It’s finally here! This last week we kicked off our first full year with our revamped School of Biblical Studies. We have been waiting and praying for this day for months and it’s crazy to think that it’s finally here. As always, I want to give you an inside look at what is going on here at the school, give you a picture of what is to come, and then a quick prayer request. This fall we have welcomed 6 new students into the school and 4 students from the spring semester are continuing their journey. We are always excited to help students begin their Emmaus journey, this year we have been blessed to have the nations come to us. When we changed the school to be part-time, we thought that was the end of seeing students come from all over the world and United States but were surprisingly and thankfully wrong!! This year we have a couple from the Netherlands and a student from Germany and Pennsylvania. This has filled our classroom with a diversity of backgrounds and cultures, this helps all of us to learn more about God, life in community and ourselves.Within our student body, 6 students are living on campus here at Canterbury. One thing that we strive for at Emmaus is to establish genuine relationships and community life. So when we welcome new students I am always a little nervous. Will the students like living on campus? will they enjoy each other? how can we facilitate good community? A lot of my worries about our on-campus community were answered before the school even started. Several of our students showed up a few days early, before classes or our scheduled community times. However, our new students instantly started to cook food together and have game nights. The community on campus has already been a wonderful surprise. The students have started to grow closer together. Below you can see a picture of us sharing some Dutch pancakes for dinner. Afterword we played ping pong. I can already tell that this season is going to be very life-giving. [gallery ids="253,252" type="rectangular"] We have started to walk the students through the way that they are going to study Scripture this year through the Inductive Bible Study Method. I had the pleasure of teaching 4 times in the first week. On the first day, we talked about what inductive Bible study is, digging into what it looks like to lay aside our preconceived notions and let the text speak for itself. On our second and third days, we talked about methods of Observation. I was able to teach the students how to see and study the structure of each book and how to create and utilize their own color code. Thursday I walked the students through Interpretation, which is considering what the book would have meant to the original readers or hearers. On this day I had two lectures, one where I introduced the idea of what good interpretation looks like. Each year when we teach the students the Inductive method, we have them “practice” on a book of the Bible. This year we chose the book of Jonah to help them learn the method. Thursday morning I had the pleasure of walking them through the relevant historical background of Jonah. The difficult part of teaching this for many Old Testament books is that we aren't sure for a lot of it. This is part of why we wanted to start with Jonah. Right off the bat, our students have to wrestle with difficult questions like who wrote Jonah, when was it written, is it history or allegory? [gallery ids="263,261,258" type="rectangular"]This semester we are so excited to see these students journey through the Old Testament. I know that when I began my Emmaus journey through the Old Testament it was exciting, scary and awesome all at the same time. Please pray that God will work through us and help us to encourage these students as they begin their journey here at Emmaus. Lastly, we have started up our Biblical Narrative Series. This is our Monday night class open to the public. Our narrative series is designed to run in tandem with our school. At each lecture, we spend some time talking about the relevant historical information that all the books share and we give tips on how to study every book within that unit of Scripture. This last week we started out in the Pentateuch! One of our teaching staff, Sarah Wise, did an amazing job in leading this first session of the fall! Our next narrative series will be September 17th covering Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuels, and Kings! If you are local please join us!  

Prayer Requests:

This season is admittedly the busiest I have ever been. I am teaching full time for Emmaus, leading the new high school ministry at my church, speaking once a month at the assisted living home, and planning a wedding. I feel tired already, and have a long way to go. The wedding is closing in!!! With marriage just around the corner, I feel the pressure to get fully funded. Pray that God will help me find divine appointments and stir in the hearts of future partners to give. I am so thankful for your continual prayer and support! Thank you for partnering with me in the Gospel here at Emmaus! 

Hello Partners in Jesus Christ. I wanted to take my monthly update blog to share the story about how God brought Lauren and I together. Lauren and I have loved to talk about how we have seen God work collectively and individually to bring us together.The story is even better when you hear both sides. One thing you will notice, as one of our friends, Sarah, pointed out, our story isn’t normal. As Lauren talks about it, it’s not overly thrilling or even glamorous but it’s the one that God orchestrated. God in his infinite wisdom and goodness moved in our hearts in just the way that each of us needed.

