Sigh...

       Sigh (n.) – a long, deep, audible exhalation expressing sadness, relief, tiredness or a similar feeling. I have been sighing a lot lately. As any of you who have been following this blog may know, I haven’t written anything for almost a month. We have been very busy moving into our new home, but it has also been tough for me to sit down and write for some reason. I guess it is difficult because I have always had a place (Exodus Coffee) to go to read and write and I haven’t found that type of place here, yet. Today I am sitting in a Joe Muggs Coffee Café in the local Books A Million, but it’s just not the same. Oh well. Back to the sighs… I have been sighing a lot lately; sighs of tiredness from moving, sighs of relief from bits of good news and monetary gifts from faithful friends, sighs of sadness from feeling a bit stuck and not sure what God wants us to do, and sighs of exasperation from what seems to be a chronic joblessness. I swear, I feel like I have a disease or something. I have grown to strongly dislike the whole online application process. It’s like I am the proverbial needle in the haystack and employers are looking for hay. It may not be the case, but I feel like anyone who looks at my resume or application simply says, “Pastor? Next!” This exasperation bleeds over into my enthusiasm for the task that God has called us here to do. I know that I am distracted from the call because I am worried about our finances, but I can’t seem to shake it. I am not alone in this as a number of our core leadership are dealing with the same issue. Please, please join us in prayer for God to help us trust Him more, and for Him to do miraculous works in our lives and situations so that we will not be distracted and discouraged by the enemy.
     Things seem to be going well for the Roots Community. We are still working on things like logo, website, preview services and other logistics. We recently had a meeting with Hal Haller, the Reproducing Churches “coach” for our church and he did a good job helping us all with the process of contextualization and seeing our community through a missional lens. A few of us also have been attending meetings with Vision 360 and Reproducing Churches to help with things like vision and values and networking. I am excited, but I also see where we have been given a number of distractions to deal with. I’m not sure if they are from Satan or if they are tests from God. Either way, my discernment senses have been tingling and it makes me nervous. Well, I guess that is enough whining for now.
     Lord, please show us Your providence. We wait on You and desire to see You work in our lives and the lives of others. Continue to give us opportunities to create connections with the community and with people. Give us jobs that would create these connections as well as help us pay our bills. We pray that you would be glorified in all that we do and in all that we say. May we always give You glory and honor and may we treasure You above all things.