July 29, 2024
The One who Loves to Build with You
How do you handle your mistakes? What if they're more valuable than you give them credit?
December 8, 2022
We are moving to Phoenix, AZ in the near future. We are joining a team of Vineyard leaders, to build an experimental church. We’ll share more details soon.
Melissa and I have begun to affectionately call this week, the “point of no return.” We are forfeiting our right to continue life as we've known it. Yesterday we listed our house on the market. We expect to be under contract soon! Tomorrow the Interim Pastor begins, which means I’ll only have a month left in my current position as Senior Pastor. The clock is ticking! The weight of this moment brings back to mind an experience I had with the Lord two years ago.
In February of 2020, a friend handed me a quarter. She said that the Lord told her to give it to me. I looked at her sideways.
She explained, “I was emptying my pockets at the end of the day and it fell to the floor. As soon as it hit, I sensed the Lord saying, ‘Give that to Kyle.’ I responded in my head, ‘Why would I give Kyle a quarter?’ Then I picked it up and looked at it.”
She handed me the quarter, implying that I should look at it. The image on the Tails side was of a mountain landscape thick with pine trees. Flowing from the mountain wilderness was a man in a canoe, with oars in hand. He’s on the edge of narrow rapids, with boulders on either side. What awaits him below the rapids is out of view and left to the imagination. Written above the image was, “River of No Return.”
I looked back at my friend, hoping for more of an explanation. She smiled and shrugged. “When I saw the picture, I knew it was the Lord.” She took the quarter and looked at it for a moment, considering whether to share more. “I think you need to ask the Lord what He wants to say to you about it.” She handed it back with a reassuring smile.
I took the quarter home and it eventually landed on my nightstand. A few days went by, the quarter glaring at me each morning and evening. Finally, one morning I grabbed the quarter and my journal, and hid away in a quiet space. I spent time connecting with the Lord, then I asked.
“Okay Lord, what do you want to say to me through this quarter?”
Almost instantly I could imagine a smirk on His face, looking at me with pleasure. “That’s the nature of following me.” Instantly I began writing, more came as I wrote. “The further you go, the more you lay down. The more you lay down, the more free you are to follow me. You’ll find joy and delight in following me, and your heart is free from the need to turn back. You are approaching decisions from which there’s no going back.”
I felt the weight of what I had heard, but I hadn’t a clue what decisions He was referring to. As I reflect on that conversation, it wasn’t long before this ball began rolling. A series of events, conversations and decisions eventually led us to prepare our church for our departure, and our home for sale. We’ve reached the point of no return, without a clear plan for the near future. We haven’t a clue whether we’ll be able to find a job or a home when we need them, but we’re in good hands.
Are we afraid? Absolutely! 2 Chronicles 20 has been a source of encouragement for me. Somehow, we are both afraid and finding an abundance of peace in worship. Our ability to trust God is getting stretched on the daily. We’re excited. We don’t know what our life will entail, but we know it’s going to be fun. We were made for adventure!
Hey, we’d love to have you along for the adventure! This article is a part of my new site, “Topo Wilderness.” If you’d like to follow our journey, you can subscribe at the bottom of this page and I’ll keep you in the loop! We’ll be sharing more details about our upcoming adventures very soon.