Stephen’s Story:

I had been living in Orlando for ten months and was really involved with my church's young adult Bible study. On one of our monthly game nights I was introduced to Lauren. She was the roommate of a mutual friend. That night Lauren and I sat next to each other and talked. I went home not thinking too much about our interactions. Not long after that night I graduated from ESBS and traveled back home to Michigan to support raise and speak at summer camps. In August I returned to Orlando and started working full time with Emmaus Ministries. After getting back to Orlando I continued attending the young adult group. At the group Lauren and I started to talk more and more. Not long after, a mutual friend called me to tell me that Lauren had a crush on me. I knew that I had some feelings for her, but I was still pretty unsure about dating her. After thinking and praying about it for a little bit I decided to go for it. After each date I felt my heart pulling closer and closer to her. I really feel like I saw the heart of God in Lauren as she pursued me. It wasn't long after we started to date that I knew I wanted to marry her. So I recruited some of our best friends to help me pop the question to Lauren while at St. Simon’s Island. Lauren has done a great job telling the story of the proposal below. I knew it had to be magical yet simple. Lauren told me I could propose to her in anyway as long as I didn't use a flash mob. I knew that I wanted to use her favorite song Clair de Lune and I wanted to tell Lauren how much I care for her. So I recruited some of the greatest love quotes of all time to help me tell the story of how I loved her. Now here we are, engaged and getting ready to be married. I can honestly say that I keep falling more and more in love with Lauren as each day passes. I can’t wait to be married to her and can’t wait to have y’all help us celebrate. [gallery ids="240,243,244,245" type="rectangular"] 

Lauren Story:

On the drive home from the game night where I met Stephen my roommate said to me, "What do you think about Stephen?"  When we met, I really didn't think too much of it. But, it's because of that conversation that I gave Stephen a second thought.Over the summer while Stephen was away I really felt like the Lord was impressing on my heart to pursue a relationship with this boy that I had met only once. I felt a deep and profound certainty that Stephen was going to be my person. It honestly freaked me out at first. When I sought counsel I prefaced it with "I know that this sounds crazy, but I think I'm supposed to marry Stephen." When Stephen returned after summer, we started spending more time together, then we began going on dates. On November 10 we made things official. And boy am I ever glad that we did.I don't think I've ever seen anyone as nervous as Stephen the day he proposed. We had gone to St. Simon's Island for a weekend trip with some friends for my birthday and Stephen had roped them into helping set up the beach site where Stephen proposed. Stephen used my favorite song, Clair de Lune, and had mixed movie quotes about love over it. He had that playing as we walked to where he would propose.  There, in the sand, was a journal that Stephen had written in. It ended with, "I just have one question..." and when I looked up Stephen got down on one knee. Words can't even come close to capturing the depth of my love for Stephen. He is my best friend and such a perfect match for me. He loves me more deeply than I ever knew was possible. He is gentle and kind and he pushes me to become more like Christ everyday. He's also a giant goofball and that makes life with him so much fun! I am so grateful that God chose Stephen to be my companion through life and I can't wait to celebrate with everyone in January!!! [gallery ids="239,238,232,233,234,236" type="rectangular"]Thank you for taking time to read about our story. We are so excited to get married in January and are so blessed to have friends, family and partners in ministry cheering us on as we step into this new phase of life. I can't wait to share with you more as the wedding day approaches and school starts up in a month. As we move forward, our hope is to continue to make connections with people who are excited about what God is doing here at Emmaus through our new family.

Prayer Requests:

Fundraising. I’m still looking for more monthly financial partners. I’m hoping to be fully funded for my own needs by September. Then I'm hoping to continue fundraising so that I can support both Lauren and I by the wedding in January. Please pray for the Lord to set up divine appointments and to move in the hearts of people excited about this ministry! The School: We are starting in under a months time! Please pray for use as we prepare the physical spaces and prepare our lectures. Please also pray for the incoming new and returning students. Pray that God would use this time to really mold and shape them into who he is calling them to be.

Next Update:

We will be starting the school on the week of august 13. That whole week will be all morning classes introducing students to the way that they are going to study the bible for the year. Keep an eye out for a start of the semester update sometime in mid August. 

