No word back yet from the Papua New Guinea team on whether they’re going to invite us to join them. We’ve started the process of putting together our Pre-field Comprehensive Plan, but many (most) of the elements of that plan hinge on whether we’re being sent there or somewhere else. We feel like we’ve been waiting for so many years for the Lord to say “GO,” and now that He has, we feel some anxiety to move as quickly as possible.

We’ve also applied at North Lake College to get Rebekah going on some pre-requisites she’ll need for linguistics school. We’re waiting to hear about some financial arrangements on that front, but we do know that she needs 9 hours before she can get started at GIAL.  We’ll probably be taking it one course at a time, since my dear wife has another thing or two on her plate right now.

Meanwhile, as many of you know, I’m still in a waiting phase at work. We’re almost 8 months into our second interim since I’ve been serving in the worship ministry at First Euless.  I’m honored and blessed to be a part of the great team I serve with, but I remain uneasy in what I’m being asked to do. Leadership of a ministry (and in a small way, a church) has been dropped in my lap more or less, and that particular weight of responsibility is something I feel pretty inadequate to deal with.

I want to share a couple verses my Pastor shared yesterday in his message that really spoke to me at this point of anxiety:

Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:3, 4 NASB)

There is no better place to find rest than in the full, deliberate, child-like trust in the Lord. I know beyond a doubt that He has a perfect plan for my family, and that He has every capability required to execute that plan. In times like this, though, I feel like He should ask for my help. I mean, I’m a man of ACTION; I can DO things.  I can do good THINGS here!  Maybe we should be thinking about another region to serve in; maybe we should send the kids to public school so Rebekah can take all 9 hours at once; maybe I should be looking for a different job.  Or maybe…the most important work, the most crucial action I can take, is to wait.

Do I really dwell in the land?  Am I investing in my community?  In relationships with those around me?  Do I cultivate faithfulness in my circumstances?  A constant prayer of mine recently is that I would be found faithful – even when I don’t necessarily like what’s going on around me.  I realize more fully now that I can’t just passively ‘be found’ faithful; faithfulness must be cultivated, actively.  So while I wait – while I delight myself in the Lord – I give, love, serve, play, sing, work, and live faithfully.  He knows the desires of my heart; He’s got it under control.

And that, my friends, is peace.