Up(land)dating you on my Life...

Many of you know, and some don't have a clue as to what has been hinted at, rumored and/or dreamed about for the past several months regarding the next step in my life. As many (or all) of you know I have been incredibly blessed to have worked at Petra Christian Fellowship as their full time graphic designer all while helping with the Junior Higher Ministry (EDGE - Every Day God Experience). This time has been a true blessing to me in more ways than I could relay in a simple blog entry. I have been given the privilege to work for and and along side of some amazingly humble and godly people. I will forever be grateful for the past year and a half. Having seen the inner workings of this church family I understand why it has been so successful, I mean really 1300+ regular attendance in rural New Holland...crazy. It has been a tremendous instrument in healing my broken and wounded heart while challenging me to step up into all that God has called me too. Thank you Father for leading me here.
Needless to say this past weekend I had the opportunity to interview for the Youth Pastor position at Upland BIC church in Upland, Ca. The story of how I connected with Upland could be a long and drawn out one but for my typing fingers sake I'll say that Steve the Senior Pastor of Upland is the Father of my landlord. Last night I received a call from Steve informing me that the panel (church board, youth committee, and a few parents) believed that they had heard from God and that I was being called to be the new Youth Pastor at Upland BIC. I don't think it has really hit me yet and maybe I'm jumping the gun as I haven't actually signed anything and there are many details to be worked out, but now the news is out there. If you have a moment and remember, could you please pray for this entire process. I will be taking a day or two to pray and seek the Lord just to make sure that this is truly what the Lord has for me.
I'm excited, scared, nervous, and humbled by this. Grace and Mercy are more real to me than ever before. I'm sure that the next couple of weeks will be filled with cheers and tears as I say "until next time" to people locally who have come to mean a lot to me over the year (and you know who you are). sigh....

On a lighter note: As I am thinking about the move I wanted everyone to know that almost everything that I own in the house (129 E. New Street, Lancaster) is up for potential sale. No reasonable offer will be refused (and no the Wii is not for sale). Seriously I need to get rid of a lot of stuff because I don't want to lug it across the country. So there is the big news, the bomb has dropped.

Below: A good chunk of the Upland BIC Youth at Winter Camp in February.