The moving truck arrives on Tuesday morning whether we're ready or not. We're leaving behind 7 years of the most incredible experiences for a new life in Atlanta. Every Starbucks, every shopping center, every landmark carries such huge significance for me because of the conversations and interactions I've had with people here.
When Ainsley and I did recon on northern Virginia back in 2001 with the dream of planting a church, we didn't know a soul here. It was an idealistic parachute drop into spiritually infertile community. We spent years pushing a plow through tough soil, preparing it for seeds of the Gospel. To me, the church that is now thriving and reaching people in Reston Town Center is nothing short of a miracle...
Our person of peace was a real estate agent named Carol. She was a 30-year resident of Reston, a socialite in the community and extremely wealthy. She was highly pluralstic in her beliefs and cringed at the idea of Jesus as the only way to God. Yet, she immediately embraced Ainsley and me as her "ministry" and looked after all of our needs. She paid for the deposit on our apartment; took us out to dinner; she even gave us money for the down-payment on our first home. Yet her beliefs never budged an inch.
This week, she has insisted that we stay at her home while the truck is being packed with all of our belongings. I don't miss the spiritual significance of this. Just as God used her to confirm God's calling to enter this community; he is now using her to lead us out.
I love this. I don't think enough people that follow Jesus understand or even know about this idea of people of peace. Such a cool story.
Posted by: tony sheng | May 24, 2008 at 11:10 AM
Thought you converted to Catholicism for a second... ;)
Posted by: Josh Wilcox | May 24, 2008 at 08:00 PM
I have Josh. =)
Posted by: Ben Arment | May 25, 2008 at 03:06 PM