These last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity! In the last week of May we wrapped up our very first semester of our new School of Biblical Studies. This semester was our Pilot program where our students were testing out the new structure and format of the school. Running a pilot school gave us the chance to tweak and adjust along the way, making sure that it's the best way to run the program.. Even though we only ran for one semester it felt like a whole school-years worth of work! As we prepare for the fall semester i would love to take some time to share with yall how we finished and what lies ahead.

Prayer Time With the Students

One unique thing about our emmaus community is the intentional time that we take to encourage and affirm one another. Instead of studying for the last week of classes, we spent time just debriefing their experience here at the school. The biggest part of the debrief was the time spent to affirm and pray over every student and staff member that was a part of this community. We as a staff planned for two hours of encouragement, but it ended up taking closer to four and a half! We spent a lot of time speaking the truth of the Gospel into each other's hearts. All of us on staff walked away from that time amazed at what God was doing in each of our students hearts. 

Emmaus Celebration

Most programs like this end with a graduation ceremony. We wanted our students to be celebrated for their hard work. Each staff member gave a few words for their one-on-one for the semester. I had the pleasure of sharing a few words about Seth. Seth truly walks out the Gospel in his life. He might be the most teachable and moldable person I have ever meet. Any time that he feels like God is calling him to grow, change, or do something, his simple reply is, “Yes Lord”. He has really become a student of God's word and I am so proud of him. During our celebration ceremony we took sometime to encourage Tom Phillips. Tom Has been the executive director of Emmaus for several years now. He recently stepped down in order to become an Episcopal priest at a church right here at Canterbury! We wanted to send him off well, so we asked all of our past staff and students to send in videos sharing their thoughts and memories of Tom from their past experiences here at Emmaus. It was a special time to celebrate 12 years of hard work. We are so grateful for everything that Tom has done for this ministry and are excited for what lies ahead for him.

This Summer!

I just got done speaking at the summer camp, New Venture. This was the 4th year I have been able to speak for this camp. For those of you who don't know, New Venture is a camp for kids who have been removed from their home, usually due to abuse or neglect. Most of the kids are not familiar with church or the Gospel. It is one of my favorite speaking engagements every year. The theme this year was “Ransomed”. Using Mark 10:45, we talked about how Jesus Christ paid the price needed to rescue us from sin and death. During the week, I highlighted how Jesus ransoms us from sin, performance and death. We talked about how God uses everything in our lives to make us more like Jesus. Leaving the week I felt like the Holy Spirit really got an opportunity to work in the lives of a few kids this summer. This week was about planting seeds in the hearts of hurting kids so that one day the Holy Spirit might remind them of a chapel or phrase that they heard at camp and move them towards following Jesus. Please pray for those campers, they are currently back home in tough environments where they might feel far away from God. Soon I will be tag-teaming a camp in Ohio with my dad! I'm excited to get some time with my dad this summer and I always enjoy fun ministry alongside him.

Prep for the Fall

During my weeks here in Florida, we are getting ready for our school in the fall. We currently have 10 students accepted and coming in September. Along with those 10 we have a few more last minute applications. We are confident that the fall school will be in the double digits!!!Fall prep is everything from unit assignments and welcome week prep, to physical renovations. This week we are currently working on updating some of the student dorms to be more spacious and offer better storage space. We are also currently working on updating our classroom and residential hall with new paint, carpets and lighting. Lastly, new kitchen equipment will be added to make residential students have a better living experience while on campus. There is a lot going on here to get excited about. Lastly, this summer I’m hoping to go on a big fundraiser push. I am hoping to get fully funded by the fall and raise money as the wedding approaches. Please pray for divine appointments and partners in the Gospel to get excited about what is happening here at Emmaus.

Hello Partners in the ministry of Jesus Christ!It’s been a while since my last official update, so I wanted to take some time to fill y’all in on everything ministry-wise as well as giving some prayer requests moving forward.

