Here is a poem i used in my Grandfathers funeral service. It is from a book called "Praying Our Goodbyes" by: Joyce Rupp.

The trees grow more restless;
October wind weaves through them;
They shake their arms in dismay
As if to fight the coming cold
and the grief of leaves going

Autumn air does a heart-dance
on branches already gone barren;
The misty air clings to golden leaves,
making the trees bend even lower.

It is a season to hold the trees close,
To stand with them in their grieving.
It is a time to open my inner being
to the misty truths of my own goodbyes.
Autumn comes. It always does.
Goodbye comes.It always does.
The trees struggle with this truth today
and in my deepest being, so do I.

Every autumn, nostalgia fills me;
Every autumn, yearning holds me,I cling to the
ripeness of summer,
knowing it will be many long months
before I can catch a breath of lilac,
or the green of freshly mown grass.

And so I begin my fallow vigil,
Remembering the truth of the ages;
Unless the wheat seed dies
it cannot sing a new birth.
Unless summer gives in to autumn,
springtime will never embrace me.

This is a Psalm I wrote for my Psalms and Epistles class.

Lord, you have revealed your steadfast love.
Lord, you are great and in love and mercy.
Out of the depths I cried to you, and you answered.
In the midst of my despair you rescued me.
There was a fierce lion waiting at my door,
A deep pit of gloom.
Demons were all around seeking to crush my soul,
In my pain and agony I cried to you.
You, the Lord of all the earth answered my cry,
Out of the depths you raised me up.
From the lions jaws you rescued me,
You carried me to this place.
Now Lord, I call on you again.
Where O Lord in my resting place?
Where shall I lay my head?
Where do your people cry out for help?
Where is healing needed?
You, O Lord know the plans for me.
You, O Lord will answer for you are faithful.
In you I place my life,
Do with it what you will.

Spring break is here and we were hoping that by this time we would have a face to face interview or two lined up, but that has not happened. I must admit this is starting to wear on me. I know God does have a place for our family and I continue to trust that however, I am human and not knowing where our family will be living 3 1/2 months from know is scary.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
I have heard the first verse many times but for me verse 13 is very powerful. When we seek God with all our heart he will be there. He never fails or forsakes us it is us who fail and forsake continually and have to repent. As someone who has a hard time being patient the imagery of looking for God, actively seeking him also is very powerful.

This process is very slow, my prayer is for patients as we seek God's leading. It is beginning to be disconcerting that we do not have any idea where we will be living four months from now. I have been praying that I can concentrate on my school work, as I look to the future. We do believe there is a church out there for us even though the doubt does creep in from time to time.
Thank you all for your prayers.

current status

In regard to where we are in the process outlined below. We are currently at the stage where I have submitted my MLI and have talked to conference ministers in the areas we are interested in. Because of the private nature of this process I am very limited on what I can say further than that.
Marlena and I would just ask for your prayers as we seek God's leading as we move forward, both for us and the church that is out there for us whom ever that might be.
I must confess feelings of anxiety about our future as well as fears of inadiquecy and failure. My great hope and rock is knowing that God called my wife and I to this form of ministry and he is always thier if we are willing to rely on him instead of our own strength.
I desire continued surender to Jesus Christ MY SAVIOUR.

Church call process

Well I guess since I created this blog to talk about what is going on in our transition from school to ministry in a church it would be helpful to talk about the process. In the Mennonite church if you are leaving a seminary or program such as the one I am in the first step is to fill out an MLI (Ministerial Leadership Information). This form is similar to a resume except much more extensive. In the MLI you answer questions about your faith journey as well as some of your foundational theology as well as the basic resume items. After the MLI is filled out and submitted to Mennonite Church USA and or Mennonite Church Canada there is an interview with the denominational pastor. The next step is then submitting the MLI to the areas you choose and then contacting the conference ministers in those areas. After the conference ministers have an idea of who you are and what you are looking for in a church you together with the conference minister give the MLI to churches who would be potential matches. After the search team looks at the MLI they choose to pursue further conversation or return the MLI to the conference minister. If they are interested they have the conference minister set up an initial interview (usually by phone). Following the first interview the church and potential pastor agree to continue the conversation or decide it would not be a good fit. If the desire is to continue there is a second interview (usually in person) and another time of mutual discernment. The final step is to have a candidating weekend were the potential pastor is introduced to the church and preaches as well as having a time of question and answer with the entire congregation. The final step is then a congregational vote and offer being made to the candidate, the candidate then accepts the call or declines.
This is a long post but is the general outline of the long process we are currently involved in.

First Post

I started this blog with the desire to share as I am able about our future and what we are going through as we discern what God has in store for us in the months and years to come. In general I am not that good at keeping up with digital but I have been able to keep up with my face book for the last two years and hope to do the same with this blog.