Welcome to Mexico

Nogales, Mexico. The land where dreams come true...just kidding. This is a border town that's about 3 hours away from Phoenix, which is where we stayed for our vacation. It was a town of traders, shopkeepers, and sly salesmen who were hoping to make a buck (uh, I mean peso). It was nothing out of the ordinary international experience that we had, but it was something that helped us in the next step of our lives...

This little day trip actually created a watershed moment for Erin and me. We decided on this trip that we are not even close to being ready to live overseas. We were only on the Mexican side for about 45 minutes, and that was all that we needed to realize that we are not in a position in our lives right now to live internationally. We need to live lives that honor the Father right here in Colorado. We need to grow where we are planted right now. Although this is a tough decision for us, we are holding off on the application process to live overseas until we are able to KNOW that we are called by God to be there. Otherwise, we are merely living our own dreams in pursuit of ourselves. We are hoping to grow to be more Christ-like in our plans, as well as more Christ-honoring in our decisions. We can serve without disobeying the Father right where we are, without having to move 12,000 miles away. We know that we are called to go, and AS WE GO, to make disciples. Right now, we are clearly in the "as you go" stage. In fact, I am not expecting to ever fully find myself out of that stage, and I hope that I never do. I mean that I hope that we are never to a point in our lives where we feel like we have it all figured out. That is the day that we stop learning and worshiping God. That is the day that we start to worship our own selves, as inadequate as we are.

Please note that we have not made any particular decision regarding long-term plans at this time. We've learned that when we say that we are called to something, God (or our own immaturity) immediately decides to change that particular thing that we said that we were called to do. So right now, we are following God as best as we can, and we are hoping to know more about what He wants us to do very soon. However, we are trying to live on His timetable, and not our own. We do hope that you pray for us. We also hope and pray for your support in whatever decision God leads us to make. We pray for your grace and patience in this...we are as frustrated as we can be at this point (because we are continually changing our plans), but we know that we are not supposed to be overseas right now. Please help us through your prayers and support through this decision-making time of our lives.

Definitely a day to remember.