozer this morning:

“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become unity conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.

– A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

Churches talk so much about community and unity – both great things, vital things.  Things we pray for and believe in.  Shoot – things Jesus prayed for and believes in (John 17:20-23).

But could it be that in our pursuit for unity, we actually fail in the pathway to it?  Could it be that a horizontal focus on unity over a vertical focus on unity causes us to have the appearance of unity, yet we’re tuned incorrectly and aren’t truly experiencing it at all?  Vertically OR horizontally?

I remember the “triangle” analogy a few years ago used in describing a growing marriage…“the closer we get to God, the closer we get to each other.” Certainly a nice ‘benefit’ of pursuing a deeper journey with God. And it’s a great truth – as long as the primary goal IS getting closer to God over getting closer to each other.  To be tuned to him and his ways over being tuned to each other.

A priority true in all areas of Christian unity.