Greetings, Friends.
It has been a while since I've written, and for good reason: We've finally closed on our house. It's more than a house. It's a blessing to us and an instrument of blessing to others.
We feel truly blessed here. On the same day as the closing, a number of church members joined me in loading up a U-Haul at our storage unit, and then unloading it at the house. Thanks to their labor of love, the whole process took about two hours. The next morning, another group of folks from the church came to our house and helped us unpack about 90% of our belongings. Our hyperactive toddler has plenty of room to run around, and our little infant girl can crawl to her heart's delight.
Due to this tremendous show of support, our family has not been completely swamped with unpacking. Last Monday, I officially joined the Toastmasters, waited for the impromptu speech portion, pulled a coin out of a bag, and spoke about the year on the coin and what it meant for me.
2012. That was the year in which my wife and unborn baby went under the knife. That was the year I prayed that the Lord would take me instead of my wife and child. That was the last year I would have with my wife and child before I would deploy and potentially have my prayer answered. But I could bear 2013, because the Lord had blessed my 2012.
On Wednesday, I conducted my first run "meetup" in the bitter cold behind A.J. O'Brady's pub. I met a new Catholic friend on that run, and he joined me afterward at the Legion bar for a drink. We talked for about an hour, and shared some banter with some of the men at the bar. This new friends has borne a great deal of heartache. Let us pray that his trail of tears become for him a pathway of grace.
"They make the vale of tears a spring, with showers of blessing covering." (Paraphrase of Psalm 84:6 in the Psaltar hymnal)
Early this week, I took over the Meetup group that was formerly devoted to the Menomonee Falls Young Professionals. The online portion was about to be shut down, and the group allowed me to re-purpose the site. I have tentatively called in "Dinner, Drinks, and Deep Discussions" after the same-titled group in Sterling, Virginia. I am not sure how best to reach the surrounding community with this group, nor what form it should take. Please pray that the Lord would give me wisdom in this matter!
Yesterday, I met with a troubled teen and his mentor, who attends our church in the evening. This young man lives in a home with his adopted mom, an array of adopted siblings, and his mom's live-in boyfriend, who constantly threatens him. His mom likewise threatens to give him up to foster care (a virtual death sentence for a young man of his age). By God's grace, the state of Wisconsin has a program that allows at-risk teens to do five months of dual training/learning at Ft. McCoy. In His providence, I will drive by Ft. McCoy every time I go to my drill at Eau Claire, and a number of our drills will actually be in the field at Ft. McCoy. That means that I can probably visit this kid once a month. This kid also represents the community we're trying to reach in the greater Falls area--broken under the weight of sin and suffering and in need of grace (just like us!).
Today was probably the best of them all. The soldiers at the local recruiting station secured me an invite to their monthly gathering in nearby north Milwaukee (15 minutes from our house). Upon my arrival, the Company Commander told me how much they've longed for chaplain support over the years and told me of a number of the ways he hoped I could get involved. He then gave me an hour to just talk with the gathering of recruiters from all over the Milwaukee area. It was a precious time. They saw my heart for them, and responded in kind. They took almost all of my business cards and church invitation cards, and a number of them said they'd be in touch. This will hopefully be the first step in the intertwining of my pastoral and chaplain callings in and around Menomonee Falls.
This afternoon, I visited the head of the Business Improvement District in downtown Menomonee Falls. She oversees all of the businesses and improvement projects in that area. I secured a booth for Falls Presbyterian next Saturday at the Christmas Market--a fair of sorts for the community where independent businesses will advertise their goods inside the downtown businesses. Ironically, our church booth will be in The Main Mill--a prominent pub. For four hours, folks from our church will hand out free Bibles, books, invitation cards, candy, and (hopefully) hot chocolate.
Only two days before that fair, I will host the first Menomonee Falls "Turkey Trot" on Thanksgiving morning. It will probably not draw many people--only two have signed up so far on Meetup--and we're starting late in the ballgame. But it will be a good trial for what could be the first annual Menomonee Falls Turkey Trot next year, supported by the downtown Business Improvement District. Both the trial run this year and the potential run next year would draw attention both to the charming downtown of the largest village in Wisconsin, as well as to the host church--Falls Pres--which will bring all donated goods to the local food pantry.
For those of year in the area, please consider coming to both of these events next week!
One final note--our church family has been amazing. Several men in the church diagnosed and fixed our plumbing issues and have offered their services for other handyman projects. Families continuously drop off meals, and some have given us extra frozen meals for later. One family heard that we lacked a microwave and dropped one off for us tonight. Meanwhile, the elders have constantly offered me wise counsel to further hone the work I try to do, and at the same time eagerly encourage me to act boldly. I am pretty sure that this sure has already metaphorically offered us the shirt off of its back.
All of this reminds us, of course, of the wise words once preached by my friend, Phil Proctor: This is not my ministry, nor our ministry. This is God's ministry. He has simply privileged us, by grace through in Jesus to Christ, to take part in His breathtaking work.
