Presby-Musings

One year ago today, Merideth and I drove into Austin, TX with our two little boys, our dog and our two cats.   It had been a long journey to our new town.  We were moving into a house neither one of us had seen in person, enrolling our kids in schools we knew next to nothing about, and launching a ministry with a new congregation.  We had no idea what to expect, but there between us there was a surge of joy at the adventure we'd begun.  And we knew that what had started us on our journey was a yearning to go where God would have us to go and do what God would have us to do.  That yearning for God and us in God's will has carried us through some of the most trying times of our lives.  Even in dark moments when we've very nearly felt our faith slipping away, that yearning has sustained us, and lifted us up.  I recently read a quote from author Josh Larsen that spoke to me profoundly.  He wrote:  "Yearning is perhaps our true...

I'm going to offer you a suggestion--a word of wisdom, if you will.   If at any time in the future you decide that you need to drive over 1,000 miles cross country with two kids, a dog and two cats, just don't.  This is something you don't need to do, trust me.   My emotionally fragile cat screamed at the top her lungs the first four hours of the trip.  When daylight broke on the morning the second day, she screamed approximately 10-15 minutes of every hour.   At one point, as I was driving across Louisiana, I started thinking about Abraham, and how God had called him.  In Genesis 12, the Scripture reads, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you." I wondered if Abraham had cats, and if so, I also wondered if Abraham had contemplated leaving one of his emotionally fragile cats in a rest area.   Think about the kind of faith that it would take to pull up stakes, and leave everything you ...