Common Chairs...

Well, my friends, you have the privilege (I guess) of reading about the beginning of my greatest adventure ever. I know I have been blessed with many throughout my life time, but I am about to embark on a journey the likes of which, to be honest with you, I never really dreamed of. God has turned my life around in the last few months in a way I did not expect.
Back in October I felt God calling me to do something more with my life than simply getting up in the morning, going to a school I hated, going to work I was tired of, and living my life somewhat monotonously. At the time I was not quite sure what he had in mind. However, I did decide to take the next semester off from school to try to figure out what exactly God wanted me to do. A the time I was living in an apartment here in Little Rock with a girl I work with. to say the least, it was not a good situation. Around Christmas, God began to put two cities into the back of my mind. Chicago and Seattle. Chicago made sense to me. I love the city of Chicago, I know people that live there...I would have enjoyed it. Seattle, on the other hand made no sense. I have no idea where the idea came from...well I guess God just put it there. I have never been to Seattle, I really didn't know much about the city or the area or anything really...other than the fact that it's not far from Forks (for those of you who know what I am referring to). So, I knew I would be leaving Arkansas. That was okay with me...I never really fit in here that well anyway. Christmas rolled around and I was looking for a new place to live. My dad was working with the college and singles ministry a lot at the time and met a girl named Heather, who owns a house and was looking for a room mate. He introduced me to her, we hit it off, and two weeks later I moved in. I had been working in the church coffee shop for the past few months and right around this time I met Kathy Letchuga, a single girl in our church who was planning on moving up to the Seattle area to work with a church plant in a town called Arlington. That was the first time I heard something about Seattle since God had placed it in my mind. From that point on it was like a flood - Seattle suddenly seemed to be everywhere. Kathy moved to Arlington right after Christmas and I began to wonder what exactly God was telling me. About a month after I moved in with Heather and Kathy moved to Arlington, Heather and I decided to take a trip up there to visit her. We took a weekend off work and flew up there. I was instantly in love. Aside from the fact that I think God created the Washington area specifically for me, I absolutely loved the people. We did a lot of touristy stuff, but on Saturday we just hung out in downtown Arlington. At one point I got separated from the group and I spent about an hour and a half walking around the tiny little downtown. Something snapped in me and there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that I would be moving there quite soon. I'd never felt that way before...I'd never quite heard God speak so clearly to me. It was like I knew what was going to happen, I knew it was right, I knew it was what God wanted, and it was what I wanted, and even if I didn't want it, I had no choice but to go with it. I was excited, but terrified. Let's just say I spent most of the rest of the day crying.
So we returned and I decided to take a month to pray about it, to talk to my parents and other people, and just make sure it was right (though I could not see it any other way anymore). There were times when I'd break down and think "I can't do this. I can't move across the country. I've never been away from my family. I have friends here I don't know if I'm willing to give up..." But then I'd stop and look at the situation again and try to think what I would do if I stayed and there was nothing there. It was like my life was a book and doing what God had for me it was full, page after page of narrative, the many things he had in store. But staying, going against what he had planned for me, the book was blank, depressing, and just wrong. It was like I had the choice - I could live my life full, like a book is supposed to be, or I could go against my nature and do the very opposite, have an empty, meaningless life.
So I fought through the hard times and last week I went back to Arlington as a final visit before I move. I spent my time talking to Tim, the pastor, Amy, his wife, people in the church, and Kathy. We talked about what I would do up there and so forth. I will be working with the church mainly just as on of the mature Christians in the small support group. (The Pacific North-West is a shockingly un-churched area.) I will also be helping with the youth group. My main focus, however, will be opening a cafe. Kathy and I are planning on opening a cafe in downtown Arlington mainly just as a ministry to create a healthy, safe environment for the people in the church to come, bring their unsaved friends and a place for community, which is the vision of the church. The cafe will be called Chairs...which kind of explains the title of my blog I guess...the Commons/Chairs...
I have three months until I move. I will be spending this time raising support and preparing to leave. The Summit Church will be my sending church as far as finances goes. All my support will go through them.
So that brings you all up to date. Let me know if you have any questions or anything! I will be sending out letters soon...so you may be getting something very similar to this in the near future...