Moving...

The past few months Corrine and I have been looking for a place to live in Worthington.  It's been a tough road since the housing market in Worthington is absolutely ridiculous.  If it's not overpriced, it's terribly neglected, and a lot of times it's both.

Well we finally found a rental in Worthington that's within our price range.  We heard about the place last Sunday and hadn't even seen it a week ago. So within two days we had to see it and decide if we wanted it. It is a lot smaller than our current house. But our current house is way to big for a family of three. So after we get done downsizing and moving, we'll finally be living in Worthington. And THAT is good news.

There are many different reasons why moving to Worthington is going to be good for us. There's the $300/month that we'll save in driving to work. There's the extra hour each day we'll have at home and not commuting to work. There's the savings in utilities that we're anticipating in a house half the size of our current one. But one of the huge changes that we're excited about is that it will allow me to get back into youth ministry as a volunteer.

Our church, Journey, doesn't have a formal youth ministry.  And I think a lot of people wouldn't like having such a huge program driven ministry. One of the big credits to Journey is that we are very relational based in our ministry. And having a big youth ministry program would seem to go against some of the key aspects that makes Journey such an impacting community.

Over the last couple months, Pastor John and I have been discussing how I can get involved in leading a growth group. Growth groups are what really fuel the discipleship at Journey, they're what strengthens our community. When Pastor John first asked me to lead one I was a little hesitant. I was still dealing with past betrayals and very potent emotions. It took a few months to heal those wounds and with God's help, endless patience, and overflowing love, my heart feels healed. Scarred, but healed.

I think the scars that we endure are, a lot of times, marks of wisdom. There's the saying, "Hindsight is 20/20." I believe it's through these scars that we get shaped into a stronger and wiser person.

I truly believe it when Paul says in Corinthians that God will never put too much on our plate, but rather gives a way out in everything. Even though I didn't know if I would be back in a place where my heart could handle youth ministry again. I believe that in this past year I have become stronger, wiser, and have fallen more in love with God than ever before.