When God's plan isn't yours...

Update on Nunnliving, Phase 3

It's been quite a while since I've posted here, but I thought I'd give ya'll a quick update on how we're doing.

I guess I'll start with the youngest.  Abby's doing well.  She's almost 9 months old now, and we think she's going to start walking pretty soon.  She's walking if we hold her up, and it's really cute and exciting at the same time.

Carrie's doing well, too.  My wonderful wife still has the blessed full-time job of mother and homemaker, and she does both excellently.  She's made  our home a great place to be.  Carrie's going to be working with our church, Crosspoint, doing some finance stuffs; we're not exactly sure what that's going to look like right now, though.

As for me, I'm working second shift for a janitorial company, and I'm getting to work with our church doing pastoral ministry stuffs.  That doesn't mean much practically right now, but we're seeking the will of God in how He wants us to take His glorious gospel to our community here south of St. Louis.

God's growing a passion in my heart for reaching men with the gospel.  The community goes the way that the men of the community go, as Darren Patrick says.  If we want our communities transformed by Jesus' gospel of the kingdom of God, we've got to quit expecting wives and mothers to get their husbands and teenage sons to church.  I think the way to do that is through straight talk and bold teaching, both publicly and privately.  Men are great at sniffing out BS and girly stuff.  If we're not giving a vision of Jesus that's Biblical - one that's worth dying for - men won't jump on board.  Oh, sure, some will, but if we examine many churches the men are either absent, or present but spiritually suffocating.  It's becoming my vision to train men to be the ones who lead their families and thus lead the culture, to be the ones who point to Jesus no matter who's calling them out to sit down, the ones who refuse to shut up no matter how loud the world screams.  God's growing this like a fire in my gut, and I love it!  I know there's dangers here, and I pray that He would keep me Biblical and faithful to His glory; but, oh how exciting to think that a whole city might be transformed through the thugs, the video game addicts, the womanizers, the business leaders, the drunks and partiers; all those guys who pull the culture deeper into its sin, what if Jesus got a hold of their hearts and used them to undo the damage of their sinful natures?  Oh, I pray that this vision would catch the hearts of many and Jesus would be glorified.

Update on Nunn-living, take 2

Wow, a lot can change in the course of about three months.  We now have a beautiful baby girl (Abigail Hosanna), who is about three months old.  She's healthy and is now smiling, baby talking, spitting up, and leaving some of the rankest smelling liquid-gel substances in her diaper about two times a day.  It's great.

So, besides adjusting to being parents together, Carrie and I are working on projects around our home...yeah, it's nice to be in our own place.  I'd give you the address, but leaving my address on the net is just scary...call me if you need it.  Anyway, it's a nice trailer in a nice park (we've already gone for some walks around the neighborhood, and I think we like the almost-retirment-community-feel; it's quiet and peaceful).  Most of our neighbors are seniors, which makes it a pretty safe neighborhood (apparently, they're the best community watch group ever!).

I'm working full-time with a janitorial company, supervising a great crew for a building near where I hope to be attending seminary next fall.  I haven't started yet, but I'm planning on cranking out the 2nd edition of my application this January, after taking some much needed time to adjust to things.

Things are changing between my dad and mom, too...there have been a lot of years of a lot of hard stuff that have kind of come to a head recently.  I don't want to be too specific because being that vulnerable on the net seems like it would come across too heavy for some.  At any rate, please be praying for the Nunn family (Carrie, Abby, and I plus my mom & dad) as we go through some rough times and some needed counseling.

If you haven't done so yet, check out Pam_shannon's xanga; she's got some good insights.  It's refreshing to read what she posts, because my heart can so relate to what she's sharing.  We feel tired often, and stretched.  We need rest, but haven't the time - or sometimes, honestly, I'm just confused about what rest looks like.  Truthfully, physical rest is much needed.  So is spiritual rest, trusting in Christ's work instead of our own performance.

So, that's a brief update.  Talk to Xanga world later.  Grace and peace.  Will.

Update on Nunn-Living

Good ol' Captain Winters inspired me to write about something here on Xanga, and I think I, too, shall give all who will read a quick update of what Carrie and I have been up to lately.