Traveling and Teaching

This past semester I was blessed to travel to Michigan twice to teach for the middle school and high school youth groups on their separate winter retreats. For years my dad has spoken at the winter and summer camp retreats. I grew up attending the youth group while I was in middle school. For both retreats I tried my best to focus on the simple Gospel. Both groups let me choose the theme and feel for the weekend. Part of me loves that creative freedom and another part of me always gets a little nervous. For the Middle Schoolers we focused on the theme of Identity. The tag for the weekend was “Who are you? You are who God calls you!”. We talked about how when the Gospel is at the center of our identity we are able to walk in this world in peace. We don't search for our identity in the world because we have been called righteous by our heavenly Father because of how Jesus took our place on the cross. For the Teens the theme for the weekend was Coming Home to the Gospel. We talked about how we were created to long for and desire home, a place where we’re accepted, wanted and treasured. We looked at the story of the Prodigal Son and his brother, and how they both looked for their home in the wrong place.I feel like God used this difficult theme to really speak to the hearts of the campers about their eternal hope and home in heaven with Jesus. Both weeks I left feeling ministered to. Jesus tends to use the topics that I am teaching to convict my own heart and push me closer to him. I was so honored to be used by God to speak to the youth and inspire them to follow Jesus with their whole hearts and lives!

Serving at Emmaus

Over the past few months I have taught Mark, 1st Corinthians and 1st Peter. Teaching for Emmaus, to me, feels like playing for the Major Leagues. As I tackle the unique challenges of each book, I wonder how I will bring the books alive for the students.. The temptation for my flesh is to make each book about me and how great I can teach it or how impressive and how much of an authority I am on the book. Instead I try to let the learning and discovering happen in the minds and hearts of the students. Learning usually sticks better when a student comes to a conclusion themselves, rather than when they are brought to one.

The Bridge- Assisted Living Home

Once a month I lead two church services for the residents of an Assisted Living Home. I was given this opportunity by a friend who used to teach there.It has surprised and humbled me that my time spent here is usually the highlight of my monthMost of my teaching experience has been with people ages 13-25. However, the application for that age group is vastly different than it is for a group of people who have already lived a full life and are nearing the end of their time on earth. This has stretched me and blessed me in so many ways as a Bible teacher, and I look forward to this responsibility every month!

Looking Forward.

There are many exciting things coming up! First, Lauren and I are in the middle of wedding planning! We are super excited about getting married and are working towards getting all the details figured out. We hope to have a date figured out by the middle of May. We were both blown away by all of the congratulations we received. Thank you so much for your support and encouragement! Second, this summer I will be teaching at two different summer camps. The first one will be at camp Lurecrest.The second week I will be tag teaming with my Dad at a family camp in Ohio. Lastly, we have assigned the books that we are going to be teaching in the Fall for the Old Testament. I will be teaching Deuteronomy, Joshua, Ezekiel, Joel and Zechariah. I’m really excited to tackle these books! I’m going to be using the entire summer to get ready for Deuteronomy and Joshua (I’ll be teaching them back to back).

Prayer Request.

Now that I’m engaged and going to be married by this time next year I really feel the pressure to get fully funded. I’m going to get back to support raising this week and, to be honest, I’m a little nervous. Please pray for God to stir in the hearts of individuals to give to God’s ministry here at Emmaus. As always, when I speak I want to do my best to get out of the way and let God do his thing. So, please also pray for the campers that I will be ministering to this summer. Pray that God can use me to communicate his Gospel to them. Please continue to pray for Emmaus as we continue to minister to the local church. We are super excited about everything that is going on with our school and Biblical Narrative Series.Blessings,Stephen 

