It's a New Season

It is definitely a new season unlike any time in my life before.

I'm having to find a lot of new things. New friends, new church, new doctors, new grocery stores, new school, and new state.

This is the first time in my life where I have uprooted myself from people I've known and loved for many years and church fellowship with those same people. I (and my dog) drove cross country from Atlanta, Georgia alllll the way to La Mirada, California. Why? To follow God's purposes for my life. Part of which, is going to school at Biola University for a Masters in Organizational Leadership.

It all started in September. I went out to Newport Beach, CA for a real vacation to visit friends. I loved that every day was sunny and the beach so close. When I arrived back in Atlanta, GA we had 10 straight days of rain...and flooding. My room I was renting we found out, had a tendency to flood. Hard to discover that during 3 years of severe drought. So I just felt like I needed to start going through my belongings and getting rid of some things, packing up other things, and praying. More rain. More flooding. More packing. It was like the rain was nudging me in a not so subtle way that a move was coming. I knew a move was coming...I just wouldn't have thought it to be all the way to California.

I really don't know what possessed me to finally apply to graduate school. It was difficult trying to decide what program I wanted to pursue because I love to learn and everything sounded so interesting. I will say this in defense of my college transcripts that aren't quite so stellar: sometimes I was tired of jumping through hoops to get the grades from professors.

I believe that God's purposed me to start up some sort of organization. It may be a church. It may be a ministry. It may be some other non-profit organization. But to be practical, I decided to go with the Master's in Organizational Leadership at Biola.

Couldn't you have just found a school in Atlanta for that? Yes. I could have but you can't argue with how quickly my move came together and everything lined up. I decided to apply for school at the end of October. The deadline for the spring semester was December 1st. There were essays to write and recommendations from employers and co-workers to obtain - and I managed to get it all done on time! I had some plans of when I would move, what I would do for employment - because lets be real - the employment rate in California doesn't look so great, and where I would possibly live. Well, I didn't get accepted until January 15th. This just happened to be the weekend I originally planned to move because it would be a holiday weekend. I moved January 28th and arrived in La Mirada, California on February 1st. I still had no idea what I was going to do for housing. Luckily, an old friend from college and his family let me stay with them until I could find housing.

And as for employment? My office in Atlanta agreed to let me work remotely on a trial basis! How's that for provision?

But now I'm in the process of trying to find a church to plant myself. I could go to a number of different churches in the area and cities surrounding but I believe I am to be strategic in where I choose to root myself in this season of California dreaming.

Up to this point, I've always had a church to go to when I left the current one. In some cases, it was the truth being preached that I followed. In others, it was a global vision. Now? It's difficult to put into words and it may be I find it in a couple of churches. People passionate about Christ, loving people, training, and launching you into your purpose.

Better Late than Never

I've finally created a blog.

Though this is not my first foray into the world of blogging, it is my first site totally dedicated to getting my thoughts out there to share with the world.

Perhaps this will make it easier to focus on other things like graduate school. I recently went back to school and it's been difficult getting back into a student mindset. I love to learn, so technically I'm always a student. I just haven't found a time management plan that works and helps me focus on doing all the reading and writing involved.