Plan for Today or Tomorrow?

It seems God continues to remind me of two parts of scripture that make unique companions. 

Proverbs 6:6 Go to the ant, O sluggard;
consider her ways, and be wise.
7 Without having any chief,
officer, or ruler,
8 she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest.

The other verse:

Matt 6:34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

So on the one hand Proverbs tells me the importance keeping the future in mind as I work today. This could be the near future: like purging my house of “stuff” to make it easier to pack and move in the fall. It could be the distant future: like sowing truth into the hearts of my children so that eventually they will reap the blessing of godliness. Or it could be the eternal future: serve diligently today here on earth because there will be an eternal reward.

And yet I love the verse in Matthew because it can protect my application of the verses in proverbs from the corruption of worry and anxiety. If in my preparations for the future I am getting worried and anxious about selling this house and buying the next (which I confess has been a struggle), I am forgetting Matthew 6:34. If I correct my children fearing what the future holds for them if they don’t “get this right” I am forgetting Matthew 6:34. If I forget that the seemingly insignificant deeds of my day: cleaning, shopping, cooking, etc. have the potential for eternal significance, I will do it begrudgingly rather than as an expression of humble service.

I don’t want to  arrogantly assume that my future will be just fine regardless of what I do today. 

I don’t want to arrogantly assume that there will be a tomorrow.

I don’t want to waste today fretting about tomorrow.

I don’t want forget tomorrow and carelessly waste today.

Where to Begin?

When it comes to recounting the story of our adventure to Akron, I have writer’s block. It isn’t because I have nothing to say, it’s because I have so much to say and don’t really know where to begin.

Even as singles, Jason and I had a desire to be ”sent out” from Chesapeake someday. I have thought from a rather early age that I wouldn’t always live in Maryland. Jason majored in education so that he could get a job anywhere in the country should God call him to go to another region. After we were married, Jason began working for the church, but still desired to someday go somewhere. Through a variety of means, God graciously showed us that much of our desire to “go” was motivated by selfish ambition and discontent and not enough about the furtherance of the Gospel.

I will say to God’s glory that after several years, there was a time  when Jason and I were happy and content to stay at Chesapeake forever, if that was God’s will. We started our own family and loved having all of the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins within five minutes of us.  And wouldn’t you know that after that point in our lives, Dave Harvey would send an e-mail inquiring about Jason’s availability to serve a different church within Sovereign Grace that was in need of a senior pastor.

The e-mail was sent years ago, and long story short – it just wasn’t God’s timing for us to leave. Our pastoral staff was small. We were looking to add a guy, not remove a guy. Jason and the other pastors agreed that we would explore the possibility again in two years. But the desire to be sent was re-birthed and would grow over time.

Two years later, we received another e-mail from Dave. The need for a senior pastor in Akron was still present – could Jason go? This began the earnest pursuit of whether Jason and I were the right fit for the dear church in Akron.

After months of  prayer, evaluation, and counsel, it seemed like God was indeed leading us out of Chesapeake to serve in Ohio. The issue now was finding a suitable replacement for Jason. This took months and months as well. In fact, part of the reason we didn’t tell many people about the plan was because for a long time it wasn’t certain if we would even go, and then we were uncertain as to when we would go. We needed to wait until the right man was available to serve the church that we love best, Chesapeake.  Believe it or not, we found out that Joel was a definite replacement for Jason just two weeks before the announcement was made on Sunday Morning. And as an aside, we can’t wait to see how God uses the Rischells to bless Chesapeake and vice versa!

God has used this time in our lives to reveal sin and character deficiencies. But far more than that He has used this time in our lives to reveal His mercy and all-sufficiency. He has continued to reveal how the glorious Gospel is worth taking such risks as leaving home to go where the future is completely unknown. His faithfulness is our story, past, present, and future, and we are amazed.

To hear the announcement, and a brief version of Jason’s story go here and click on the July 1 teaching.

8 things you may not know about me

1.  I will be leaving my entire family and the only church I’ve ever known to follow my husband to Akron, Ohio where he will have the privilege of leading Covenant of Grace Church as their senior pastor.

2. we will be rellocating sometime in the fall

3. I am in Akron right now and just spent two days from 9 to 5 house hunting.

4. we just had a contract accepted on an incredible home in Wadsworth, OH. Thank you so much those of you who prayed for us. I will post pictures of the house soon. It is incredible. One huge blessing is the cost of housing is so much lower in Ohio (at least in this area of Ohio).

5. I have never experienced such a range of emotions simultaneously in my life: happy, sad, excited, scared, and much more.

6. Jason has been amazing through the whole process. (okay, I know this is supposed to be about me, but I couldn’t help but say this about Jason and I will brag on him in more detail later.)

7. I can’t wait to finally share all of what God has been showing me through this adventure which began about a year ago. I am in awe of His patience, mercy, and faithfulness through this process. He has been so good to us.

8.  I had planned about one hundred ways to blog about “the big move” we are making, but this gets the info out there without all of the drama….don’t worry, plenty drama to come!!!

*please reproduce this with 8 things we may not know about you

Fairy Cake 2

 Here’s the 3D version of the fairy cake. She is made from gumpaste, and the mushroom is covered with white chocolate plastique. I like working with the white chocolate and I may use it instead of fondant next time because it tastes better.

My girlie is getting so big!

Eating Disorders

Carolyn McCulley posted an excellent article written by a friend of hers who battled eating disorders (anorexia and bulemia).  Chances are you know someone, or maybe you are someone battling these temptations. This article will inform, equip, and encourage us to help one another with this issue. You can find the article here.

Weep With Those Who Weep

Please pray for Alivia’s family. This precious girl went to be with the Lord today at 2:45 pm.

Happy Birthday Little Sparkler!

Maggie turned 6 today. She has had a big year for birthdays. Last week Grammy treated Maggie to a bus trip to New York for an American Girl Place experience of a lifetime. Then this past Monday, Abuela took Maggie to Build A Bear where she made a bunny named Pearl.

So today, we continued the festivities and had the Reyes’ over to cook out, swim, and continue the celebration of Maggie’s 6th birthday. What a blessed little girl to have so much family who loves her so much!!!

This is Maggie’s Fairy Cake. My very talented neice, Sierra (who just turned 15) drew this Chibi-style version of Maggs as a fairy. I transferred it to the cake, but the real talent definitely is in Sierra’s artwork. We are going to try to make a 3D of the fairy out of gumpaste for the Cannon family cake on Sunday.

Here is a photograph of Sierra’s fairy. She drew in less than 10 minutes. It is a simple line drawing so that I could transfer it. She is incredible. I wish I could have reproduced the eyes better on the cake. She looks scared on the cake as opposed to bashful in the picture Sierra drew. She has some amazing sketches. I wish I had a scanner so I could publish them here.