Ok, not sure where all this will go....
Sometime in 2002 the Lord really pressed on my heart to come into a deeper relationship with him and also to see that there were many lives not being reached by my expression of what a Christian is and the Church as a whole in my experience. “What Is Jesus Doing?” I realized was a better question to be asking.
I was attending the American Baptist church that I grew up in. I began getting more involved with Bible study groups and even tried my hand at teaching the senior high youth class. Which Scotty is just not equipped to do when it comes to teacher up here - student down there settings. I didn’t like it that way. Thought it needed to be more leveled out as just a conversation. Blah blah blah.
Word of my passion for those who don’t know Christ reached the mission committee. So, I was on the committee for a bit....yuk!....I got out of there ASAP! It makes me sad thinking about how missions is looked at. What it is viewed as being.
At the beginning of 2003 I began looking to see what Scotty wanted to be when he grew up. I’ve got a little family now ya know? In a search via the internet one evening a want add or something came up for a position with some mission sending agency. After a few links I ended up at the IMB website and somewhere in there was this page with a picture on it where a family was all seated on a couch in a living room. The page was for something about some form of training for cross cultural missions. I remember crying and trying to tell Heather that night about how I just knew that somehow and some way the Lord was going to use us in ‘missions‘. In fulltime ministry....
Began searching for what I might want to go to school for that could be of use in the ‘mission field’ somewhere....
The war was beginning in Iraq. I found a link to Salam Pax’s blog via Yahoo news. After a couple of days of clicking links it occurred to me that this blog thing would be a wonderful outlet for ministry. As Christians putting ourselves out there openly and honestly about our life - our journey. I did a search for Christian bloggers and...hmm (shaking my head and smiling)...the very first blog I clicked on was Tallskinnykiwi. :^)
I think it was March 27th. There was a picture of Bea at the Peach with red hair. I began emailing Andrew almost immediately. It wasn’t long before he was telling me I needed to get my own blog. LOL! I think I was clogging his email box with questions. :^) Even before I began blogging and on into it I was emailing other bloggers with my thoughts and questions and worries and more and more questions.
At some point we were invited down to Dallas by Josh and Kristen Rudd. Then we were invited to move down. The three Rudds, by the way, are the coolest little fam! Josh and Kristen are both the same age as me, but I have OH so much that could be learned from them. There was a long period where Heather and I were sure that was going to be where we were in the very short future. The Lord has other plans as far as we can tell. We’ve been down to Dallas though. The Thames at LGBC are...(sniff sniff)...the most loving people. Amazing! Everyone we met down there...man. (shaking my head) If we don’t ever move down there, at least somewhere close, Heather and I will be greatly disappointed. And we got to meet Shannon and Brad! I don’t even know where to begin with them....I just want to say that...I don’t know. You guyz rock so incredibly much! (and we are really sorry we missed Jessica by something like a week) You are all family.
We experienced a loss this year. (sigh) I’m glad we were in Dallas with all of them when this happened. I know that sounds weird that we were more comfortable there with people we were just getting to know than folks here, but we were so loved by all of them. (Heather really wanted her Mommy though) Dawn....you are an amazing individual!
We are pregnant again! And as Brad would say, “Harooh! Hoorah! Hooray!”
I wont go on to speaking about our worries because I just want ya’ll to know we feel blessed. We struggled, more this year than any other, but we are truly blessed.
Mikah’s almost in school and Kiara is talking like crazy. They amaze me everyday with who they are. I smile to think that they were made in the image of our God.
And Heather....(moment to reflect and wipe a tear)...Good golly! She is the nuts and the bolts the Lord uses to keep this little fam together. The one that grounds me. She kicks me in the rump when I’m being a fool. She is beautiful and by far the most amazing person I have ever met. I have seen Christ’s work in her like I have seen in no other. She is so not the same girl I began dating almost six years ago. The person she has become in and through Christ is so amazing to me. Man! I would truly be lost without her. She is my best friend.
We have taken a step back from our church experience and asked, ”what are we doing here?” and “what are we supposed to be doing?”. Not just “what are the Millers doing?”, but we have really asked this year for the first time and are continuing to discover ourselves along the way by asking, “what is church?” I really needed to take a step out of the boat and look at who and what we are in Christ.
We haven’t been to First Baptist in a few weeks. It makes me sad, but I suppose it’s kinda like leaving home for the first time. We need real, face-to-face, relationships though.
That is what I want for us in 2004. God has blessed us with all of you. We’ve discovered we are Not Alone. Now the Millers need to get on living our life ‘with’ some of you. Some of you we may only be able to make pilgrimages once a year to see. For others we will most likely be moving a little closer to get to journey together with you for a while....
Of course it is going to be everyday kinda stuff we are going to experience together. Well, at least everyday kinda stuff in the Kingdom. Regular human and relational issues being dealt with. I think that’s where relevance is seen by the rest of the world. That’s why I’ve learned that ‘relevance’ isn’t an important issue. If we are living it, together, the way we should....the rest of the world will see Christ in each of us. As we are living together - seeing Christ ALIVE in each of us.
I look forward to seeing the “world in new and wonderful ways, filled with hope.”
I look forward to the adventures we will have on this odyssey.
May you all be blessed in 2004.
*(ps - i still don't know what I want to be when i grow up, but i think i'm just going to go about it searching for 'how' to be)
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