One Year Ago Saturday...

One year ago Saturday, we were leaving our home, neighbors, church, friends, community, schools, jobs... everything. We took the biggest leap of faith we have ever taken in our lives. We moved to a little town on the eastern border of Alabama. Our little family picked up and left our comfortable lives to move to a town where the only hope was a job that Mike was offered... a job that he never even applied for. (Did you read that??? He never applied for this job!)

For weeks, we had been praying... telling God all that we were doing for Him there and wondering why we felt Him pushing us toward this place. We tried to convince Him that we were more effective there than we would ever be here. I mean, we were established. Great neighbors. Sense of community - even had a community Bible study meeting in our home. Amazing church family. Kids were in christian school (the blessing of how they ended up there is another miracle ordained by God). We had finally given in and put our house on the market. (Radical obedience didn't come easy, but it did finally come...) It didn't make sense why God would want us to up and move... at least not to us.

Well, here we are. Almost a year later, to the day. And, we are preparing to move again. But this time, to a home just a few miles away. Don't worry, we haven't been sucked back into the materialism of the world. We are moving to the Cora Reid Greene Home for Children to be the foster family there. We're also 3 months into a local church plant, where we are both serving on Sundays and throughout the week to help spread the fame and glory of Christ throughout the Fort Mitchell community at Fort Church.

So, looking back over the past year, God is faithful. He is (and still was) worthy of our trust. Regardless of our circumstances, God always knows what He is doing. And, we continue to try and follow His lead, surrendering our lives for His great glory among all peoples. A year from now... who knows what we might be up to next.

**We are currently recruiting prayer partners who will come alongside us and commit to pray for us one day per month. Would you be willing to support us through prayer on this continued journey of faith - praying both for our family and the children who will come into our care during our time at the Cora Reid Greene Home for Children. Email us if you are interested in becoming a prayer partner, or want to find out more about what God is doing in our lives.

Radical

Isn't it amazing, the timing of things...  In the middle of all the hoopla with Mike's job (prior to the actual end of that chapter), we attended our second Secret Church event.  It rocked our worlds, to say the least. So, in the midst of all of the stress about work, God was at work in our lives - especially regarding our stuff.

Who would have thought that attending a Secret Church service in April of 2010 would be the beginning of understanding for our family.  That Friday evening, God really opened our eyes to what His Word REALLY says about our posessions.  That night, we purchased a copy of Pastor David Platt's new book, Radical.  Mike and I both began reading it immediately.  It was like our eyes had been opened to the truth of God's Word and what it says about stuff.  Reading Radical also drove us into God's Word fast and furious.  We didn't just accept scriptural references.  We looked them up for ourselves.  Studied them, and prayed about them. 

We were challenged to dive deeper into our Bibles and our relationship with Christ.  Through that, we realized that we were harboring so much idolatry in our own lives.  We had sought after the American Dream, and somehow explained away Jesus's call to the rich young ruler in Luke 18, or when Jesus explained the cost of following in Matthew 8.  But, faced with what we knew we needed to do... how could we make it happen?  We felt compelled to downsize in so many areas, but the pull of posessions and the American Dream was still strong in our lives... or was it? 

What if...

I must start blogging more often. God is doing too many amazing things in our lives, day in and day out, to still be stuck on what he was doing last year! So, let’s continue in the story of how He brought us here…

You would think that an extra $30 per month wouldn’t make that much difference in the kingdom of God. We just thought it was a small step to help take us to the next level in obedience to God. But, from the day we wrote that first check with the additional money, things seemed to spiral downward.

Mike’s job became more and more demanding. (Mind you, he was already working extended hours.) Travel became more and more frequent, and there were literally weeks at a time where we didn’t see him. He would travel 8 hours one way on the weekend, just to see his family for 1 day, and then return to where he was having to work. In a period of 3 days, he had to drive from Birmingham to Michigan and then back to Louisiana for business. It was crazy!

And, the travel and long hours weren’t all that was going on at his workplace either. Management was in turmoil, and there was pressure from above to make some major changes. We started having THOSE conversations at night. You know the ones… What if they do the same thing to me as they have to the other employees? What will we do? How will we pay our bills? Everything seemed so uncertain.

My ladies bible study group was my solace. I had (and still have) some great prayer partners there who continually lifted us up to the Father. I am so thankful for that precious group of ladies. They were probably one of the hardest things for me to leave when we moved.

And then, it happened. The 14 hour work days and weeks of traveling at a time were no longer enough. Our world was shattered.   At the time, it seemed that way.  But, looking back, God was cracking open the shell that we had placed around our little lives, so that He could get to the heart of the matter and have full reign over our hearts.  And we are so glad that He did.

Obedience

Obedience.  Now, that's a mouthful.  That one word - that one concept seems to elude those of every age.  As I grow older, I see that obedience is a virtue that is never fully attained.  Even now, we find ourselves struggling to be obedient at times.  (Remember, we're the Joneses that are imperfect...)

