In my last update, 4 months ago, I wrote about the way God surprises us once we give our lives over to Him. I am reminded of this as I prepare to start seminary in two weeks; but also as I prepare for a weekend trip to Kouts, Indiana to meet the parents of the greatest blessing the Lord has brought into my life yet. Joyce and Gary met her at the KC District Assembly last week, so I thought this was a good time to feature my girlfriend in my blog.When I met Lisa Phipps in September of last year, many things about her stood out to me (besides the obvious). First, she spoke fluent Spanish, which she learned spending a year in Paraguay as a volunteer missionary for the Church of the Nazarene (this means that she paid for all of her expenses to serve in a third world country). Second, she had a desire to serve in the Hispanic Ministries of College Church. Third, she enjoyed talking and thinking about spiritual issues at a very deep level. We got to know each other and became friends as we both served in the worship team and through participating in church activities. In fact, she is one of the friends I wanted to spend time with at the February revival service that the Lord used to call me to ministry. As I got to know her better, many other things stood out about her that drew me to want to spend more time with her, especially her commitment to God and her call to ministry. A month or so after my last blog entry, we went out on our first date. The last three months have been the most wonderful, fulfilling, and blessed months of my life. Having the assurance that we are both in the center of God's will is the best part of it all.
It was wonderful to attend Jenna's wedding at St. Paul's, and I missed Christy's and will miss Amy's; however, my trip to Indiana this weekend is just to get to know her parents, nothing else yet. They think it is unfair that my parents have gotten to know Lisa so well while they've only seen pictures of me! I'm looking forward to meeting them. Lisa and I have started to pray for God's direction as to when we will take the next step. In the meantime, we will both be busy taking classes at seminary (she has already completed her first year), working, and continuing to serve in College Church with Hispanic Ministries Immanuel. God is awesome!