This last week was our first week running our brand new SBS program. If you have been following my updates you might know that we have drastically updated our program to be more accessible to the body of Christ. This program also opens up new avenues for us to partner with the local church.  In making these changes, we have seen a huge response, as we now have 8 students participating in our pilot school! Many of our current students would have not been able to attend our former school.We are so excited to see God call each and every one of our students to study scripture with us this semester. It has been such a wild ride. Five months ago, we sat down as staff and dreamt up a school for people without faces or names. Now we have 8 students, each one having been called to come on a journey down the Emmaus road and discover God through his own Word. Seminar WeekThis week has been our introduction to how we study scripture. We focused on teaching the students the Inductive Bible Study method (if you are not familiar with the Inductive method I suggest you check out this article). The students have had a crash course in studying Scripture, attending class every day from 8-12. For many of our students, the inductive method is a very new way to interact with Scripture. I remember learning it all as a student and finding myself frustrated and confused many times. It has been such a joy now on staff watching our students learn the Inductive method for themselves. Many of them understand the concept much faster than I ever did!Possibly the most exciting thing is to see the moment of discovery for the students. In one of my lectures, I told the students that they were going to be the GPS and I was just the driver. It was in this hour of class that I saw incredible learning take place as they directed me. They were the ones to explore the text and lead me in interpreting it.I’m so excited to walk with this group of students through the New Testament and explore with them on the Emmaus Road.  

Next For Me:At the end of the month I will be teaching the Gospel of Mark. In my lecture, I will focus on the major themes found throughout the book, the important historical context, and the structural layout of the text. Later in the semester, I will be also teaching 1^st Corinthians and 1^st Peter, as well as speaking at two different youth retreats. I have also started to teach at an assisted living home once a month on Sunday mornings. I have a pretty busy semester and I’m excited to step up to the plate. Current Prayer Requests:When you pray for our ministry, please join me in praying for our students. Pray that God would continue to open himself up to these students. Pray that each one makes serious progress in knowing God more while attending the school.Please also join us in praying for the financial support of the staff. Several staff members, along with myself, still have financial needs that need to be meet. Pray that God will work through individuals, excited about our ministry, to partner with us on this journey.Please also pray that Jesus will continue to speak through me, both in my one on ones with the students and through my bible lectures. I find myself more concerned with trying to impress people through my wisdom or the way that I teach rather than the actual development of students. I find myself obsessing over what I think the students will think of me. Pray that I'll be more concerned with what they think of Jesus and not myself. Thank you for your prayers and continual support.

If you have been following my blog posts, you may know that Emmaus is currently in the process of restructuring our year long residential Bible School . Our hope is to make our school more accessible for every follower of Jesus to attend. Our hope is to see the lives and hearts of Christians transformed by discovering the God of the Bible and his ultimate plan of redemption through all time.We have made a lot of changes to our curriculum and desire to “test run” our school for a semester before we launch our year long program. Next semester (January-May) we will be launching what we have called our Pilot Program (I like to think of it as our dress rehearsal). In the past two weeks, we accepted our first students to this new program and have several others currently in the application process. This morning I was thinking about our incoming students and getting excited for them. I’m so excited to see their lives transformed by the Scripture!!!!! I’m excited to enter into the mess of life with them and work through understanding Scripture!!!!!!!!As I was thinking about the immense life change that I hope and pray will happen for them, I thought about what the Bible did for me, and decided to share that story with you.I grew up in a great Christian home and was discipled to follow Jesus. Although I regularly read the Bible and could understand what it said and how Jesus loved me, I didn't know the story of the Bible. I didn’t understand the books as a whole. I didn't know why I believed what I believed.I also wrestled with constant anxiety. I was very emotionally driven, frequently basing my decisions on how I felt at the moment rather than on truth. I didn't fully understand who I was or how God could love me. I was trying to follow him and his will for my life, but I didn't know his Word. I needed to discover who I was, and I needed help.Studying the Bible rescued me. Each book I studied showed me my own story of brokenness and the surpassing glory of Jesus Christ.Philemon taught me the importance of relationships and the power of restoration in the midst of brokenness.Romans taught me that Christ traded his righteousness for my sin. I learned that when he died, I died, and when Jesus raised again I rose (Is this right) again into newness of Life.Ephesians taught me who I was. The Ephesians themselves echoed the cry of my heart, a longing to be right with God. Paul showed me the work of Christ in my own inefficiency.Galatians set me free.Leviticus showed me the intentional heart of God and his ultimate plan of redemption.Genesis taught me about hope.Exodus showed me the story of the Gospel. How we were enslaved with no hope and God rescued us and brought us into new life.Habakkuk taught me how to wrestle through hard times. He taught me what it looked like to disagree with God.Nehemiah taught me how to deal with disappointment.The whole story of the Bible taught me how God is faithful to me when I am unfaithful. It showed me who I am because of Jesus, and how to walk in life with him. My whole way of seeing the world has been transformed because of these 66 books. It’s why I’m so excited for these students who are about to journey through the New Testament with us and can’t wait to see their lives transformed through the Gospel.We are in the final stages of getting our Pilot Program ready. This looks like prepping books that we will teach next semester. I will be teaching Mark, 1 Corinthians and 1 Peter. On top of studying to teach, we are also rewriting our student manuals, and prepping the classroom for students. Part of our program is focused on making our campus feel like home. There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes to make this school be intentional with our students.We are excited and anxious to launch this school on Feb. 8th. Please be praying for a smooth transition from school prep to launching, and that our students all arrive safely and are ready for this adventure through Scripture. Please also pray for our staff members to get fully funded. Along with me, several other staff families are needing more support.Thank you for praying for this ministry.  

