No Backups

First, let me begin by saying this: When dealing with God NEVER say NEVER! :) When Alf and I left St. Louis in June of 2004, we swore off full time ministry for all time. We just couldn't imagine going back to that vocation...EVER! Don't get me wrong, the 6 years we spent there grew us in numerous ways. Our church home was awesome. The people rocked. And we loved our students will all of our hearts. We were just plain exhausted...and quite honestly, we felt we weren't cut out for it. Maybe we weren't "ministry lifers." Maybe ministry was just a season for us. Well, we were wrong and we are SO glad we were!!

Let's take a trip back to 2004 when we left St. Louis. We heard God speak to us numerous times that it was time to head back home to Texas. That fact we do not doubt one iota! We left believing we would start a youth and family camp. We had the passion. We had the land. We thought we had it all planned out. Almost immediately after moving back, God began slamming doors shut on the camp front. We ran the gamut of emotions during this process. Did we not hear Him at all? Did we hear Him incorrectly? Was this all in our heads? What would friends and family think when the camp didn't happen? God had an entirely different plan in mind...

I wrote here about Alf and I finding our current church home. God knew what we needed even before we did. First and foremost, He moved us to save our marriage. We were in a horrible place as a couple and we both needed healing and refining. We found that in our church body and through an awesome, Spirit-led counselor. He needed us pliable and usable when He presented this current chapter in our lives.

On its 3 year anniversary, I am proud and humbled to introduce you to Wakeboard Church. When I met Alf in the Fall of 1995, he was already deeply addicted to wakeboarding as a sport. I mean the let's skip class and hit the lake kind of addicted! :) Little did we know that God could and would use it to bring people into a personal relationship with Him.

Here's what it looks like: Every Thursday night anyone who wants to can reserve a spot on whatever boat is going out on the lake. The group rides until dark. When the sun is gone, they tie up all the boats in the cove and have a devotion and a time of prayer. What began as an idea in Alf's head has turned into full time ministry for our family. Alf quit his job at a local boat dealer on Saturday, July 12th. We had a informational/support meeting for Wakeboard Church on Friday, July 18th. We were blown away as 65 of our closest friends and family filed in to learn about this thing called Wakeboard Church and how they could get involved. We shared the vision for the ministry along with our heart for the culture. We discussed what we needed financially and closed with a question & answer time. It totally rocked!! I wish I could say that we walked out of that meeting with all the money we needed. We didn't and that is okay because we are witnessing some COOL ways that God is providing for us as a family and for the ministry.

A few months before Alf and decided that we needed to step out in total faith, we began to ask God what His PERFECT will was for our lives. I will be the first to admit that I was terrified at the thought of Alf quitting his job. Things were already tight so how on earth would we make it? Would Wakeboard Church be able to totally provide for our family's needs? Time and again we heard the Lord tell us NO BACKUPS. When I say time and again, I really mean it. It got to be absolutely humorous! He continued to have patience with us as we asked for more and more confirmation. He had grace when we kept conjuring plans B, C, D...backups. So, on the July 12th, we totally stepped out. It was the most peaceful, freeing, and scary day of our lives.

It's been a month and we are still completely floored at what He is allowing us to do. It's hard. It's awesome. It's exhausting. It's exhilarating. It's humbling. It's hard to balance it all. We are learning that each day and each week looks differently from the one before...and that is okay. Our home is always filled with stinky boys and I LOVE it! They now have a safe place to hang out, be real, ask questions about life and God. They are now part of the family...

My advice is this: NEVER say NEVER! If you are open to it, God has a plan so awesome it will completely boggle your mind. You wouldn't want to miss out on that, would you?