As I sit down to write this, I'm in awe of the Lord's sovereignty. As you know, Jarrod and I have been praying over which church to call home. Louisville is very interesting: there are really sound churches who preach the Word faithfully and serve the community well (these tend to have a rather large seminarian attendee base) and there are some churches we've heard of who, though they claim to be Christian, are not in accordance with the Scriptures. For any of you who are not familiar with the history of Southern, it was not always the conservative institution it is today. The 1980's-early 1990's were a time of liberal practices and theology. Some of the graduates of that time period have remained at churches in Louisville, and well... let's just say they and the current stance of Southern are not on the same page.
All that to say we've been a bit nervous regarding where to serve. We have been to a few awesome churches. Each having their own strengths and weaknesses. We weren't sure where to call home. God knew where we needed to end up.
I think I mentioned it earlier, but when Jarrod and I drove up with the moving truck and car towed behind, we had no idea what we were getting into. (We are so thankful for our cousins coming up and graciously helping us get our stuff in!) While driving up, Simba in my lap and praise music playing in the car, Jarrod driving in front of me, I was able to to spill out my heart to the Lord. Telling him how nervous I was to be moving so far from home. I knew he called us to go, but the butterflies still fluttered. In the midst of my uncertainty, I received 3 phone calls from complete strangers. They heard through the grapevine that we were moving in and wanted to offer help. Whoa!! I was blown away. They were so helpful. Part of me thinks this was God's way of being merciful to Jarrod; He knew I would be useless for getting that couch up the stairs!
We went to the church those unexpected helpers came from, and were so welcomed. We first came on a Sunday night, a couple we met moving in introduced us like we were celebrities. People genuinely, happily met us. The next Sunday, we made our way to BFG (I still chuckle when I call it that..) and instantly people wanted to befriend us. After a few emotionally hard days that week, it was a welcomed blessing. Through these past few weeks, we've made friends with couples from the church who live close to us, Jarrod's learned to play euchre in one couple's kitchen (this is a big deal here, euchre is what separates the kids and adult table at Thanksgiving, haha), and glimpses of that 'home sweet home' feeling appeared. A special blessing to me has been a like-minded friend / mentor, that's been a prayer for a long, long time. Jarrod met with the pastor and some of the staff members, all great meetings. I think it's safe to say that Ninth & O is home :)
Blessings are flowing from the home front too. Family is loving on us by calling multiple times a week, praying often, and just being supportive. We love you! Grandma and Grandpa Henley, thank you.
On the next edition of Reed All About It, I hope to be able to tell you about both mine and Jarrod's jobs... things are in the final stages of working out in that department! Praise God!
Blessings of me having all this time off:
1) my kitchen skills are rapidly increasing, even made mini-pot pies & scratch chocolate chip cookies!
2) getting back to a good workout routine
3) done a LOT of reading. I really recommend you all read this:
http://www.sbts.edu/resources/files/2010/09/boy-to-man.pdf
Okay, this has become super long... so I'll save the rest of the news for next time! Have a wonderful 4th!
Love, the Reeds
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