clinging

"If you cling to your life,

     you will lose it;

but if you give it up for Me,

     you will find it."

Jesus, in Matthew 10:39


It was right before the beginning of 2008 that I felt like God had given me this verse as one of the verses to hold on to for 2008.

My initial response to that impression was, "oh crap!"

Yeah, I'm REAL holy.

You see, I reacted that way because all I saw was the don't cling to your life part...

     iow, all I saw what that I was prolly gonna have to give up a lot of stuff that I hold dear.

Such a deeply spiritual response, too, don't ya think?

I didn't see the 2nd part - if you give up, you'll find your life.


Well, as it turned out, at the beginning of 2008 I felt like that God wanted us to move the 20something ministry I was a part of (not leading) out of the church & to a downtown location.

What's more, we were also supposed to start a Sunday morning satellite congregation of the church too.


I knew no one in their right might would let me do that.


All during 2008 as I thought about that mandate, looked for a place to meet, & just tried to put feet & legs to that, I would always worry & fret about all the kinds of changes to my life that would occur.

Every time I got in that mode, God would whisper to me, "don't cling to your life...".


I've learned that life is a series of seasons, so good, some awful, some challenging, scary, fulfilling, or amazing.

If we are truly following Jesus as a servant, we are expected to be in a "whatever" mode with Him...

     ...whatever He leads us toward, we have to walk toward it...

     ...that's what serving is...

     ...being & doing whatever you're instructed to be & do.


That's why the line to sign up for servanthood is so short.


And I've also learned that we can't cling to the former season.

We have to let it go (I feel a song coming on...)

We have to move on to whatever God has next for us.

That doesn't mean we forget the former seasons - we just don't get stuck there - we move on.


As it turned out, everyone in charge seemed fine with what I thought God wanted us to do.

We moved the 20something ministry & started the satellite congregation, & I ended up leading them both!

Crazy, huh?

But you know what's REALLY crazy?

That year & a half we spent down there were some of the most wonderful, crazy, fulfilling, halcyon days of my life.


And if I'd clung to my life as it was at the beginning of 2008, I would have missed it all.


Now, letting go of your life isn't always glamorous.


In 2010, God started getting me ready to leave all that & move into the next season.

We moved to Blairsville in September, 2010 with some ideas as to what we might be about up here.

None of that has come to fruition, yet.

We're still pretty clueless as to exactly what & for whom we are here.

We may never know.

But one thing is for certain...

     ...this is where God wants us for this season.

And as a follower, Lynn & I obey.

And we live in a beautiful place, & we love & care about a lot of people,

     we've made contacts w/ some very interesting folks through the food pantry,

     & we serve God by pointing people to Him as best we can when we can.

And we take it one day at a time...


I'm not sure if many people think this was the right move for us - maybe Sheila Hayslip does - she's ALWAYS been supportive as well as prays for us all the time.

All I know is all I know. Here we are. Someday God will move us on to the next season. Who knows what it will bring.

God help me to not cling to my life, because in letting go, I continue to experience the life He dreamed for me a gajillion years ago.