Waves - Waves - Waves -- ummm I like it!

Well, I hope you had time to get a donut or bathroom break or get a latte mocha frap no fo (whatever --- )

You know that waves come in all different shapes and sizes. All of them have value and all of them can serve a purpose. Some are generated by wind and yet others by reflection and others still by major events like earthquakes. All in all, I wonder what kind of waves Peter faced when he got out of the boat? I know that once he lost his focus (Jesus) he started to be imersed in the waves. As we face challenges in life, they will come like waves. Some days we barely survive. So why on earth would be jump out of relative safety and into what seems to be the harmful and dangerous path? Because if you can do that and not just survive, but thrive, then you have overcome such a difficulty in life and hurdle that many never escape from - a lack of faith. In differnt variations, a lack of faith can be spiritually deadly!

In all honesty, it is just hard to figure out how much I should write and what you all will understand. So, in reality, it is I that needs the occasional break. Then life begins to interfere and I find that I can't get back to this for a good two to three days. Well, hopefully this will be the second to last post.

So, last March I found myself coming to the quick realization that my time in youth ministry was quickly to come to an end. That in itself can be depressing, but when it leaves you hanging with a family to take care of, that is even more of a challenge. The deepest challenge would be telling my fellow pastors and staff and students. Faith had already gone through so much as far as seeing staff move on. The sense of abondonment was enough to keep crisis counselors in ice packs around Faith! Yet, I knew that our church had really grown spiritually over the past couple of years. The Lord was teaching the families at Faith to rely on Him and not man. So far, after the loss of 6 staff members in 2 years, the church was still thriving and doing well. The Lord had protected us from fall out that many had claimed was forthcoming. The Lord had really helped me during this time understand that my time at Faith was wrapping up as well and that it would be healthy for the church and myself to go through this. Jeanine and I just really lamented over the potential loss of friends and neighbors but were ready to trust God fully.

Now, 8 months later, I can tell you that Faith is doing very well and the Lord is blessing them and that we are doing well and the Lord is blessing us. Thank you to all of our brothers and sisters at Faith and in SCV - we miss you more than you can know - but we are excited about where God has us heading.

So, here is a little timeline to help you understand the chain of events

• Sense change coming / Summer 05
• Jeanine senses that the Lord is preparing her for loss / October 05
• Begin to understand that the Lord may be leading me away from Faith / February 06
• God reveals that the summer of 06 will be the last in Youth Ministry / March 06
• Disclose information to Pastors and Elders / March and April 06
• Disclose to Youth Staff and Students my retirement / May 06
• Attend Youth Pastors Conference at Hume / subject "Transition out of Ministry" / May 06
• Focus on Tanzania summer missions trip / May - June 06
• Tanzania Missions trip / June - July 06
• Summer camp Catalina / Ausgust 06
• Contact with Concord Bible church / August 06
• Candidate with Concrod Bible Church / October 06
• Sr. Pastor of Concord Bible Church / November 06
• Counting my blessings / January 07

Now that is the abridged version - kind of like the Narative - and the next posting will reveal to you the work of God in the midst of all this journey!

You really see God in the details when you choose to look. So, go get a donut again or take a bathroom break or whatever, and tune in to the next posting. Walking on Water - the funnest form of travel - I highly recommend it!!!

Jer

and now for .... the rest of the story!

Our journey is complete my friends. I feel a little like Bilbo at the end of Return of the King writing "There and Back" accept I'm not that short and I don't have a precious - I digress.

So here we are and I have held you at bay now for several months. My last entry was a few days ago and I stated that I had every confidence that the Lord was going to "see through" the sale of our house in Santa Clarita - and He did - we closed the very next day!!! Just more walking on the water my friends. Soooo many prayers that the Lord would allow us to sell our house by the end of the year. Guess what, we closed on the very last business day of the year. It reminds me of scripture that states: Even when we are faithless he is faithful!!

So, earlier I mentioned something about dangerous prayers. I need to start there again (if you don't know what I mean look at the earlier postings). This journey all started for us about a year ago as I was driving down McBean Parkway in Valencia heading to the mall on my day off. I was spending time in prayer while I was driving and I was praying over former staff members that I served with at Faith. That's when the Lord brought to mind Peter and Becca Bunnell. They are dear friends that moved from the comforts of Southern California, family and friends to the outskirts of the world - MONGOLIA - to be missionaries. You know how you always worry that the Lord is going to send to remote places like MONGOLIA to minister? Well it happened to them.