Hello Partners in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I wanted to reach out and give y’all an update about the ministry as a whole, as well as my personal support raising needs.The State of the Ministry:We are in a season of preparation for launching our new school. For those who don't know, last year we shut down our school of biblical studies to refresh and revamp the program. We made the program 20 hours per week and, with church partnerships, our students are able to work in the local church while studying the Bible with us.We are excited about these changes to our Bible program and how we are seeing the body of Christ come together in a holy partnership. We can’t wait to see young people radically transformed by the Word of God while growing as a dynamic worker for the Kingdom of God.We are currently inviting a small group of students to “Test Drive” our program next semester. We are launching our pilot program, where we will be taking a small number of students through the New Testament. This will give them a taste of what our school is going to be like and will help the staff do a “Dress Rehearsal” of sorts.Two weeks ago we had our first class as part of our Narrative Series. The Narrative Series is our new night class that we offer to anyone in the Orlando area. These classes are designed to break the Bible into 10 sections. Each class explores reading tips for that section, important historical context, and insight on how to apply that part of Scripture to our daily lives.We are excited about everything that God is doing in and through Emmaus, and we can’t wait to relaunch our School of Biblical Studies and see students transformed through Scripture! Support Raising:As of today, I am currently receiving half of what is required to be full time with the ministry!! I’m so excited to see God provide through passionate partners in ministry! The hope is to be fully funded (or close to it) before the pilot school starts in January. Some days it’s hard to stay focused on the goal.This morning when I walked into the classroom, I was listening to the song “Take a Moment”, by Will Reagan. Toward the end of the song the lyrics are “I want more”.  In that moment I visualized every seat in the classroom full of students saying the same thing to God as they learn more about him through the Bible.This is what keeps me going through support raising. It’s why I support raise in the first place: that in this place students of the Scriptures would have an opportunity to explore who God is in his fullness.Thank you for partnering with me both financially as well as through prayer! Please continue to join me in praying for the future of Emmaus, that God would fill this classroom with students. Also pray for me as I support raise, that God would go before me in each conversation and that endurance would be built up in me.Thank you for your invested interest in this ministry and what God is doing here in Central Florida.

After months of anticipation and excitement, we are finally ready to announce our new programs! Emmaus ministries now offers three different ways to engage with the Bible! The New School of Biblical Studies.From August to May students of our school will journey through the entire content and narrative of the Bible. Students utilize the inductive study method (IBS) to study each book of the Bible through our classroom, seminars, and retreats. This 20-hour per week program integrates academic and spiritual development through one-on-ones, weekly worship, and community meals. Students will get a deep dive into exploring major themes and important background information for every book of the Bible! For the first time, we are opening up the school for those who wish to commute to our school! Along with participation in the school, students now have the opportunity to pursue a seminary education or an internship in a local church through our ministry partnerships. The Biblical Narrative SeriesThe Biblical Narrative Series takes participants on a journey through the Bible alongside our SBS students. This monthly series tells the story of the Bible through ten evening lectures, which provide an overview for understanding the Bible as a whole. These lectures will also explore the themes and setting of the books which make up each part of the story. The narrative program is designed to be open to the public and accessible to all types of learners. No experience or outside assignments required. Biblical Literacy programEmmaus partners with the vision of local churches and ministries to see every believer equipped with essential tools to engage their Bible. The Biblical literacy program consists of:Why the Bible matters: find out why the Bible is essential to the life of a follower of ChristBible Overview: understand the history of God and his people from beginning to end.How to study the Bible: Learn how to observe, interpret and apply the Scriptures for yourself.This program is brought directly to the local church through our seminars and Retreats designed specifically for congregations. We hope that you are just as excited for what God is going to do through our new programs as we are. We are so grateful for your support and encouragement in this time of transition and can’t wait to see Central Florida absolutely rocked with the Gospel.

