Wow! It has been well over a year now since my family and I followed God's leading and moved from small town East Texas to Metro Denver and, my how things have changed! My home church pastor retired, my present church is in the middle of staff changes, my wife is becoming director of a day care again as well as being a major part of the church youth group, I've already overseen my first two VBS's, my two eldest sons are starting at the charter school at our church, I'm no longer lost trying to learn a new trade and now getting better at it all the time, I'm working all the time keeping the children's ministries running at church and planning new events and that's the watered-down, summed-up version of it.
It hasn't been easy at all! Like anyone else who follows God in faith, I haven't found the road paved in gold, or even yellow brick for that matter. I'm constantly learning ways to try and balance everything. I'm so thrilled to be part of a church staff, but doing it part time while having a very demanding full time job at the same time is difficult to keep together for someone who isn't exactly well-organized most of the time. But I work with an amazing pastor and with wonderful workers. That helps me through a lot. I've found the need as well to make sure I find time to be nurtured spiritually. This is all a growing process for me and I am so blessed to have people willing to help me get to where I need to be.
There have been a few things that get me through some of the roughest times. First of all, I haven't leaned on God near enough through a lot of it because I'm so bad about trying to do things on my own first, but I've found He is still so gracious to give me strength and bail me out of my messes. I'm trusting in my Father more and more with each new day now. I couldn't go two steps most of the time without the support and love of the best and most amazing wife I could have asked for. Terri has been my rock many times when in truth I needed to be hers. But she loves me through it all and I'm so blessed to have her in my life. My kids have been so resilient with all the changes they've had to endure and yet they press on with great enthusiasm. It's such a blessing to see them grow and still be active in church without us forcing them into it. We have family and friends from far away that still reach out constantly and bless us. We have friends here in Colorado that have been a God-send. And I couldn't be in children's ministry if I didn't have a God-inspired passion and love for being around kids and making a difference in their lives. I had the blessing of working with so many different kids through the years back in Texas and working with the kids here has been just as much of a blessing. Getting to work with smaller groups has given me the chance to know them even better and I can tell that God has allowed me to already make a difference. The two VBS's I got to lead were so much fun and I'm so excited to get better at it and make an even bigger difference next year. Most of all, knowing that I'm where I'm supposed to be is the greatest encouragement of all!!!
