So yesterday I posted about Jeremy providing by substitute teaching... and today God provided a job for him. Yay. I love God's sense of humor though. Case in point: Jer's not a huge fan of working in elementary schools (high schoolers are more his thing). And actually teaching something is a bit of a stretch too.
Text message exchange between us this morning:
Jer: Ugh. Kindergarten + 1st grade literacy intervention groups all day! Momma Beth would be proud.
Jer: Even the Apostle Paul didn't sacrifice this much! :)
Jer: Lesson plans: "supplement any phonemic awareness activities or letter sound recognition that you feel will be helpful." Shake What?!
Me: Hahaha.
Jer: I'm not laughing.
I, personally, think this is hilarious. I love that while church planting is outside of a normal person's comfort zone, stepping into an elementary school room is the way God asks Jer to break himself. Funny, funny.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Learning to do it together.
Jeremy and I are doing really well.
But there is one aspect of our marriage that isn't so easy lately and I'm not sure why or how it's become such a hot topic. Well... I guess it's the same issue that lots of marriages break up over (and we are by no means anywhere near that point)... but it's still not fun. It's talking about money and paying the bills.
Here's why this topic is a hard one for us: Jeremy is a full time pastor. A full time church planting pastor. A full time pastor that doesn't get paid for any of the work he's doing (at least not yet). So he's been delivering papers (yuck) to help with the bills. Right now he's transitioning into substitute teaching to help out. He's sacrificing a lot of time and creating a crazy schedule to help out.
But as a wife, and as the one who writes out the checks for our monthly bills and watches the bank balances and all that other stuff... I know that we can't live on my salary alone. And I'm willing to work, don't get me wrong, but I don't/can't bring in enough to give us enough breathing room so that Jeremy can give up the other stuff to concentrate on the church.
And he is tired. And he wants a break. And I feel awful asking him to take sub jobs when they are available because I know if he doesn't, and there aren't any available jobs the next day... we're stuck. I want him to be able to take a day off and not feel guilty. But somehow asking him to use his Saturdays for Sabbath that doesn't reconcile...
I don't like being in this spot. I would like to be a fully funded church plant as much as he would, but that's not where we're at right now and sometimes God has us endure the tough stuff to receive the blessings (thinking of Job, here...)
So we have to learn how to endure this season together so we can come out on the other side together. It's not a me thing. It's not a him thing. It's an 'us' thing, and we need to learn how to talk about it freely and openly. Without guilt and without shame.
But there is one aspect of our marriage that isn't so easy lately and I'm not sure why or how it's become such a hot topic. Well... I guess it's the same issue that lots of marriages break up over (and we are by no means anywhere near that point)... but it's still not fun. It's talking about money and paying the bills.
Here's why this topic is a hard one for us: Jeremy is a full time pastor. A full time church planting pastor. A full time pastor that doesn't get paid for any of the work he's doing (at least not yet). So he's been delivering papers (yuck) to help with the bills. Right now he's transitioning into substitute teaching to help out. He's sacrificing a lot of time and creating a crazy schedule to help out.
But as a wife, and as the one who writes out the checks for our monthly bills and watches the bank balances and all that other stuff... I know that we can't live on my salary alone. And I'm willing to work, don't get me wrong, but I don't/can't bring in enough to give us enough breathing room so that Jeremy can give up the other stuff to concentrate on the church.
And he is tired. And he wants a break. And I feel awful asking him to take sub jobs when they are available because I know if he doesn't, and there aren't any available jobs the next day... we're stuck. I want him to be able to take a day off and not feel guilty. But somehow asking him to use his Saturdays for Sabbath that doesn't reconcile...
I don't like being in this spot. I would like to be a fully funded church plant as much as he would, but that's not where we're at right now and sometimes God has us endure the tough stuff to receive the blessings (thinking of Job, here...)
So we have to learn how to endure this season together so we can come out on the other side together. It's not a me thing. It's not a him thing. It's an 'us' thing, and we need to learn how to talk about it freely and openly. Without guilt and without shame.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Yep. Keep Walking.
From my brother-in-law after sending an email related to my last post:
I don’t know why I thought of this, but I feel like the Holy Spirit might have given me this picture for you guys. It’s the scene from Braveheart where William Wallace asks Robert the Bruce to unite the clans because it’s the only way they’re going to defeat the English. And eventually, after taking a winding path, he did. He did. And they won their freedom.
I feel like God might be saying that you guys might just be Mound’s Robert the Bruce. If there’s one thing missing in the church, it’s unity. And if you can, in any way, help the church unite with God, itself and the people it’s trying to reach, that’s no small task.
