A Sense of Home

Sergei is painting a wall in the study as I write this. I'm sitting on the couch in the living room with a warm cup of coffee, and not a box in sight. That's a good feeling. Sergei and I have settled into our apartment and it has become home to us. I can tell that I will always look back on this little place with a warm sense of affection. We've cooked here, put paintings up on the walls, finally unpacked the closet, defeated the sugar ants in the kitchen (though that may be a continuing battle), hung curtains, cleaned bathrooms, watched movies, eaten dinner at our little kitchen table, and had guests over for food and games. Although the decorative process continues, I don't think there is anything we could do that would make it feel more like home. Aside from the wet paint, it's all ready for visitors. (Hint hint.)

Sergei and Angus have been working hard every day to hammer out the details of getting Elevation Church off the ground. The major project at hand: narrowing in on a location. We're also really excited about this weekend: all of the team here in Loveland so far is taking a retreat to Estes Park on Friday and Saturday. Angus's parents have a cabin there where we will all stay, removed from civilization and the busy commotion of our lives to have some deep fellowship and worship together. We'll discuss our expectations for the church and our part in ministry, and we'll discover together what God is calling us to be and to do in the Loveland community and, more specifically, how that vision will be played out. Pray for us as we meet, that the Holy Spirit would unify us in mind and spirit!

I am still looking for a job. (Whew!) I'm daily seeking the Lord to see where He will place me, and daily checking Craig's List and Monster and revising my resume for various job applications. All of this has me pretty tired out, so pray for my spiritual and relational energy in the midst of the job hunt.

A HUGE praise: We have been richly blessed with relationships. God brings friends in mysterious ways, and we have been amazed to find great friendships developing with people that, a month ago, were strangers to us. We pray that we can minister into the lives of the people we meet, as God is ministering into our lives through many of those same people. May our love be unconditional!

One final note: Marriage. Is. Magical. In every way, except there are no literal sparkles floating around in the air. Sergei and I have been married for two months and six days (in two hours), and every day has been more splendid than the day before. As much as we (and others) wondered early on if we were crazy leaving everything we knew behind to come work for God's Kingdom in Loveland in our first year of marriage ... God has blown us away tenfold by His goodness in drawing us closer and closer to each other in Him. We left our homes, travelled 1300 miles, and discovered home in each other. It can only be Christ who has done this great thing. "Those who look to Him are radiant, and they will never be ashamed." (Psalm 34:5) We are, as C.S. Lewis described it, two people looking outward together in the same direction. May we never look any other way.