Contrary to my first impression of the “situation”, life DOES go on.

Sure there are a boat-load of meetings, a boat-load of phone calls, a boat-load of e-mails, and so-far a boat-load of one-on-one discussions.

I must say a special thank you to all of you who have called, e-mailed, commented, even dropped off a red carnation to each of us in the office.

I’ve said this many times in the last 2 days, “I’ve never seen so many broken Christ-followers gather together for the good of the Body of Christ.”

Really, the outpouring of love is incredible.

Through re-thinking ministry myself, to beginning to deal with a new work-load, those of you who have stood beside Jessica and I during this time are very special to our hearts.

Sure the blinking 5 on the answering machine last night and the long list of comments on the website are incredible, but knowing that there are literally HUNDREDS of folks praying for me, for my wife, for our church, etc – that’s just staggering and again a visual representation of WHY the Church exists.

These are hard days.

I wouldn’t want to be faith-less during days like these.

The overwhelming support during this past week has been so very positive to two newlyweds in the ministry.

I will be honest and say that nothing that has happened over the last few days has been easy.

My emotions are still rocky, but the fact that I am even HAVING emotions is a good thing.

The phone calls, e-mails, visits, and especially the support of Mom and Dad Garrett coming on Sunday to be with us as well as MY parents coming up from South Carolina to support us this weekend has made this a weekend of support.

Please don’t stop the support, and due to the nature of what has taken place this weekend, I will continue to ask you to call or write if you are confused or “in the dark”.

Prayer is incredible.

Tonight, during a prayer-time with the Warren family, my little-brother Josh summed up our current situation:

“God, I don’t have much to say except that Satan is the dragon and You are the dragon-slayer.”

Matthew 18:3 – “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in.” (MSG)

Tomorrow WILL be our toughest day of ministry thus far.

This has been a weekend of events too-difficult to handle by human means.

Stevan and Jessica Sheets are believing Psalm 46 right now:

Psalm 46
God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
the tremors that shift mountains.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
GOD of angel armies protects us.
River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city,
this sacred haunt of the Most High.
God lives here, the streets are safe,
God at your service from crack of dawn.
Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten,
but Earth does anything he says.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
GOD of angel armies protects us.
Attention, all! See the marvels of GOD!
He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
bans war from pole to pole,
breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything.” (from the Message paraphrase)

Despite the seastorm and earthquake that is around us, God chose for us to stand in awe of one of his “marvels” this morning.

On March 3, at 9:09PM, Evan Robert VanKirk was born to Matt and Jody VanKirk. (Matt is one of my brotha’s).

Evan is an amazing gift from the Lord and it was our pleasure to spend some much needed “away” time visiting with these dear friends and new entry into this world.

Evan will be known to all as “St. Evan” if I have anything to say about it.

Please enjoy these glimpses through my camera lense: