A Season for Everything, A Season for Change

This is an exciting time for us--new church, new job, new baby on the way--so it seemed appropriate to continue my personal crusade to become something of a regular blogger. Some of you reading this may have known me (and my wife) for a long time, others I may have just met, still more may yet be strangers whom I would never recognize if we encountered each other on the street. Regardless, allow me to highlight some of the events that have transpired over the last months.

Baby Inbound

One of the most thrilling highlights is that God has seen fit to bless us with another pregnancy. Those of our friends and family reading this likely mourned with us this past January as we were confronted with the miscarriage of our twins. While no new child can replace the loss of another child, the joy of life seems sweeter for the experience. We can say with certainty we have grown closer to our Heavenly Father and to each other through the experiences of both death and life and are eager for the opportunity to meet the child God has entrusted to our care and guidance. As of the writing of this post we are 15 weeks along with a due date around February 29, 2012 (yes, we may have a leap year baby)!

Transposing Work and Seminary

We came to Dallas from Juneau, Alaska, so that I could train for future ministry through study at Dallas Theological Seminary. The initial plan (the one that was birthed from our own logic) was for Shanna to work as our primary wage earner while I took classes full time and worked part time. God is not limited by our own finite logic, though, and saw fit to use various events in our lives to teach us to more fully depend and rely upon Him for our daily bread. Due to a variety of circumstances, not the least of which is an incoming child and Shanna’s battle with viral meningitis this past Spring, my wife is no longer working. As a result I have been licensed as an insurance adjuster and am now working full time. Seminary, while still the reason we moved to Dallas, is something that I will complete on a part time basis. This is actually a relieving situation since it will allow Shanna and I to think through the many changes currently taking place in life.

The Anglican Way

Almost as exciting for us as the expectation of a child is the transition we are making into the Anglican church. This may come as a surprise to many of you as for my entire life I have been part of independent churches. We are now members of Church of the Holy Communion, a Reformed Episcopal Church, and are being blessed and challenged by the ministry of Bishop Sutton, the rector of our parish, and the other ministers and parishioners there. We are eager to continue learning and growing with this community. I will be explaining more about how we came to find ourselves stumbling onto the Anglican Way in subsequent blog entries over the next weeks and months, but for now I hope these summary sentences have sufficed. 

Ultimately, we are growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and drawing closer to each other as a married couple. Though Shanna and I walked through the valley of the shadow of death at the beginning of this year, we are now more than ever able to say that we fear no evil. For our Lord is with us and has guided us through those shadows; His rod and staff comfort us.

O Heavenly Father, thou understandest all thy children; through thy gift of faith we bring our perplexities to the light of thy wisdom, and receive the blessed encouragement of thy sympathy, and a clearer knowledge of thy will. Glory be to thee for all thy gracious gifts. Amen.