This series is taken from my personal diary during the first couple of years of church planting. The entries range from painfully raw to joyfully visionary. I hope they bring encouragement to anyone who reads them, especially church planters.
Austin, Texas August 24, 2007
We are away from the kids for the first time since our U Haul move from Boston to Austin in November 2006. My parents graciously paid for a trip to San Francisco, where we are on our second of five days. Time away from Owen and Ellie has already proven fruitful as we discuss our desires to “be the best mother and father by being a good ‘son’ and ‘daughter’.” This trip is an active reflection of our desire for Owen and Ellie to know who loves them most and who they should love most–God. As wonderful and delightful as they are, they cannot take the place of our marriage, and most importantly God.
As wonderful and delightful as they are, they cannot take the place of our marriage, and most importantly God.
This trip is also a time to consider the greatness of God, and his acts in creation, and my life. It’s not hard. I’m sitting in a cushioned chair, feet propped up on a small wooden table, knees bent, legs leaning slightly to the left. Each time I lift my head, my eyes rest on San Francisco Bay, as I look out our 27th floor balcony upon the vast Pacific dotted with sail boats and surrounded by low-level clouds that look like the will be ready to shower in a few hours. To the right is a small peninsula and to the left is Alcatraz and the Golden Gate, though it is hiding behind the fog…the sounds of the city below call me to business but the Bay to consider God’s blessedness.
the sounds of the city below call me to business but the Bay to consider God’s blessedness.
O Lord, grand that both Owen and Ellie would have moments and vacations like this time away from the busyness of life, and into the blessedness of living. May they see and savor you in creation as well as in the urban. The air is crisp and the sky mostly clear and blue. Caught somewhere between the city below and the city to come, moments like this are rare with two children. THANK you Lord, not merely for the moment but for allowing me to know you’re in it—generous, kind, loving, sovereign, and powerful.