My Life as a Novel

Hasn't this been the theme of Journey Church so far: that God provides more than we can imagine !! I am not a crier. But I get all misty-eyed just thinking of how God has used this church to be such a blessing to us.

The Polk Family was definitely hanging on a precipice in early 2007. My prayer was that God would provide a place where we could find a couple to be our friends. Just one. Someone to encourage us at a church where we could go and be marginally involved without completely stressing ourselves out.

What. A. Joke.

I can imagine the conversation going something like this:

Rita: God, give us just one couple. One really solid couple. (Meanwhile thinking that this would be a "church friend" situation like others before, where I would find a close girlfriend with a husband/boyfriend who Kyle would tolerate when I asked him to.)
God: One couple? How about six and some singles?
Rita: And God, show us a church where we can get some rest. Something that meets our needs without a great demand on our time. Some place we can proudly take our friends on Sundays.
God: You dream of a church where you can find rest for your physical weariness. I have a church where you can make peace with your qualms about church. (And you can sleep in on Sundays! BONUS!) I am giving you the chance to recreate the church and make it into a safe haven for your friends. Church should be about more than yourself. Think bigger, Rita.

And if you'd asked me in January to be a part of this church planting process, I'd have told you "Noooo, thank you!"

And when I talked to Hal (as my boss) when Kyle and I had decided to leave FBC in February, he said, "Rita, I'd like to suggest that you guys check out the Journey Church. I think they're going to do good things." My first thought was, "Noooo, thank you!"

But by April, we were sick of being disappointed and not finding what we were looking for. I began to think we were being too picky and we should just pick something and commit to it. Boy am I glad we didn't!!

All this really long email to say ... I am so looking forward to what God has in store. Because I have already seen my expectations just BLOWN out of the water. I can't even think of what must be coming. My mind can't even conceive!!

Labels: Christianity, Journey Church

# posted by Rita @ 2:41 PM