A great big God

I'm sitting here thinking about our day today and thought I'd share a bit. We had a wonderful morning at New Life. About 150 were there, I think. It felt really good to me because as I looked around there were no GCR people there. We love GCR people coming--so encouraging to us, but that means those 150 represent maybe 1/2 launch team people and probably more than half new people. And lots of them aren't coming from other churches. I continue to be amazed at so many things about this church. First, I'm amazed that God keeps bringing people. I'm amazed that He keeps bringing people back. I'm amazed at how He has provided in every way. I'm amazed at what He's doing that I get to watch!

I want to tell you about Aysa. She's 2. She is a beautiful little blonde girl with the most endearing smile and laugh. Today was her 3rd day to come to church. I think ever. I've gotten to be in her class both times. She is very respectful--says "Yes, Ma'am" etc. (which is impressive for a 2 year old--obviously good parenting), but doesn't seem to have been in a classroom setting much (probably stays home with mom). She came 3 weeks ago with her mom, dad and baby brother Austin. They came about 10 minutes before church was over. When Ben asked her dad how they found out about us, he said he saw our mailer that said "Come as you are" and wanted to see if that was true. He has several piercings on his face, gauges in his ears (big 1 inch rings that create holes)and lots of tatoos. He works at a tatoo parlor. Dad, kids and grandma came back last week and this week mom too. It seems like maybe they have found something they're looking for, or at least are intrigued. Aysa is just soaking in everything we do in class. Today she watched wide-eyed as we experimented to see if a watermelon would float. She went home with a wet sleeve, but Dad didn't seem to mind a bit. I wonder--what kind of work has our great big God been doing to draw this sweet family to us? I pray that He will allow us to be part of Aysa and Austin's growing up in the Lord. I hope I get to see her in an angel costume in a few months, helping tell the story of our Saviour come to earth.

After church, we had a children's ministry meeting here at our house for lunch. Again I was brought to tears as I listened to women who have given up all they know "church" to be so they can minister to kids like Aysa and Austin. Tamarie, who I've already told you about, hasn't heard a single bit of any of our worship services because she's in the nursery every week taking care of the babies. We are going to remedy that, but I just love her servant heart. Every time I talk to her she has another thought about how we can minister to the children of our friends who visit. Today she was asking if we could put together a baby gift for one of the school janitors wives. Again, I'm amazed at the kind of work our great big God is doing to shape hearts to be like Him.

Tonight was our first New Life 101 class. Tim will do this monthly for people interested in learning more about our church. He did a great job articulating who we are and what we are about. There were 23 people there besides a few launch team "hosts". Many of those are churched. Some have not been in church for a very long time. They used terms like "a breath of fresh air" and "just what I've been praying for". One lady who has come every week with her young autistic son has not been in church for years--because of his disability and the awkwardness of it and the rejection she has felt. For some reason, Joseph loves New Life. Once again, isn't it amazing that our great big God has created a special spot for that sweet boy?

God is just so very, very good. Anda, I read your words and think how great it is that God has allowed you to be in the middle of the lives of a few Chinese women! He is just so clever and creative and fun! So very smart! I wondered today at how He has orchestrated the development of this launch team--just the right people for our needs. But what an intricate path He has worked--to bring us all together to do the work He's already prepared for us to do. He's been weaving lives together in ways only a great big God can! It's just so cool!

By the way, I learned tonight that some of our new New Life friends are our cousins! And somehow they're related to the cousins we discovered at Glenwood a few years ago. And one of them is the Adams family Ben has been praying for since he met them at Texas Burger July 4th. That's just weird.

Our great big God. He's doing stuff way beyond what we could ever know to ask or imagine! We're loving it!