Five Years in GR

It’s hard to believe it, but this weekend marks 5 years since we moved from the Southwest to West Michigan. Since we lived in Dallas for 6 years, it’s hard to believe that we’ve been gone almost as long as we were there. It was such a formative part of my life, and by contrast our time here in Grand Rapids has been something of a blur. I want to reflect on that today and in the process catch you up on our lives.

Our first five years in Dallas saw us living in two homes, attending two churches, but ultimately living in the consistent and structured pull of seminary life at DTS (for me) and professional life at Parkland Hospital (for Jen). Except for a brief reprieve, church life was all about Watermark. And except for the addition of our daughter in my fourth year, home life was about studying and music.

These first five years in GR have also seen us living in two different places. We began with a few months in a rather disappointing townhome that generated far too many stories in our brief stay, including intrusion from water and yellow jackets. Then we bought a modest little house in downtown Rockford. Now a good deal of life is devoted to maintaining it. We put a new roof on it one year and remodeled the kitchen last year. And that’s just the big stuff. I’ve been trying to build a deck for a few years now, but it keeps getting put on hold. I may have the pros tackle it soon.

Our time in GR has also involved two different churches. We began our time at West Cannon Baptist Church, which quickly became home, and the people became family. I jumped in with both feet, serving in music and on a few committees, and teaching an intergenerational Sunday School class and a few electives. I even got to preach a couple of times. But after three years, the politics got to me and I couldn’t stay anymore. We left abruptly and didn’t explain why because I didn’t want to be accused of using my position as Sunday School teacher to sew division. That was incredibly difficult. But it’s getting better.

For the past year and a half we’ve been at Blythefield Hills Baptist Church, which has been healing in many ways. Much of their philosophy of ministry is in alignment with what we appreciated about Watermark back in Dallas. We’ve been getting involved more slowly this time and hope we can put down roots here long-term.

Jen and I have both had the same jobs for the past four years now, which have provided some stability during our transitions at church and the remodel at home. She’s been at Metron of Cedar Springs, a nursing home in the next town over. It’s a much more peaceful life than that of a major county hospital, and she enjoys building relationships with the residents.

I’ve been at Cornerstone University, working on curriculum for accelerated degrees for working adults. This has been a mix of project management, editing, tech support, and occasionally some course design. One of the joys has been speaking into how we integrate Christ-centered worldview and virtues into our courses, ensuring a distinctly Christian education. I’ve also had the privilege of adjuncting, mostly teaching philosophy, but occasionally some Bible and doctrine courses here and there.

We’ve met fantastic people along the way, but I’m reminded again how much having a central meeting place shapes community. Just as leaving Watermark for a time took us out of the orbit of our church friends, and leaving my program at DTS took us out of the orbit of our seminary friends, so leaving West Cannon has taken us out of the orbit of many of our church friends here. We still love them and I know we are still loved. That’s just how life goes, unfortunately. Having friends at Cornerstone has been so helpful during our church transition.

The other big change in the last five years has been growing from a family of three to a family of five. Our house is louder and more chaotic than I would have thought possible, despite my best attempts to keep order. But it’s also cuter and richer. (Most days I’m satisfied with the tradeoff.)

I still have grand ambitions to write more, teach more, study more, share music, be a good neighbor, learn some new languages, preach more, lead more, and see the world. But I began this new chapter of life convinced that what matters most is not achievement but character, and not positions but wisdom. And on good days, I believe that still.

But when I inevitably get frustrated at all that I’m not doing and concerned that God is watching with disappointment, waiting for the show to get going, I’m reminded that I’m still growing, God is still working, and that the times that feel “in between” aren’t really that at all. There is no bench time for a disciple of Christ. There is a daily walk with the Triune God, accompanied by whoever you find around you, doing whatever your hand finds to do. Fruitfulness doesn’t depend on the circumstances. It depends on abiding in Christ.

So there you have it. From 2014 to 2019. Life has been so much richer than this little post can touch on. I haven’t even begun to talk about life with winter again, or being close to family again, or things that I’ve learned, or things I still miss about Dallas, or my hopes for the next five years. Lord willing, we can talk about those in person some time.