I love this place!!!

As many of you know, our family moved to Nashville in May 2007 to help start Green Hills Church. We left the security of a familiar town, a growing church, wonderful friends, an expanding clientele for my photography business, a great elementary school that Riley had attended for a year, etc., etc. We knew that God was calling us away from all of that into a new phase of life, but everything seemed very uncertain. We weren't going to an established church with a working budget and the security of a paycheck, and we knew very few people in Nashville. But we knew that it was our next step, and we were excited (nervous, but excited!). I remember leaving Memphis and driving to our new home with a trailer behind my Envoy. Brad was in front of me in a huge yellow moving truck. The boys were in the backseat, and I could hardly see for the tears welled up in my eyes!

Now it's 2 1/2 years later, and Nashville is home (actually it became home very quickly - we love this city!). Our hearts are so connected to the people that make up Green Hills Church, and we're amazed at all that God has done in our hearts since we've been here. He's definitely on the move at Green Hills, and we are so incredibly thankful to be a part of it all. Just this morning, I read this blog and this one, and I was moved to tears again at how much I love these guys and what they're allowing God to do in and through them. I'm so proud of them and thankful for them!

We certainly haven't done this alone, either. Mike and Brad are co-pastors, and we feel blessed to do life with him and Tabitha. Tabitha has sat with me at Starbucks and listened to my heart as we considered adoption. She has cried tears with me and for me, and I just couldn't be happier to have her on this journey with me. She's graciously offered to help in any way possible as we work to bring our little boy home, and you can bet that I'll be taking her up on it!

As I said before, God is teaching us at GHC a lot right now, and I can't wait to see what He has in store for us in 2010! We've started caring for "the least of these" in our own community here in Nashville, and the ripples are going out across the world. I continuously hear of possible mission trip opportunities, Compassion International sponsorships, having conversations with members of the homeless community and taking steps toward meeting some of their physical needs, and just thinking beyond ourselves in general.

Just tomorrow, a group of us will spend our day ministering to a struggling family. Their house is in rough shape, and the one bathroom they share is barely functional. We'll spend our New Years Eve day cleaning their house, painting, doing laundry, buying groceries for their family, and renovating the bathroom. It will be a lot of really hard work, and we'll get our hands dirty . . . but I CANNOT think of a better, more satisfying way to bring in 2010.

I don't say any of this in a prideful way at all. I say it because I'm completely humbled to be a part of this church family. If any of you are reading this, please know that I love you from the bottom of my heart, and I'm so grateful for you! I tell Brad all the time, "I would definitely want to be a member of Green Hills Church even if you weren't one of the pastors!"

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." - 1 John 3:17-18

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"
- Isaiah 58:6-7

"'For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" - Matthew 25:35-40

It's my prayer that we will live in light of those verses this upcoming year and that God will do things through us that we could never imagine to do on our own.

[P.S. - Go here to listen to a few of Josh's songs (Josh is our worship leader at church). I like them all, but I think my favorite might be Wake Up.]