The Been Briefing

God's Provision

It's a quiet night here in the Been apartment. Jody is up at Englewood teaching the youth, and I decided to stay home tonight. It is Hump Day, after all, and I'm ever mindful of the need my body has for rest and that if I can't keep my eyes open by 5pm, I might want to be low-key that evening! When I look at others who are able to go and go, and be involved in a million different activities at the same time, I try not to give in to feelings of envy, as I have learned the physical limitations I need to place on my body in order to stay healthy. And I am encouraged; I have not had laryngitis since August 2008. It's been a year and a half!

March of 2010 finds me in a much more encouraged place than a few months ago. In fact, I am more encouraged than I have been in a long time. God has indeed been faithful. The most noticeable place that Jody and I see evidence of God's kindness towards us has been in our church, Englewood Assembly. I recall to mind the place we were in a year ago.

We had arrived in Denver in January 2009, and Jody had begun classes at Denver Seminary. Every weekend we would check out a new church.... for three or four months. It was an exhausting process trying to find a home church, and we often shook our heads as we left a service. Is it possible to miss newcomers when your church is 40 people? And not so much as a smile? A glance? A handshake? A welcome? It was such a discouraging experience trying to get plugged in. And then we went to Englewood one Sunday. I think 20 people must have come up to us, shaken our hand, hugged us and welcomed us above and beyond what I have ever experienced before. And I've been to a lot of different churches. The music was joyful and a great mix of old hymns, new worship and all done with great enthusiasm. Perfection was less important than heart there, we could tell. And the congregation was an odd mix of old (as in... 90 years ago these cats were going to Sunday School in this same building), Hispanic, blue-collar, loud and misfits..... and then us. But we kept going back, because there was such LOVE! After checking out a bazillion churches, Jody and I decided to stay at Englewood, not because it promised a dashing preaching career and big fat retirement checks for Jody, but because of the love in the place. So much LOVE and so much GRACE for sinful wretches like...... well, everybody.

Life last year continued to be stressful as Jody finished one semester of seminary, and then we had to move, and then another semester came and we desperately needed another car... and Jody began to get more involved at Englewood. He started going to the Men's Breakfast on Tuesdays and gradually I could tell he was getting sucked in to the wonderful things God was doing in and through this small body of mostly new believers. And he was wanting to stay longer, go deeper and serve more. God was changing Jody's heart.

I, however, was plugging away at work in another church, and I struggled a bit with feeling like my heart was divided. I wanted to get more involved at Englewood, but I was so busy working at Southeast. I signed up in the summer to start teaching the 3 and 4 year olds on a once-a-month basis, and I was paired up with a young mother named Crystal. At first the teaching process was a bit awkward, but somehow along the line, it wasn't anymore. Gradually, I believe God was changing my heart, too, and I began to feel more comfortable with the women at Englewood. And I began to want to hang out with them - however old they were and no matter how different the stages of life we were in. I think God was giving me a new heart, too, full of love and acceptance!

Another tie developed as Jody was required by Denver Seminary to find two mentors. Jody requested our pastor TJ and a younger man in the congregation named Matt to be his mentors, and they both agreed. Though the mentoring process through Denver Seminary is a bit cumbersome, Jody and I are in the agreement that it has proven to be a good thing. It has allowed Jody to show himself consistent and serious about learning the work that goes behind ministry in a church, and it has required of him discipline in spending time with these men. As Jody has spent time with them, I have seen him grow in his love for this particular body and in his wisdom in how to help grow this body in a healthy way.

And so, after doing our best to show ourselves faithful in committing to serve and love this particular body, in February the Lord showed Himself merciful and wonderfully creative towards us. The elder board offered Jody and me the church parsonage, a small duplex next to the church building, as a place for us to live in as compensation for the greater level of responsibility that Jody will be assuming in the church, especially in the grow part of the church's mission statement love, grow, share. Jody and I are thrilled! We have chosen to accept this amazing gift from the Lord, and we will be moving in the end of April. This offer is so wonderful, because it is going to be a blessing to us and to the church, and it will definitely make church involvement that much easier.

Jody and I have no idea what the future holds for us, but we can definitely see the hand of God guiding us, and though sometimes it feels like we are aimless, at times like this we are so encouraged to know that indeed, God is faithful and He is gently holding our hands and leading us by His Spirit. We praise Him for His kindness and faithfulness!

Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.

Serve the LORD with gladness;

Come before Him with joyful singing.

Know that the LORD Himself is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving

And His courts with praise

Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

For the LORD is good;

His lovingkindness is everlasting

And His faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 100