You Have to be Kidding

Tomorrow Taylor and I plan to leave Seminole in pursuit of the new call on our lives. Brenda and the rest of the family will move sometime before school starts as the Lord sells our house and provides a house in Paradise. There have been many sleepless nights of prayer asking the Lord to make a way where there seems to be no way.

I have not wavered in God’s call on my life. I know He is calling me to leave Seminole to start Faith Community Church. If I had any doubts the Lord sure made it clear today. Here was my devotional reading for July 20, 2011. “Now the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you;’” [Gen 12:1]

As I read that scripture my thoughts were, “ You have to be kidding me.” I read this scripture on the day before I am to pack up a few belongings with Taylor and move not really knowing where we will live permanently. He and I will live in an RV until God provides a permanent house. I am leaving Brenda and the other three boys sadly having more unknowns than knowns. I know I am supposed to follow the Lord.

I am living a modern day version of what Abraham lived when he heard the Lord calling him to go to the land the Lord would show Him. I too have heard from God clearly and consistently. I too am leaving not knowing ultimately where we will end up. All I know is the God who calls me is faithful and He will bring it to pass. [I Thess 5:24]

To be honest I am a little stunned that God would speak so specifically to my situation today. God does that. He knows all and His word is perfect to minister to us in all of life’s circumstances. What a mighty God. He knows us by name. He knows where we have been, where we are, and where we are going. He knows the troubles and adversity that afflict us. He knows our needs and has ample resources to meet all of them. He also knows where He wants us and the best way for us to get there.

I know I am supposed to go. I have to follow Him on what looks like some cockamamie wild goose chase. I have to risk appearing a fool to the world to be follower of Jesus. I do not want to leave Brenda, Tanner, Tucker, and Turner behind. I do not want to have part of my family in Gaines County and the rest of us in Wise County. Brenda is my soul mate. She is my helpmate. She is my best friend and partner in ministry. The longest we have ever been apart has been about two weeks. Yet, I have no place to put my family but God says go anyway to the land (or in our case the house) that He will show us.

To read that verse this morning is very timely. That verse gives the confidence I need to precede in faith. It is the concrete assurance I have God has every detail worked out even though I may not be able to see it yet. God’s call and promises are the joyful hope I have that He will work it all out. Isn’t that exactly what [Heb 11:1] says? “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.”

I follow God with the full assurance that leaving FBC Seminole, my family temporarily, my house, and my salary are all the will of God. Others will say that is not the case. The proof will be in the miracle house God provides my family to live in, the miracle church God builds, the miracle other churches God uses Faith Community to plant all over the world, and souls who are added to the Kingdom of God. There will be a day when I will be able to show the watching world the tangible answers to all of our prayers.

So let me tell you what I have been praying for in a house. I have asked the Lord for a house with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, with a 2 car garage and an office. In the beginning I will not have an office at the church for we do not have facilities. For many years Brenda and I prayed for the ability to have a place large enough her mother could come and live with us. As she gets older Brenda wants to honor her mother by giving her a comfortable life. Her mother has done so much for us over the years we want to be able to give back to her. Those are pretty specific things to ask God for.

You have got to be kidding me again. I received a call from someone in Paradise yesterday afternoon tellling me about a house that has all those things and more. She called the owner of the house and asked if they might be willing to rent. Christi hesitated to call the owner but said she kept feeling drawn to that house and God leading her make contact with the owner which was a step of faith on Christi’s part.. Another lady from Paradise named Teresa called me this morning and told me she has felt drawn to that same house and worked to track down the owners. The house has been on the market for about two years. Ironically that is the very house Brenda and I been most drawn to searching the realty websites the past couple of months. We thought the price is WAY OUT OF OUR LEAGUE. The people might be willing to rent it but I believe the Lord is calling me to possess that house by faith. Can you buy a house on faith? We have done it twice. Faith is all I have. Here is the most important thing. Faith is enough only because God is enough. What God wills to be done, no matter how seemingly impossible, can be done. [I Jn 5:14-15] Like Abraham I will get up in the morning and follow the Lord. If He wills my family to have that house, He will supply every dollar needed. Regardless I am leaving Seminole in faith.

Here is what I know with absolute assurance. God has called me to “follow’ Him to Paradise to start a church. Tomorrow morning around 9:30 a.m. Taylor and I are planning to leave. God wills Faith Community Church to exist. He has called me to pastor that church and therefore I know He wills for my family to have a home there and to sell our home in Seminole.

God has once again given me a front row seat to behold His miraculous acts. I do not know how He will pull all of this together but I do know it will be an adventure to watch. There will be many more, “You have to be kidding” moments when God does the impossible and improbable.

Lord, I follow you as Abraham did. I do not have to have all the answers because you do. All I have to do is follow you and trust you each step of the way. I pray all over this country when people see what you do for the Edwards family they too will say, “You have to be kidding,” because it will sound so unbelievable. In Jesus name, amen.