In The Beginning.....

So to give you a better understanding about this blog we need to start from the beginning. Lets go back to March of 2011.  Roger and I were contacted by a couple of old friends.  Friends that we had not seen in 10 yrs.  Friends that for us represented a time when we were still courageous and life was lived to the fullest everyday.  When you weren't scared to dream and truly believe that those dreams were going to come true.  Needless to say with these thoughts and these friends this was more than just a care free visit that the Lord had in mind.  Well they came and we had a great time together.  But when they left Roger and I were left with a lot of questions.  See these friends of ours, well their life somewhat mirrored what Roger and I thought ours would look like back in our college days.  Both couples were on the same path.  We were going to be Youth Pastors.  The difference is that after college our friends went for it moving them to various places within and outside of the country. For us due to circumstances in our life we did not.  We landed in TN and set up camp and just did life.  But fast forward 10 yrs later and here we are together again kind of at a place of "God what happened."  

So after our friends left there was this nagging question in my mind of why did Roger and I never move.  Were we unhappy in TN?  No, but we were not thrilled with it either.  So what put us in a place of never thinking about pursuing something better.  Thus the question was asked that launched us on a journey we never imagned we'd embark on. Going to bed one evening I looked over at Roger and just said "Babe, how come we never moved."  To make a long story short what it came down to was that TN had become a place of safety.  Our world had been rocked so many times that we decided it was better to just play it safe and try and fly under the radar.  But what about the life that God had for us to live.  Did that life involve safety and comfort, not being known or seen.  Did that life mean never moving, literally and figuritively.  We began to realize in the midst of the last few years and bumpy roads and obstacles that came our way, we had let these things define us and dictate how we were to live.  Or in this case stop living.  We started thinking is TN where we want to be forever or would we like to move?  Can we believe for something better?   So we put it to prayer.  We asked the Lord for 3 cities.  If this was His will for our lives we felt He would be specific about it.  It did not mean that we had to embark on a journey all over the country in hopes of finding that one special place.  Well He answered.  He gave us Raleigh, NC, Jacksonville, FL and Omaha, NE.

Two of these cities had friends already set up there for us.  One city (Jacksonville) was the only one where we would know no one and would for us seem to be the least likely choice .  We set out to visit Jacksonville Memorial Day weekend in 2011.  Roger and I have said it many times.  Thank God we did not have the girls with us or we would not have ever returned to TN.  From the moment Roger and I got out of the car we were home.  I can't describe it.  It's just as if everything that had ever held us back in life melted away.  We experienced FREEDOM.  I say we experienced FREEDOM because it wasn't until we had to return that we realized how bound we were.  We'll talk about that in future post. 

When we got back home our girls were so excited about Jacksonville.  We had made a point not to really include them in discussions about the possible move and where we were thinking about going because we didn't want to get their hopes about any one place and then end up not going.  But as soon as we got back they wanted to talk about any and everything Jacksonville.  Taylor even wanted to study about it for school.  They had already discussed room colors and room decor.  In their hearts they were already there.  It was so awesome to have our excitement be met with theirs.  We knew.  This is it.  This is where we are suppose to go.  Little did we know that this was not just the beginning of a physical journey, but a spiritual journey that would deepen our faith more than we ever thought possible.