10.18.2013

jason's perspective


My favorite season is fall, but I love all the seasons.  I love that the seasons change, and that with every season there is something unique and fun that I enjoy.  I have discovered that life is very much like the seasons, only in life you don’t necessarily know when the current season will end or what the next will begin.  And I’m learning that just because God has us doing one thing for a time or season of life doesn’t mean that he will have us doing that for the rest of our lives.  Maybe he will, but we need to be ready to move or change at any time.             

Season 1: The first few years after finding my lovely bride and making her my wife were spent building a solid foundation in our marriage, serving on short term mission trips, and being involved in urban outreach in Lancaster.  It was a fun season, full of necessary time spent doing everything we could together; fixing up a house or two sped the process of learning to work and communicate well with each other.  

Season 2: We then entered a different season of life which involved nursing school for Sara and business-building for me.  Life became very busy with what we sensed was preparation for whatever God had for us in the future.  Sara learned valuable nursing skills and professional workplace knowledge, while I learned more about being a leader and the world of business and people.  During this time we found out how important it was to make time for each other no matter how busy we were or what we both were involved in.  This continued for the past five years.  Within the last year we both felt God was telling us a change of seasons was approaching in 2014.
 
Season 3:  Without conferring with Sara, I felt God was calling us to take at least 1 year away from the “normal life” established in season 2, to spend time traveling the world and serving with various established missions.  While walking in downtown Lancaster one night, I told Sara what I felt God was telling me for our future.  To my amazement, she told me that she had the exact same sense from God as well.  God sure knows how to bring about a change of season!  With much excitement we began praying together about how, where, what, and with whom did God want us to spend the upcoming season.  He has lead and directed, and here we are, ready to experience this change in life.  Like the seasonal changes in nature, there will be things we will miss about the past phase of life, but we look forward to all the new things God has for us in this upcoming season!

On January 13th, we will begin our YWAM discipleship training school in San Francisco for 3 months of education and outreach focused on urban and justice ministries.  After completing the training in CA, we head to the Old Country and spend 3 months working with a mission in Rome in urban/justice outreach.  The biggest reason we feel like this will be valuable for us, is to learn from others practical ways to reach our cities in the United States.  We’ve always both been interested in urban ministry and want to learn to be more effective and intentional in the way we live and interact with those in our community.  Follow the link in the right margin to learn more about YWAM San Francisco.

September of 2014 (if God has not shown us differentlyJ) we’ll head off into the unknown of spending 11 months in 11 different countries serving alongside of an established mission or church.  We don’t know exactly what we will be doing, and I’m sure there will be a huge variety of places and things we’ll do to serve Christ through serving others.  Follow the link in the right margin to learn more about The World Race. 

A huge thanks to our family and friends for their support and encouragement to follow God and actually do this mission trip. An even bigger thanks to the great people at The Fence Experts for stepping up and making it possible for me to take off for so long and filling my role in the company while I am gone. You guys are awesome! All of you!
 
-Jason