Unfinished: Believing Is Only The Beginning

Several of you have asked, “Why were you up with World Vision last week?” It’s a fair question, and honestly, I wondered the same thing myself (How did WE get to be here?) Here’s the quick scoop, and a sneak-peak at the fabulous book to be released May 7, 2013.

About 2.5 years ago, God began taking us on a journey. For me, it was a journey of Filling In My Blank. Although I had long been seeking to follow Christ and shape my life around His mission and truth, I’d somehow missed the part about loving the WORLD. That portion of my life Mission Statement had somehow remained blank. We found ourselves living a comfortable life–a great salary, a brand new house of our dreams, a great big thriving church and everything we needed. Slow, however, God started poking holes in our dream life. I still remember driving home from Lowe’s after buying the materials for our sprinkler system, and being overwhelmed by the reality that we were spending almost $400 to automatically spray drinking water all over our lawn, while millions of people are dying because they have no access to clean water. We returned everything the next day.

Then we read The Hole In Our Gospel. Even though I was dreading it, I read it. It was the tipping point for us, the thing that tipped us from our self-serving “Christian” lifestyle into seeking a more globally-minded life living our Christ’s great commission and seeking to make everything part of God’s glorious gospel mission. We certainly haven’t arrived, that’s not what I mean, but the book is what tipped us over into taking our life that direction, instead of going our own way.

Because of that, we put our dream house on the market. It took a year to sell, but when it did, we were thrilled. We lost $50,000 but knew we’d save and be able to give 10 times that over the course of our lives, by choosing to live simply and give more.

When the house sold and we were preparing to move, KATU Channel 2 contacted us about doing a story on the Downsize and choosing to live frugally. A lot of people downsize and a lot of people live a lot more frugally than we do (!) but we were thrilled at the opportunity to talk about Jesus on TV, so we went for it. A fabulous crew came and filmed our move, and we were able to talk about The Hole In Our Gospel. Channel 2 did a great job sharing our heart in the clips they showed, thanks to Shelley Bailey-Shah.

Well, World Vision saw the news clip. So, when Richard Stearns wrote his new book, they decided to film a DVD curriculum to accompany it. Although our story is certainly not as dramatic as MANY others, perhaps ours is “ordinary” enough that it will connect well with people, so they asked if we’d be part of the DVD by sharing our story.

Um…go to Whidbey Island and meet Richard Stearns and the World Vision crew and be part of a DVD talking to people about Jesus? Yes please!!

So, there you have it. I have no idea what or how they will use it, so who knows, it might come out and we won’t be in it at all! No guarantees. But it was such a joy to just be a tiny part of it, to meet everyone and get to be a fly on the wall watching the filming and all the work that goes into producing something like this. We came home refreshed, renewed, and encouraged more than ever to keep living this adventure of faith.

So that’s the deal. The book and DVD come out May 2013, and you can pre-order your copy here if you wish. I’m hoping to snag some early-release copies and do a giveaway! The book is fantastic and I’ll post more about it as the release date gets closer. The book/DVD together would make a great discipleship curriculum for a church. Check it out!

Thanks for caring, and for joining us on this life-adventure of faith. I know you ALL are taking risks and following Christ’s story throughout the world. I always love hearing from you, so drop me a line when you have a chance. Thanks for reading.