Hurricane Irma has officially passed through and I am back in the Orlando area. My last update was written in 10 minutes while in the middle of packing and getting ready to hit the road for the trip to Atlanta. I wanted to sit down and share a more robust update about the hurricane, our travels, and life after the storm.Over the past 5 days, my friends and I have been staying in a small town in the suburbs of Atlanta. Our co-worker, Trey, has family from the area, and they opened up their home to us who were seeking sanctuary from the storm. Ironically enough, we ended up getting hit by Irma on Monday when it had downgraded to a tropical storm. The very thing we were running from ended up following us. (but that’s a topic for another blog)A big thank you to the Rogers’ family who, for five days, let us totally crash into their lives. Over those five days we were part of game nights, a birthday celebration, and family meals. This family really gets hospitality and I could not be more thankful.Early Tuesday morning we left Atlanta and arrived back here in Orlando.  As I write this, many of my friends are still without power, and countless people are dealing with property damage of some kind. Here at Canterbury, the ground has been littered with branches, Spanish moss, and leaves. Several big trees fell on property as well. Fortunately, only one landed on a building.When we first got back to the property a sense of anxiety fell on us. Looking at all the mess that needed to be cleaned up it felt like too much for us to handle. However, two local churches jumped into action and answered the call. Action Church and Antioch Church had volunteers picking up sticks, shuttling loads of wood, and chain-sawing down limbs. I once again cannot express how grateful I am. After two days of work the property looks amazing! There still is a lot to do, but we could have never gotten through this without them. Thank you so much!Here we are. Life for me sure has felt strange. The past week of my life has been completely put on pause.  Last Tuesday, the hurricane became more real as talks about evacuating started. Wednesday we spent the day prepping the property and packing, and Thursday we left. Everything was put on hold. I stopped support raising to focus on being faithful to hurricane prep, and future planning of Emmaus was put on hold till the hurricane passed. Now I’m finding myself in between picking up the pieces from the storm and entering back into “normal” life. The transition is awkward and uncomfortable for sure. But in it all, God is present. I’m excited to see how God begins to work all of this for his glory. And I’m excited to be a part of God mending and fixing Orlando and Central Florida.Over the past few days a Mumford and Sons song has been stuck in my head and I think it speaks tothose who have gone through this storm. In the song ‘After The Storm’, the chorus is:

“There will come a time you’ll see, with no more tears and love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears, get over your hill and see what you’ll find there with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.”

I can’t help but think about how well this reflects our eternal promise - God’s promise to one day wipe away every tear and undo every injustice. While we might not see a full picture of that here in Orlando after this storm, I really do believe that over the next few weeks we will see God give us a picture of this eternal reality.Please join me in prayer as many people on the coasts of Florida have been hit really hard by Irma. Many people on the coast and on the islands lost everything. This is a reality that I honestly cannot even begin to comprehend. Please pray for God to reveal himself to the people affected by this storm.

After a lot of prayer and consideration, several co-workers and I have decided to head north to Atlanta to wait out the storm.The Family of one staff has opened up their home for us to retreat to and wait out the storm.While this means i will be in Atlanta for the weekend, it does also open up the possibility of being there longer. Oviedo could be without power for weeks. This has lead us to make the hard decision to leave for the storm.If I'm going to be honest, I don't want to leave. Oviedo has become home to me and leaving home is always difficult. I feel like both of my options are bad. Either stay here an endure the storm or risk running out of gas on the road.  However, at this current time this feels like the wisest choice.Please continue to pray for the people of the tropical islands. Many have lost everything.Continue to pray for those that are staying in Florida. That Gods hand would protect them.