New Beginnings

Our new home!

We finally moved to Berkeley! After a year and a half of praying and waiting on the Lord, we are on the ground.

It's been a bit of a rough start, but that was expected. From everything we've heard, planting a church is usually most difficult in the first year and we've been thoroughly warned to expect to be completely discouraged. With God's help we are determined to be resilient. Knowing that God has asked us to be here is just about the only comforting thing in moving to a strange city, a strange house, and being alone and vulnerable in them. Every once in a while I look around our new little flat and think, "What in the WORLD are we doing here?? This is not my life!" But God is so faithful and keeps reminding us that indeed this is not our home--this world is not our home, but we instead are heavenly minded, looking forward to that time when we will be with Him face to face.

Indeed, some of the reminders have been very tangible as the second day of our residence in Berkeley, Dave came home from work to find our front door kicked in. Thankfully, I was at our old place cleaning all day and arrived home after Dave. As it was, he had the police come out and check things out. No one was inside, but we discovered a few things had been stolen including Dave's iPad with his sermon notes, some speakers, and our computer monitor. It wasn't until later that we discovered our (really cute) laundry bag missing as well, but even worse, two days later we realized that all of our photography equipment had been taken as well. Some of you know that photography is our livelihood, so that was a very low blow.

Overall, the move has been super discouraging and difficult, but we keep clinging to Jesus and trusting him. No matter where we go, we know that Jesus is our home(Psalm 90), as my good friend reminded me (see my earlier blog post entitled "Home").

Another hope we have is this: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21

An upside to be burglarized, though, is that amidst all the chaos of boxes and piles of stuff, we have someone to blame whenever we can't readily find something. For instance: I couldn't find the coffee scooper, "Dang burglars! Stole the coffee scooper," I say. And then we have a good laugh before finally locating it in some box somewhere.

We're learning more and more each day about the grace and love of our God and how he so wonderfully demonstrates His love for us in sending His Son, Jesus, to lay down His life for us, to bear upon himself the wrath of God in our place, so that we could be restored to Him and not only that, but to be part of His family--sons and daughters! It's so amazing. We are excited to share this hope that we have with the people who live in Berkeley. Please pray for us!

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