I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.
- Joshua 24:13
This passage recounts the faithfulness of God and reminds us that all the possessions that we claim to own are really borrowed blessings. Even our own faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8)! My living situation this summer and the present living situation of my family have illustrated this very well.
When I first moved to Atlanta, Chris Bowen the RUF minister at Kennesaw State University allowed me to live in his apartment while he was out of town over the summer. All he required of me was to pay utilities. It allowed me to be on the field, meet families and prepare for the upcoming ministry year. However, it was not ideal. As many of you know I was traveling back and forth on I-75 weekly.
We were getting nervous a few weeks ago, with school approaching and no contract on our house. So we looked, in faith, to rent, not knowing where the money would come from. We knew that we had to move. So Tennyson came down and began to look at rental property.
As we narrowed the list to a couple of apartments that we would have to squeeze into I received a phone call from a very kind woman in our church. She told us that she had spoken to her parents and they were willing to let us live in their old house while it was up for sale. The house has been on the market for a long time and was becoming a burden to have to mow the grass, etc. So they told us we could live there and just keep up the property and pay for utilities. Another blessing!
The realization that both Tennyson and I have come to is that even though we think of these residences as "borrowed" in actuality everything we have in our life is borrowed. Life started with the borrowed breath of God as He breathed into Adam and he became a living being. New life starts with borrowed faith that breathes life into believers who become spiritual beings. Everything we own belongs to Him. So that we cannot stand before Him or the watching world and say we earned any of it. If you trace our successes and possessions back to their origin, then you find that they come from God.
We thank you for your prayers for us. We praise God that we have a contract on our house and we pray that it will go through and we will be able to officially close on August 15th! Pray that the children will adjust to life here (so far they have enjoyed it). Pray also that they will like their new school and make friends quickly; friends who love the Lord and will be an encouragement to their faith. Pray the Tennyson will quickly be able to make friends here and get into a routine. Pray also that her ballet ministry (that continues is Chattanooga at two different locations with new teachers) will thrive and glorify God. Pray also for me as we get down to the last weeks before the new ministry year kick-off. There are some exciting things on the horizon. Praise God also that He has provided land for our church to build at some time in the future. Last Friday the church closed on a piece of property across the street from one of the nicest parks in Cobb County. There are plans to build a skate park and an aquatic center there in that park and there is so much potential for evangelism.
By way of update, I recently preached my first sermon here as the assistant pastor on Sunday July 28th (just one day after moving into our house). You can hear it by clicking here and going to the audio sermons section.
Thank you for your continued monetary support and prayers.
Zack
