Jump!

I stand at the edge of another grand life transition.  Six months ago I arrived in Texas with high hopes and great vision.  I leave having made wonderful new friends and with fresh vision for a new calling, a call back home.  

My time in the Dallas Fort Worth Area was short but eventful.  Just a few weeks after my arrival I discovered that I was no longer in remission, Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma had returned.  I would once again face this long and demanding battle.

It seems appropriate that my final chemotherapy treatment was but days prior to my departure.  By the grace of God this dreaded disease will fail to follow me to New York.  I never want to face or fight this giant again.

I'm filled with joy at the thought of returning to pastoral ministry.  Six months behind a desk steeped in administrative duties reminded me how very much I love people and how much I enjoy pastoring them.  I'm excited to return to the land of my birth, the land of real pizza, bagels and cannoli.  The land of my father and my family, the land where I met my wife and where I met the Lord.

I'm eager to bring home all the lessons I learned these past 16 years on the road.  The complete vision has yet to be revealed but this I know, we are to...

• Live Love
  
• Be Light in the Darkness
  
• Export Freedom
  
• Passionately Pursue His Presence
  
• Help People Reach their Destinies
  

That ought to keep us busy for a while.

In a few hours the movers arrive to load the containers, a day later Nadine and I will begin a 15 day road trip back home. Along the way we'll visit many old friends in Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.  Seems like great preparation for making many new friends in Lindenhurst, NY.

My life has been one major Isaiah 55:8-9 life lesson after another... 

"His ways are not my ways, they are higher then my ways."  

The journey hasn't always been easy but God has been in it and it has been one very exciting and dynamic adventure after another.  This next leg of the journey could be the best of them all!

Without hesitation or reservation I'm diving in, I'm going deep, I'm all in... who wants to jump with me?

© Tom Zawacki 2009