Wilderness

Wilderness... it is a strange word that usually has a negative conotation, but I don't mean it as a negative at all. If you think about it, wilderness is a place where we, humanly, are at a loss (and that is not bad- that is good). We cannot take care of ourselves there- the scenery is bleak at times, but there the LORD provides for us. It is to this place we are going in a week or so. I have been humbled to tears a few times in the past week because of that provision.

In the next 2 months, we are not able to financially provide for ourselves. That can be a strange feeling. And yet, it makes us lean into God, to trust him with ALL things. We have been so incredibly blessed with the generosity that has been extended to us. We have received money and prayers left and right in the past several months, and we have been shown so much grace at Jeff's work. It is awesome and miraculous what He has done to make level paths for us. God is using you to be the ravens and the brook ( I am referring to Elijah's wilderness experience) for us in this wilderness. The food that goes on our table, the roof over our head, the gas that powers our car (and our car!)... it is all from God's hand through your fingers. I want to thank you so much, and to assure you that we purpose not to take it for granted.

We love you and want to thank you for being in this with us. I pray blessings over you and your households.

:) parke

Off to Kansas City

Jeff flies away in the morning for 12 days. He will be there (at IHOP) for orientation for the summer session and the first 10 days of "Intimacy with Christ" which is the general topic for the month of May. He will be there for the focused teaching on the life of David. It is called David: from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. I look forward to hearing about it. He will be in class from noon til 3 M-F and will be in the main prayer room for 3 to 4 hours a day, at least. I will let you know more as I hear about it. Please pray for all of us, jeff there and us at home. :) thanks! -parke

Traveling... spring tour

Well, Jeff is the ever-working man... so, I am going to fill you in a little and then he will write more when he gets a chance... if he gets a chance. He is working more hours at Starbucks cause things have been a little tight lately, so he does not get to be around as much :(

Anyway, he had a great weekend traveling with Beau. They went to WSP (Widespread Panic) shows in Orange Beach, Alabama. Beau usually sets up on the lot near the vendors, and gives out free coffee, tea, water, food, and Bibles. But, more than anything, they are being light and just talking and praying with people.

Jeff had been on fall tour, so he was able to see people again this past weekend that he met months ago. He is getting to know more of the vendors and their life stories. Things seem to be changing with these vendors, some of whom Beau has known for years. It looks like some of them may quit traveling so much. Jeff doesn't know if they are tired, wanting to put down roots, high gas prices, or if the scene is just changing- but, they are not making the money that they used to make. We will have to wait and see what happens.

One thing that is amazing to me is to hear about kids who come up to talk to them... who grew up in churches. Some of them have been burned, some just don't "care" right now, and some feel like they have messed up so much they can't go back. Jeff said there was a definite theme to conversations over the weekend... it was unworthiness. But, our Good Shepherd is ever-faithful. He loves us and them to the end. It sounds to me like He is after these kids, wooing them back to the true life, the better reality. The Shepherd calls out to us "even in the dark places" to borrow a phrase from one of my favorite Godly Play stories. He goes through the valley before and behind and beside us, and leads us back to the green grass and the quiet waters where he restores our soul. Hmmm... He is so good, isn't he?!

Jeff also said that even in the short time that he was with Beau, he really desires to do this more- he wants to be able to travel more. He has now been on some Fall Tours, a lil bit of Spring Tour, and he is going to be going to a festival or two. We will hopefully all go to a festival that last weekend of May, then on to Kansas City. Then, on one of the first weekends in KC, he hopes to go with Beau to Wakarusa- a big festival in Kansas.

Pieces of the Puzzle

Things have now fallen into place. For a while, things where at a standstill... well, a trickle- enough for us to still be thinking we are going, but not enough to actually go. Then, about 2 weeks ago, through a series of events, we decided to only go to IHOP (International House of Prayer in Kansas City) for the months of June and July (we had planned on going for 4). It was an amazing process that had been about 3 weeks in the coming, as God was preparing us for our "alternate" plan. We made the decision on a Tuesday night, and within 48 hours so many things had fallen in place.

The peace immediately came, which was confirmation enough. Then, we received some new financial support, and had several people say they wanted to support us monthly until we got back. Also, Wednesday night we heard from a lady we had emailed months before that her house was available. It was the one that we really wanted, our "dream" choice... a 4 bedroom house (we wanted an extra room for guests) with hardwood floors (our kiddos allergies) and a fenced in back yard. Also, the house backs up to green space (no backdoor neighbors, but grass and ponds and trees!), and there is a park just down the street. Also, Jeff can ride a bike to class and the prayer room in about only 5 minutes. It's amazing... the LORD's timing!