Then something really cool happened. As I was praying for them, I started to be moved to envy. That's right - ENVY! You see, my life of excitement and passion really revolves around acting in Faith. It was at that moment that I really started to wrestle with the fact that I had maybe become to comfortable in the little bubble called Santa Clarita and my very comfortable and wonderful church, Faith. I was compelled to pray a dangerous prayer - I shook off the dusty cobwebs and let the Lord know that I was ready for change - anything was on the table.

The most telling part of that prayer was that I asked the Lord to put my family in a place where we could be most effective - remember this as you read through the journey of being out of the boat.

Ask yourself right now as you read this, " Lord, am I willing to let it all go, to give everything back to you, and be used to the greatest possible extent that my gifts and abilities can carry me through the power of Your Spirit? If not Lord, give me the faith that I lack, help me with my faith and help me to stay focused on you and please call to me and ask me to step out of the boat just like You did with Your servant Peter!"

So, if you want to live in the sweet charity of the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, I would entreat you to consider what in your life is of such great importance and merit that you should keep it from stepping out of the boat. If you can with great confidence locate such a thing, I would suggest you build a shrine in your house and treat it with the upmost importance.

You know what I mean ......... careful Jer ...... you wouldn't want to offend ......

Back to the story -

So, as we came off of a wonderful sabbatical in the summer of 05 the Lord started this work in my heart. What happened next I was unprepared for. You see, I am usually the one in my marriage that is burdened (or graced) with these epiphanies and have to spend time revealing and talking through all the details to my wife. That was about to take a great turn in Nov. of 05.

I came home from work one day and Jeanine was curled up in a blanket on the sofa with her Bible - not such a bad thing - unless she was in that same position when I left for work that day. Anyone who knows my wife knows that she just doesn't act that way, or let circumstances or thoughts overwhelm her to the point of "non-functioning". I started to make the typical blunder of questioning why she spent her entire day on the sofa (which she really didn't) and then the Spirit impressed on me that I should sit down, shut up and listen to what might be going on in my lovely wifes heart and head.

Jeanine revealed that she was deeply troubled and hurting because she believed that the Lord was asking her to prepare for great loss. She had been studying Abraham and how the Lord asked Abraham to pick up and move to a different country - a country that wasn't his own. She couldn't pin point it, but she felt as if we were either going to lose someone close to us through death or the Lord was going to ask us to move soon.

O.K. - now I know how she feels when I come home and drop a bomb on her.

So, we have a dangerous prayer - a wandering and searching pastor - an epiphany of loss -

what could be next?

Stay tuned, take a break and then come back and read more.

Just a little while Longer my friends -

I feel like the apostle Paul when he was desiring to reach his friends and sent a letter ahead to indicate - just a little while longer -

I know that all of you have been waiting with baited breath for the details of this "Out of the Boat" thing. Good!!!! - because it's worth the wait.

I wanted to wait until the last chapter of prayer was answered before I told the whole story. I believe that tomorrow we will see that chapter close - I believe that my house is going to close escrow tomorrow - a huge answer to prayer!!!

Once we see this prayer answered I want to, in detail, reveal all that the Lord has done through our journey. Then I look forward to hearing about how this story inspires you all, and how you - in turn - get out of the boat.

So, just you watch - we're not done yet! We are still trusting that God is going to close our house before the end of the year.

It has been 6 weeks with our new family here in Concord. I would have to say that my family and I are truly stoked about all that has gone on. We miss our family, friends, and church in Santa Clarita in ways that cannot begin to be stated in words, but have been overwhelmed by the love and excitement by our new family and church here in Concord. While this has become a new chapter in my life, we can never forget about our previous. It was our time at Faith that prepared us for this work in Concord. Most of all, I miss my students. I love you guys - not just those currently in high school - but all of you. I have spent hours since we have moved thinking and praying for all of you. It is sad that my time working soley with you all as high school students is over, but it is a joy that the Lord brought us to eachother at some particular time and therefore our relationship can never be seperated. Please don't hesitate to call or write and know that you are not forgotten!!! I pray for all of you continually and remember that you need to make it count!! You may not get a tomorrow.

