Last Saturday afternoon, I booked my flight for Pittsburgh.
Ugh. Hardest decision to make! I don't think it's quite settled in, yet. It's like deciding to put to sleep your favourite pet that same day you were just taking it to the vet for a check up. You know you must, you know it will be hard, and yet the shock will hit you the hardest later, and you're not very eagerly awaiting that moment.
I'm flying out very early tomorrow morning. Still have most everything to pack (which isn't a lot.) Won't be able to bring most anything with me, but graciously there are some here who can for a little while store the things that I don't need to bring immediately. As a side-note for anyone flying, most airlines charge for even your first checked luggage, now. It's usually around $15 for a bag under 45 lbs.
The prayer and support of those around me is so appreciated and welcomed. While I do not see myself staying in Pittsburgh any later than say ... mid-July, it is still the most difficult thing to do for multiple reasons. First and foremost, I have mentioned that that my church is my life. When you live in a country which is the proverbial, theological desert -- dry of so much good doctrine -- it seems foolish to walk along anything but the river, because it is your only source of food and water. Yet what can you do when you suddenly come to the edge of a valley too high to climb, and you have to walk around it for awhile not knowing when it will carve into the river again? I can only trust God, Whom I know would have me fed on the preaching of His word.
I admit that it is not the only thing making this hard on me. The others are perhaps a bit too personal to mention, but it is just as difficult to leave behind Milwaukee as it is to enter back into Pittsburgh. In all of it, I know that I must keep my heart focused on God, my fellowship with His people, my mind on the sound doctrine of His word, and my desire with holy living, and I must compromise none of this for my own desires. I must also, according to scripture, be diligent in all that I do. After all, what is a Puritan without that esteemed "Puritan Work Ethic"? Be it not simply a denominational trait, but a biblical one. By God's direction, King Solomon and the apostle Paul alike esteemed us to never become lazy but to work hard for everything which we have. I ought to walk accordingly, then.
Relatively short flight. The entire thing shouldn't take more than four hours, three of them in the air (I get to connect in Philly instead of Atlanta, this time!) I arrive in Pittsburgh in the very early afternoon, which is nice. I suspect I'll be a bit dazed and depressed for awhile, and then I'll get over it and be able to look again to a bright hope of returning here. Consider it an extended vacation, of sorts? One with a full-time job, I hope. And as always, I say all of this God-willingly, for scripture is quite direct: "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit' yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For(V) you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'" ... In all of it, I am not boasting in arrogance, but hoping with humility. It is for God that I do it all, and so God will do with me as He desires.
Ugh. Hardest decision to make! I don't think it's quite settled in, yet. It's like deciding to put to sleep your favourite pet that same day you were just taking it to the vet for a check up. You know you must, you know it will be hard, and yet the shock will hit you the hardest later, and you're not very eagerly awaiting that moment.
I'm flying out very early tomorrow morning. Still have most everything to pack (which isn't a lot.) Won't be able to bring most anything with me, but graciously there are some here who can for a little while store the things that I don't need to bring immediately. As a side-note for anyone flying, most airlines charge for even your first checked luggage, now. It's usually around $15 for a bag under 45 lbs.
The prayer and support of those around me is so appreciated and welcomed. While I do not see myself staying in Pittsburgh any later than say ... mid-July, it is still the most difficult thing to do for multiple reasons. First and foremost, I have mentioned that that my church is my life. When you live in a country which is the proverbial, theological desert -- dry of so much good doctrine -- it seems foolish to walk along anything but the river, because it is your only source of food and water. Yet what can you do when you suddenly come to the edge of a valley too high to climb, and you have to walk around it for awhile not knowing when it will carve into the river again? I can only trust God, Whom I know would have me fed on the preaching of His word.
I admit that it is not the only thing making this hard on me. The others are perhaps a bit too personal to mention, but it is just as difficult to leave behind Milwaukee as it is to enter back into Pittsburgh. In all of it, I know that I must keep my heart focused on God, my fellowship with His people, my mind on the sound doctrine of His word, and my desire with holy living, and I must compromise none of this for my own desires. I must also, according to scripture, be diligent in all that I do. After all, what is a Puritan without that esteemed "Puritan Work Ethic"? Be it not simply a denominational trait, but a biblical one. By God's direction, King Solomon and the apostle Paul alike esteemed us to never become lazy but to work hard for everything which we have. I ought to walk accordingly, then.
Relatively short flight. The entire thing shouldn't take more than four hours, three of them in the air (I get to connect in Philly instead of Atlanta, this time!) I arrive in Pittsburgh in the very early afternoon, which is nice. I suspect I'll be a bit dazed and depressed for awhile, and then I'll get over it and be able to look again to a bright hope of returning here. Consider it an extended vacation, of sorts? One with a full-time job, I hope. And as always, I say all of this God-willingly, for scripture is quite direct: "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit' yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For(V) you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'" ... In all of it, I am not boasting in arrogance, but hoping with humility. It is for God that I do it all, and so God will do with me as He desires.
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