Perhaps there are some reading this that are wondering why I am talking about obedience as an adult.  No matter your age, obedience is still required in everyday life.  Laws, Rules, Regulations, Figures of Authority... the list goes on and on.  Even in the drive thru at your local fast food restaurant, you must be obedient by staying in the drive thru lane, ordering at the speaker, and paying your money at the window.  I remember stories of people pulling pranks by driving through on their bikes, or walking through the drive thru.  People don't do that anymore... for a while there were signs on the drive-thru windows about the legality of serving customers who are not in motorized vehicles. 

For some reason, I've never had problems being obedient in the drive-thru lines of the world.  But, the Bible... God's Holy Word... A Love Letter from my Creator... is the one that I struggle with the most.  I'm not going to get into the whole works based faith discussion.  My faith is the opposite - it frees me from trying to work to gain my salvation.  Instead, I am free through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ to work as my reasonable response to the gift of life that I have been given.  (That's my attempt at a very condensed explanation regarding works based faith versus faith based works.)

I would say at the end of 2009, we found ourselves questioning if we were being obedient with our money.  We were tithing, but we were concerned that we weren't being completely obedient because we were tithing based on our net income instead of our gross income.  So, we made a commitment to make that change - to tithe based on our gross income. 

Believe it or not, it did not make a gross difference in the amount.  Maybe only $15 or so...  But, for some reason, this is the event that i have pinpointed as the beginning of our journey to surrender. Our attempt to be wholly obedient in the amount of our tithe.  And let me tell you, once we implemented that small change, it seemed like everything started to spiral downhill... (but it didn't stay that way for long!)

The journey to surrender, for all intensive blogging purposes, began with an extra $15.  It seems like it has been a roller coaster ride:  ups, downs, things moving faster than we can keep up with...  But, at every turn, during every second of this journey, God has been in control.  He has led and guided us in ways that seemed confusing, depressing, joyous, exhilirating, and heart breaking, all at the same time.  But, really He was leading and guiding us according to His plan for our lives.  And let me tell you, it is more amazing than anything we could have imagined for ourselves!

Until next time,
The Traveling Joneses

P.S.  This is a journey that truly has no beginning date.  I have a Creator that has known me since the beginning of time!  And, you do too.   If you would like to know more about God and His love for you, please click here. 
 

Surrender

Surrender - Verb   /səˈrendər/

• Cease resistance to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority
• Give up or hand over (a person, right, or possession), typically on compulsion or demand
• (in a sports contest) Lose (a point, game, or advantage)
• Abandon oneself entirely to (a powerful emotion or influence); give in to
• (of an insured person) Cancel (a life insurance policy) and receive back a proportion of the premiums paid

Surrender is the 2011 vision for our local faith family.  We are fortunate to be a part of a church that exalts God and encourages true Christ followers to surrender their everything to Him.  (If you are local to the Columbus, GA / Phenix City, AL area, Golden Acres Baptist Church is an amazing group of people who love Jesus.  Come visit!  Or, if you're in the Fort Benning / Fort Mitchell area, The Fort Church launches 4.24.11!)

Back to surrender... this is a journey that we have been on as a family for quite some time.  And, while composing this week's post, I was reminded that the story begins even earlier than I remembered!  I was anticipating sharing about what began in our lives in April 2010, but now I realize that the events leading up to that April must not be left out of the story.  So, it's back to the drawing board to compose an entry regarding the events of early 2010...  but, dear blog world readers, I did not want to procrastinate in my posting.  Therefore, I will leave you with a quote that pierced my heart this evening.  I believe this sums up what God has been doing in our lives, and I pray you will consider allowing Him to do the same in yours.

When Jesus calls us to abandon everything we have and everything we are, it’s almost as if he is daring us to put ourselves in the flood plain. To put all our lives and all our churches, all our property and all our possessions, all our plans and all our strategies, all our hopes and all our dreams in front of the levee and then to ask God to break it. To ask God to sweep away whatever he wants, to leave standing whatever he desires, and to remake our lives and churches according to his will. -David Platt in Radical Together

Why blog?

Our little family has been around the block a time or two.  Or three. Or four.  We sometimes affectionately refer to ourselves as "The Traveling Joneses."  We never seem to know what adventure lurks around the next corner.  Many different communities have been called home, and each has been a blessing to us. 

My main reason for establishing a blog is this:

"What brings you to __________?"   (fill in the blank with the city of your choice)

The easy, and accurate answer is, "Mike's job."  But, the more we are asked this question, the more I am convicted about our answer.  So, this is my attempt to document just exactly what WHO brought us here. 

I don't want to cheat you out of hearing how God still works in the lives of his children.  Please don't misunderstand.  We are not special... we're just ordinary people.  Living ordinary lives.  Making ordinary mistakes. All the while trying our best to surrender to and follow an extraordinary God.  And somehow, God sees fit to lead and guide us to exactly where we are supposed to be.

I haven't quite figured out how to articulate everything just yet, so this will be the first installment.  If I tried to fit the whole story in one blog post, it would be like "drinking from a fire hydrant."  ( <- That quote courtesy of the best BFG teacher we've ever known.)  Stay tuned for more.  I plan to share the story of how God has led us here, as well as how he continues to lead and work in our lives... drop by drop.