God bless all of you and be looking early part of next week for all the details. Join with us in one last prayer as we see the Lord wrap up this last detail for our journey.

To those in Concord - words cannot express how the Lord has used you. This is a marriage and I have to say - I am pretty picky. I couldn't be more excited about what the Lord will do with us. I think about the months and years ahead and the month that has passed already and I feel as if the sky is the limit!!! This could have been a very hard Christmas season and yet it was one of the best we have had - you all helped make it that way - we love you all very much.

the "Water walkers" aka the Cooks

The Day the Spirit Spoke - Whaaaa?

So, I told you how this all started a couple of years ago, but now I plan on telling you how I went from the messanger to the target!!

Last March our youth group, jr. high and High School (Echo and The Vibe)went on our annual winter camp snow board trip to June Mountain. It was a fantastic trip and everything was going fine (accept for the fish prank) and we were wrapping up on Sunday. My former Jr. High Director was the camp speaker and was just about finished with his message when it struck me.

I have to say that it wasn't a slap in the face or a picture of Jesus in the snow - it was more like in I Kings 19:12 when the Lord came to Elijah - in a whisper! There was no doubt that God was speaking to me. I was observing all that was happening in the room. My staff was doing a great job, my students were focused and listening, but something was missing. Change - change was missing. We had grown too comfortable with eachother. The upside was that there was great ministry going on. I was able to sit back in that moment and thank the Lord for all that he has blessed me with in the 21 years of youth ministry. I prayed for each of the staff and over my students and then the thought - the simple thought - came to my head, "Enjoy this, this summer will be your last with youth ministry, you can be done".

What happened after that, I am not sure. I know that I have sensed direct leading in my life from the Spirit three other times - each time has played out true - and this was every bit exactly what I had sensed in those other times. I was sure of it, God had spoken to me and was direct. The question was, "what do you plan to do about it?"

I remember finishing the meeting and going outside and talking with my friend who was our speaker, and revealing what I had just gone through. I couldn't believe I was standing here telling Chris that I knew without a doubt that my days in Youth Ministry were now numbered. Fighting back the tears was pretty hard at that moment. This is all I have ever done, Lord what are you doing to me? Why would you take this away? Why would you ask me to leave what I love so dearly? Why would you have me sacrifice what I have poured my life into for so many years - and without any idea of where I was to go next? Why? I will tell you in the next post. It has to do with a dangerous prayer ---- stay tuned!!

Out of the Boat

What could that possibly mean to anyone who just stumbled upon this blog - or who purposfully sought it out? Different things to different people I suppose, but for the sake of not trying to be too "Bono" I will clarify for ya all.

I preached a sermon not more than two years ago at Faith Community Church in Santa Clarita. It was a sermon that was crafted in a cold, hard bunk bed in Mexico while on a missions trip. I was desperatly trying to sleep through the rigors of the snores, clucks of chickens and slasa music drifting through the night air. Just when I was staring a good night of sleep in the face....... thoughts started to crystalize in my mind about the need to encourage our church on the subject of faith.

Right there - Right then, I formed up through the prompting of the Holy Spirit a sermon that would have greater impact than I could have ever predicted.

I delivered the message on what my Sr. Pastor (Craig Miller) affectionately titled "Death Sunday" - this is the Sunday between Christmas and New Years. I distinctly remember our Pastor and his family sitting in the front row while I preached this message. What I didn't know is how much the Spirit of God had really crafted this message that night in Mexico 6 weeks prior - for our Pastor and his family were being asked by God to "Get out of the Boat!" This message, apparantly was a confirmation for them as to what God was asking them to do; to serve him outside the traditions and customs that were comfortable and made sense.

Well, it's almost two years later and my family and I are now being asked to get out of the boat.

By the way, let me explain this statement. It is from the account in Scripture (Matt. 14:29-31) where Jesus encourages Peter to get out of the boat and walk on the water with him. The point behind the statement is to act in obedience and walk in faith.

This is where we are and this blog tells our story of getting out of the boat!!