We've moved in with my parents in the general St. Louis area.  It's been over a month now, and it's been a tough situation; being married, expecting a baby, and still living with your folks is just going to be tough.  We've also been dealing with some hard emotional issues...but our marriage is doing rather well, praise God.  Carrie and I are learning more everyday about each other, learning to trust one another more fully, and learning more fully how to encourage one another more in Christ.

The baby's on the way.  Last week Carrie and my mom went to our doctor's for a new ultrasound, and they estimated her to be about 7lbs already (she's due July 5th).  It's definitely a girl, and I don't think I'll have any real impact on how she looks...she's already got her mom's cheeks & chin (we could make them out from the ultrasound), and Carrie's family typically has some pretty dominant genes.  We're excited to get to meet our beautiful daughter, and we're praying for God's grace to raise her according to his word.

I've got a job now...that's exciting for us.  I'm working on a crew that pours concrete walls; it's good, hard labor outdoors, and I really love that kind of stuff.  It seems like a good missional situation for me to be in, too; the guys are generally pretty rough, but they can be very sincere.  It's a combination that kind of reminds me of John Wayne, and I like it.  The having-a-job-thing means that we're looking at getting our own place soon, and that's exciting, too.

We've been attending the Journey (church), too; that's been an immense blessing.  The teaching there is great and greatly God-centered and Biblically solid while still be more culturally engaging that I had even thought possible.  The worship is all about God, as it should be; that, too, has been a great source of joy and edification.

Here's what we've been learning through all this:  It's tough looking at a tall order of a situation and waiting for God to provide, but we know that He is our Father and that He knows our needs.  It's been tough (and still is tough) for us to look at the situation and still say with confidence (and not cynicism), "God will provide."  I find though that if we focus on the difficulties of the situation, I'm prone to miss the power, might, sovereignty, and/or goodness of our God to us in Christ Jesus.  If I focus on the character of God more, all of His goodness and love poured out on us through Jesus the Messiah and the Son, the situation becomes much smaller in light of who He is.  It's hard not to focus on the situation, but, then again, idolatry is built into our sinful flesh. 

I'm beginning to consider more indepth the question of Infant Baptism, especially since our daughter's on the way.  For any who have considered it, I would appreciate your thoughts, comments, questions, and/or resources.  For any who haven't yet considered it, I might just keep you posted through Xanga.  Grace and Peace,

Vilhelm

Another cool Piper quote...

From a 1982 article in Leadership magazine, a pastor talks about the liberation from pornography he found when he read What I Believe by Francois Muriac, the Catholic French novelist.  In it, Muriac mentioned the beatitude concerning purity: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8).

"The thought hit me like a bell rung in a dark, silent hall.  So far, none of the scary, negative arguments against lust had succeeded in keeping me from it ... But here was a description of what I was missing by continuing to harbor lust: I was limiting my own intimacy with God.  The love he offers is so transcendent and possessing that it requires our faculties to be purified and cleansed before we can possibly contain it.  Could he, in fact, substitute another thirst and hunger for the one I had never filled?  Would Living Water somehow quench lust?  That was the gamble of faith." Piper answers this with: "It was not a gamble.  You can't lose when you turn to God. ... The way to fight lust is to feed faith with the precious and magnificent promise that the pure in heart will see, face to face, the all-satisfying God of glory." (John Piper, Future Grace (Sisters, OR: Multonomah Publishers, 1995), 227-38.)

This was really helpful to me as I struggle to guard my eyes on a campus where the weather is threatening to become warmer; I like warm weather, but that typically means that I have to be more intentional with where I look and where I don't look.  Reasoning with myself from God's promises is an amazing, God-glorifying way to practically deal with these fleshly desires.  Guilt only keeps the cycle going.  Will-power fails ultimately and brings glory only to man.  God's transforming work through His precious promises brings deliverance from sin and gives all the glory to where it's due: the God who Promises and is Faithful.  Grace to you as you trust His promises; it's not a gamble.  You're not playing poker with lust; at best, you're playing russian roulette.  But, He is gracious and Faithful, and while we cannot trust ourselves, we can trust His all powerful, all wise steadfast love and grace to guide us through our temptations as we trust in His beautiful promises.