I keep having Joshua 1:9 run through my head for you guys too: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
I don’t know why I thought of this, but I feel like the Holy Spirit might have given me this picture for you guys. It’s the scene from Braveheart where William Wallace asks Robert the Bruce to unite the clans because it’s the only way they’re going to defeat the English. And eventually, after taking a winding path, he did. He did. And they won their freedom.
I feel like God might be saying that you guys might just be Mound’s Robert the Bruce. If there’s one thing missing in the church, it’s unity. And if you can, in any way, help the church unite with God, itself and the people it’s trying to reach, that’s no small task.
I keep having Joshua 1:9 run through my head for you guys too: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
Keep walking towards...
Yesterday was a bit of a weird day. We received news of yet another fully funded, bright and shiny church transplant that could potentially be coming to Mound. River Valley launched in August, this new one is aiming for sometime in 2011.
Jeremy met with the planting pastor and told him about all the great spaces in Mound that would be ideal for them. And then it hit us: with other Jesus-focused attractional churches in this town, is MainStreet really needed? After about 4 minutes of doubt, the answer came back as a resounding 'Yes!' Part of that comes from what our friend Rob shared in our MainStreet Voices video: we don't want to be just another church. We want to be a church that unites all churches. We can already see how that is happening, too.
The vision God gave us wasn't to start another Sunday morning community. It was to be in the marketplace daily. To serve, to love, to care, and to draw people to Jesus everyday. People outside the church walls.
And so it was my husband yesterday, not me, who realized that the cafe' is really the best way to be in intentional relationships and community all week long. And not just for our launch team, not just for our church, but to create relationships by creating space for everyone to honor Him.
Jeremy met with the planting pastor and told him about all the great spaces in Mound that would be ideal for them. And then it hit us: with other Jesus-focused attractional churches in this town, is MainStreet really needed? After about 4 minutes of doubt, the answer came back as a resounding 'Yes!' Part of that comes from what our friend Rob shared in our MainStreet Voices video: we don't want to be just another church. We want to be a church that unites all churches. We can already see how that is happening, too.
The vision God gave us wasn't to start another Sunday morning community. It was to be in the marketplace daily. To serve, to love, to care, and to draw people to Jesus everyday. People outside the church walls.
And so it was my husband yesterday, not me, who realized that the cafe' is really the best way to be in intentional relationships and community all week long. And not just for our launch team, not just for our church, but to create relationships by creating space for everyone to honor Him.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Happy Tears
Sunday was a great day.
Jeremy and I were invited to Excelsior Covenant to share the vision of MainStreet and about how we have seen our prayers answered. We played the video that Jeremy put together in July as an introduction. I haven't watched it since then, but seeing it on Sunday and realizing that it's actually in motion gave me happy tears.
And then Jer asked me to share about the ways God is providing and how we have seen Him show up. So of course I cried more happy tears (actually, I would say tears of amazement and thankfulness and gratefulness). I got to talk about our meeting space, our team, our prayer warriors, our marriage... it was great. We received a lot of affirmation, encouragement and support. It was all a little overwhelming because they have already done SO much to support this vision, and we were finally getting to say thanks for the first time. Oh man.
Jeremy and I were invited to Excelsior Covenant to share the vision of MainStreet and about how we have seen our prayers answered. We played the video that Jeremy put together in July as an introduction. I haven't watched it since then, but seeing it on Sunday and realizing that it's actually in motion gave me happy tears.
And then Jer asked me to share about the ways God is providing and how we have seen Him show up. So of course I cried more happy tears (actually, I would say tears of amazement and thankfulness and gratefulness). I got to talk about our meeting space, our team, our prayer warriors, our marriage... it was great. We received a lot of affirmation, encouragement and support. It was all a little overwhelming because they have already done SO much to support this vision, and we were finally getting to say thanks for the first time. Oh man.
Sunday night was our first public worship rally. I can't believe how smoothly it went. We had our entire team there, our Fusion kids came to help be greeters (oh the happy tears at getting to see their faces!), we had 100+ show up, but the best part was that God showed up. I felt His presence, His peace, and His provision.
Jeremy had two other local pastors pray for the city, and Dave Abernathy prayed for our marriage. Holy moly. That was wonderful. Nick Reitenour made some amazing paintings for the evening, my friend Chris donated coffee from Caribou, and I realized that Gene & Laurie Whitbeck are the most gifted greeters I have ever met.
We are blessed. So glad that God asked us to go beyond ourselves and follow Him. So thankful He calls us out of our comfort zones so we can know He provides abundantly more than we could ever know or imagine. He gives me happy tears.
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