Missing Purdue...

recently, cailyn and i have really been missing purdue a lot. there are really a ton of things that we miss about it, but more than anything it is the people.

while i was on staff there, i was able to be around some of the most amazing people imaginable. and while i was there, i don't think i realized it nearly enough, but the staff community that existed there was out of this world and in many senses i think that it is what keeps things going there in such a healthy manor.

it makes things here for me very difficult. we just don't have much of a staff community. there are a few part time staff people, but they are not around enough to really make for a good community. and the only other full time staff member is a women's minister, and i have found that it is quite awkward and difficult at times to work closely in a one-on-one setting with a female. i just don't have a whole lot of desire to work that closely with a woman that is not my wife. it feels uncomfortable to me, and so that makes it hard also to create good solid community.

so yeah, i think that cail and i realize now more than ever before that the people that we were surrounded by at purdue were some of the most amazing people anywhere and we really miss being around them a ton. the real challenge for us right now, is to figure out how to pour into the work that God has called us to do here, while still fulfilling some of these deep relational needs that exist.

i know one thing for sure...the families that we have are absolutely amazing and we are both super excited that Christmas is just right around the corner and that with Christmas, we will get some amazing family time to fill up at least some of our relational needs.

Thank You for Family...

this past week, cailyn and i were able to go home to her folks place for Thanksgiving, and it was absolutely wonderful!! my folks were even able to come to their house for a couple of days and we were able to share lots of great time and fellowship. we played lots of games, shared many great conversations, and even spent a few hours outside with the vet working on checking and vaccinating all of their cattle. it was a truly great time.

i am reminded, especially at this time of the year, how incredibly blessed i am to have such amazing families and to have such an amazing wife. she is truly my best friend, and we have so many wonderful times spent together. especially with our families!!

God is so very amazing in the ways that He has blessed me with family!! i truly am thankful in this season and always!!

Church Politics and Grace...

for the last number of years, cailyn and i had been at purdue and going to the campus house there and they have sunday services, so we have not been regular attenders at a community church for a while. however, now that we are at central missouri, we don't have sunday services here, and so that means that for the last number of months we have been involved in a local community church.

this past sunday we were attending a sunday school class and i was reminded of the ugliness of church politics and about how it causes people to, in many senses, just miss the point. there really just doesn't seem to be any grace...it just seems like laws and rules and regulations with no grace and it seems just totally pointless to me. it really drives me crazy...

so this morning i got to thinking about it some more, and i really wonder what God thinks about it and how it makes him feel about it. and i really think that it causes him to be sad and to just want to hug people that are caught up in church politics and the sort. i think that he looks down on us and says..."i would much rather you be about love and grace...please more love and more grace!"

Seriously v. Too Seriously...

i was thinking this morning about how i have a passion for growing the ministry here and reaching more students on the ucm campus and about how i tend to feel like in order for that to happen that we have to have more staff.

the realization that i have been coming too is that growing must happen on God's terms and not on my own terms. i have been working myself at such a high stress level and intensity level that i have not really even been enjoying what i have been doing, or at least nearly as much as i should be enjoying it. God is so good and His love is so amazing...and to stop enjoying this life seems like one of the greatest tragedies imaginable.

i feel like there is an importance that we take the ministry (whatever it might be for us individually) that God puts in front of us very seriously, but i also think that it is very easy for us to get to the point where we take it too seriously, and i feel like that is where i have been hanging out for a while now. i want to focus on relaxing more, stressing less, and letting God do His thing. that is the best possible thing that can happen, and i want to simply celebrate that as i live life!

New House...

as i believe i have mentioned before, cailyn and i have been blessed with the opportunity to build a new house...

it is incredibly exciting to be able to actually be seeing structure going up. i thought that i would include a picture or two on occasion, so here is some of the structure starting to go up...

Prayer Request...

as the semester has rolled along, it has become more and more apparent to me that there really is not enough staff here to run things as smoothly and with an appropriate level of stress as there needs to be. this is something that i was brought in to fix, but with the original minister leaving, we are back in the same boat.

however, what i have come to realize in the process of thinking about an additional staff member is that we really don't have the necessary funds for an additional staff member at this point in time. we are currently in the process of planning our budget for the upcoming calendar year and the finances for an additional staff member just aren't there.

so here is the prayer...we have a $227,000 debt on our building here which amounts to $28,000/year. we are currently also making a push to get that debt paid off. so my prayer is that God would bring funds to pay off our building. if we could get the building paid off, then we would have money for an additional staff member and it really would change the face of what is going on here.

so pray boldly that God would provide $227,000!!!

A New Creation...

yesterday morning at about 8:30am, jenna wright, our women's minister at campus house, had a little baby boy. samuel, weighing 7lb 1oz. what an amazing little bundle of joy.

God truly is the author and perfecter of all things good...and especially of life. we went and visited mike and jenna and little samuel last night, and i had the opportunity to hold him in my arms. what an amazing thing, to be able to hold a brand new little life that has only been in this world for a matter of hours...a number of hours that i could count on my fingers, no less.

the little fingers, the motions of trying to figure out this new world, an occasional glimpse at his eyes, it is just a beautiful sight to see!

welcome to the world samuel wright...may God bless you and grow you one day at a time!!

The Challenge of Leading...

we talked with our student leaders yesterday about how there are just times in our roles as leaders, and especially as christian leaders, where we simply don't really want to lead. and we talked about what our response needs to be to those situations. the students talked about how sometimes we need to push through it and "force" ourselves, but they also talked about how they think that some of the reason why Jesus sought time to himself was in order to get away from that need to lead.

and i really wonder if there was truth in that. i know for me there are times when i just really don't want to lead, or at least that i don't want to have to lead in a certain way.

i feel like that is kind of where i am right now. there are some things that i really need to directly teach people here about ministry, i think. but honestly, i really don't have a whole lot of interest in doing it. i really just want to lead by example and enjoy a simple working relationship and things like that, but i just don't feel like that is really what is needed here right now. so that makes it hard.

the challenge then is figuring out what the balance between comfort and pushing yourself is. that seems challenging to me right now.

but one thing i know for sure...i am enjoying my home life and particularly my wife more today than i even have before and that makes for an amazing respite and filler upper when i am a little bit worn out on having to do some leadership things that aren't necessarily my type of things.

thank you Lord for that!!