There where other things, too. Jeff is going to go for 10 days in May (but we will all go as a family in June) for a seminar on the life of David. He is going to stay with friends of ours who are on staff there. We where able to get a round trip ticket for a great price, and then we where wondering about transportation while he was there. I was about to look into renting a car for him, when we got a call from our friends. He just wanted to let us know that he got an extra car and wanted for Jeff to know he could use it while he was there! Wow!

Then, there is our insurance issue- a rather big deal for a family of 7! Because Jeff is going to be gone from his job for a while, we where going to have to COBRA which is crazy expensive... and other insurance would be a pain to do all the paperwork and be paying the deductible, only to change it back again in 2 months. Well, I won't go into the details, but his work has helped us figure it out, and at no extra cost !!!!

Anyway, we still have some support to raise, but we are soooo much closer! Thank you for your support... financially, prayerfully, and even advice :)

More later!

Parke for all of us

Privilege- on the lot...

This is actually an old post- I meant to put it out last October... sorry...

(written by Jeff)
So, I was sitting in the parking lot on the first night of the Chicago shows for
Phil and Friends, handing out food and water, and I was having this conversation with Jesus.
These were my Questions:
“Why am I out here?... I haven’t told anybody about you... I haven’t prayed for anyone...
Am I doing anything to benefit or further your kingdom?... I see the other guys talking to
people about you, praying for people, but I don’t feel like you have led me to say anything
to anybody, or to pray for anybody….So, once again, why am I here?” And this is how I
felt like the LORD answered me: “I don’t need you to do anything...All I
want you to do is to show these kids my love; I want you to love them...Show them a
part of me that they have never seen.” I felt like the LORD said, “You get to have
the privilege of being here and seeing Me at work.” It wasn’t until a couple of
weeks later in Charleston, SC in the lot of a Widespread Panic show that I had the
privilege to see Jesus at work right in front of me. This is what happened…
We had set up next to this vendor who was selling mimosas,
burritos, hair wraps, and some jewelry. Through the course of the night we had
some chances to have small talk with him, but nothing earthshaking. Once the show
started, the lot emptied out and he came over to our table to fix himself a cup of hot
chocolate and he noticed the milk crate of Bibles we had on the table. He picked one up
and said,”My favorite verse, Psalm 21...no, Psalm 101…” and he opened the Bible up to
Psalm 101 and began reading it out loud, but stopped after a few verses and said, “No, I
haven’t read this before…” and began to read out loud again, but trailed off after a
couple more verses and read on silently. At that moment you could almost see the light
come on and the Holy Spirit begin to speak to this man. He read on silently, then
looked up at us and said, “You’ll have to excuse me, I’m really digging on this.” He
finished reading Psalm 101, put the Bible back in the crate, nodded to us and went
back to vending his stuff. The question is, What did we do?... Other than be present?

What is Next?...

Proverbs 16:9 says In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

We continue to seek the LORD and the direction he has for us to go. We have faith that this direction is good, even if we can only see one step at a time. We are not sure what our life will look like when we get back at the beginning of October…( jeff adds with a laugh that we don’t really know what it will look like even in June).
We would appreciate your prayers for continued wisdom and discernment.

Summer & IHOP

We just wanted to give everyone an update. For those of you who don’t know, we have made the decision to go to Kansas City (KC) . Jeff was accepted to the summer intro to IHOP internship, and the dates are late June through September. We originally thought it would be May through August, but the dates have changed.
We are raising support now, and are at $1,100. This is enough for the $900 internship fee, which we will be sending off soon. We still need about $14,000 to cover our living expenses out there and our bills at home. We have a few leads on houses to rent in KC (ranging from $750-$1,000 a month including utilities), and we are trying to figure out if we can rent our house out to anyone for the time we are gone, so that amount may go down a good bit.
Jeff has let his work know that he will be gone for 4 months, and we are in process of figuring out what exactly that will mean (specifically with our insurance).

Also, Jeff is planning on traveling some with Beau/Lone Sheep before he has to officially start his internship. We plan to move out to KC in early June, so that he can meet up with Beau for the shows and festivals in the midwest. Jeff is looking forward to traveling and he is hoping to build on relationships he made in the fall.

We are also planning on using some of the time in June to acclimate our family to IHOP life, a new house, hopefully friends, etc.