Time in England flies by

It's almost been 5 months since our family stepped off the plane to a cold, wet, uncertain England from the wonderful home we knew in America. The only plans we had were to move in with my parents until we were able to take care of ourselves.

I'm now sitting here in our new home getting ready to have breakfast with my wonderful family and thinking it only feels like yesterday since we got here. I just said to Macie this morning I feel like this is the fastest my life has ever gone. Rediscovering a culture I had forgotten and a brand new one for Macie and Miriam to learn, playing football, living with family then moving to a new home, new church and ministry and in the middle of all this a wonderful new baby girl joined us. People say that life goes faster when you have more kids and it definitely feels that way but I never want to be a person that says, "Where did the time go? I should have done more."

I was praying in the car the other day and asking God to use me to do 'big things' by helping people and impacting the culture I live in to know who Christ really is. I was just getting done praying and about to go inside the house to watch the Man City game with my Dad and I felt like God told me to do these 'big things' now. How do I do this while watching football I thought? God reminded me he made us to make every moment a special one. How do we do this?

The other night Miriam shouted me whilst she was in bed that she needed to go potty. I went into her room and helped her get down from her new bunk bed and as her feet touched the floor she took off running as fast as she could to the toilet screaming, "I'm gonna win!!!". Kids have an amazing way of making normal mundane situations into special moments. Miriam has no idea that she made me smile and my heart leap in my chest but I'm sure those of you that have kids can recall a similar memory. I believe our heavenly Father smiles the same way at us when we simply embrace life in every moment with the heart of a child.

How do I make sure I don't look back over a life that flies by and wish I would have done more? Simple, I race my heavenly father to the toilet every time I need to go! We simply need to embrace today, this moment, this mundane task or job that is here now, in the present. Don't be waiting and hoping for that big moment to come along but instead make this moment into it.

Here we are outside our new house.

Are English people a bunch of thugs?

Many have been shocked and disturbed at the looting and riots across England this past week. How can a seemingly peaceful nation such as England see such chaos and anarchy? Why would I want to move my pregnant wife and daughter to this country? Most English people would say these riots are just a few 'idiots' and it is not the majority. The same as when football hoolignas give our nation a bad name when there are so many great English football fans. We get mad and angry at the few that give a bad name to the masses. I agree that these riots are led by a small number in a country with so many good hearted people.

However, I cannot get angry at the people I see causing chaos on the streets of my home country. Would you get angry at a blind man if he walked into a wall, or a deaf woman for not pulling to the side of the road when the ambulence is trying to get by? The blind cannot see, the deaf cannot hear until the ones who have the power to open eyes and ears start to do what God has called them to do. England is a nation that has forgotten the God who created it; our history and our calling as a nation to impact the world for the good of all mankind through Jesus Christ.

Before I came to America I wasn't aware of the wonderful heritage I have in simply being an Englishman. We helped to defeat one of the most evil regimes the world has ever seen only 65 years ago in World War II.  Men such as king Arthur, Churchill, Shakespeare, the Beatles, C.S. Lewis, William Wilberforce (who abolished slavery), John Wesley, Smith Wigglesworth (a great revivalist), Jane Austen and many other great men and women have come from my home coutry. Our generation has not had passed down to our sons and daughters the spiritual DNA that God had given us as citizens of a wonderful country. I want to be a part of reinstating God's name amoungst our children and in the home of the 'normal' English family. When we know who God is, Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit we can again be the nation that the world used to call 'Great Britiain".

I heard a Christian man say the other day that America's public schools are beyond reconciling. They have removed God so much that there is no hope for them. How can God work through a church with this mindset? What my Jesus did on the cross 2,000 years ago not just for man but for everything in this wrold from schools, government, the land to nations was much too powerful to say something is beyond reconciling. I want my family to be a a part of God reconciling a once great nation back to what is capable of being.    

It's time for the English church to wake up and recapture the heart of the nation through the purest love of Jesus Christ.

The plant can only grow as big as the pot it is in!

My writing is not as good as my brides but our hearts beat the same for our Jesus and so I hope love will flow from my posts as much as hers.

I love how the bible talks so many times about farming, reaping and sowing etc. God has shown me that for us to grow bigger like a tree that bears much fruit he must up root us from our comfortable small 'pot' and plant us in new ground. The ground we are going to be put in will feel uncomfotable at first and the process can be painful, but to become all that God wants us to be we must make this transition. If we stay in the same 'pot' we limit the potential of Christ to create something through us we never thought possible. In this move to England I am hoping for explosive growth in all areas of life. If we completely focus our hearts on Christ why wouldn't he want to see his creation grow and produce a type of fruit that every one wants to come and eat from, find rest in it's shade and simply gaze upon?

-Jo

A New Path...

For several months now we have been feeling the call to go to England. However, with no timeline in place from God we simply waited and prayed and went on with life as usual. God is so gracious to us that when He calls us, He always lets us know when the time is to go. And that time for us has come...

So many doors that once miraculously opened for us here are now slowly swinging shut. We finish with our apartment ministry in November, Jo's job offered him fewer hours and reduced pay for the upcoming year, the inner city ministry is now being partnered with a church, and Jo's time at his soccer team here is winding down. God is closing doors so that we know for certain who controls the destiny of our lives. If we fight against Him, we only complicate things and make life more difficult. If we let His river take us where He wants it to lead, other doors will soon open and we will be taken to a new level of relationship with Him.

We are so excited about the amazing things God is going to do in England. There is a lost and spiritually dying culture that is simply waiting to be shown Love. Our prayer is that we become the vessels of this Love. That because of God's move in us, England will become a land for us that is "flowing with milk and honey".  God has taken us so far in just a few years. And our journey has only just begun...