09/15: It seems like with the coming of each child, God has led us to a new home. Tiffany and I were considering the idea of moving out of our apartment before Amias was born, but knowledge of the pregnancy forced us to act quickly, resulting in us being blessed with the condo we currently call home. Almost two years ago, various situations prompted us to shift our attention to finding a different type of new home - a spiritual home or church home, where we can be closely connected to others who embrace the same faith and mutually bless one another. Once again, we are now preparing for the birth of a new child. And that means that in the near future, we'll be going back to attending virtual services rather than going to church in person. While the pandemic has allowed churches to make great strides in offering virtual services (which are especially helpful when sicknesses or other situations require us to stay at home), we knew all along that we would not be able to make our decision without a reasonable amount of in-person engagement. Having just about completed the steps we had planned on this journey, we knew it was about time to reach a conclusion. Last weekend we decided to sit down and discuss the subject. It turned out Tiffany and I have very similar thoughts and feelings about various aspects of the churches we've been visiting. So, by God's grace, we were able to bring this journey to an end and decide on a church to call our new home.

I'll save the details for another time since there are still some loose ends that need to be tied up. Much of that will involve saying some goodbyes - probably the most difficult part of it all. There are people we've come to know and love deeply over the years that we will no longer be regularly meeting with, since we believe it's important to stick with our decision and allow each church's functions to focus on their intended audiences and purposes. It breaks our hearts to have to do so, and we hope and pray that the roots of these friendships will extend beyond church walls and scheduled meetings so that we may continue to be part of each other's lives. But for now, it's time for us to move forward, and we must do so with confidence.

This two-year journey of finding a church home, plus the many changes that have taken place in the world around us as a result of the pandemic, has opened our eyes to both good and bad - both in churches and in ourselves. There were several instances when our plan to visit churches in person was halted by lack of childcare or pandemic-related closures. But I admit there were also many times when I was simply too tired or lazy to think or pray about the subject, choosing instead to simply continue attending whatever churches or small groups we were visiting at the time as if delaying the decision would help make it easier. There were also many times when I allowed excessively critical attitudes and past hurts to cloud my ability to stay focused. I can't help but wonder if we could have arrived at where we are now much sooner had I not lost my focus so often. But thankfully, God understands even my failures and weaknesses, and He didn't give up on us when we didn't know where we were headed. In fact, He knows me so well that He understands how I often need a big divine kick in the butt to get things done. Tiffany and I were both hoping to eventually have a second kid in the near future, but we didn't expect it to happen this quickly. Well, here we are now, and we're certainly thankful and glad to be here.

Throughout this journey, I sometimes found myself shocked at the lack of overall awareness of God's presence in churches and leaders I had really looked up to. But I also learned that as humans, nobody is perfect, and we'll inevitably go through various ups and downs. Many times our poor choices will end up hurting other people or our churches or small groups. But in the end, being a church is about being united in our faith in a big God, knowing that we're far from perfect but need each other to be strong together as one body. So as the journey progressed, I learned more and more to focus on unity, which happens to be an important emphasis in each of the churches we visited that seemed most likely to be our final choice.

And as I've mentioned in the past, the choice wasn't about finding flaws that would lead to elimination, but rather understanding that all believers are ultimately united as one Church, regardless of what building we gather to worship in, and that wherever we go or don't go, we do so with attitudes that build up that unity rather than tear it apart. In some ways, this decision is about us - meeting the God-given needs of ourselves and our family. But ultimately, it's so much more than that. Being blessed means we have the capacity to bless others in return, and being committed to a church home means pursuing in even greater depths the mutual blessing of community. While we may be understandably busy at this stage of life, we know that God will lead us to opportunities to serve and be more actively involved in our new home church in His perfect timing. I believe this journey wasn't a waste of time caused by unfavorable past circumstances, but rather an opportunity to grow our faith and prepare us for whatever is to come. In all this time, God has never ceased to be faithful. And we trust that He will always continue to be faithful - to us, to our family, and to our new home church.