Burn the Ships!

Yesterday, Nate and I had our “burn the ships” moment. We submitted our lease termination letter to our landlord in Potsdam. We stepped out of the boat ... WAY OUT onto the water … to trust Jesus to launch a vision and calling He has been stirring in our hearts and minds.

It is real … no turning back.

While the vision is still forming, we know it will combine discipleship in the city and mentoring/teaching inside the church. Our desire is for everyone in a post-Christian society to have the opportunity to hear and come to know Jesus.  This dream is bigger than the two of us. It's audacious, really.  How can two people start something they don’t even fully understand and invite others into it with the hopes of helping change the understanding of and need for missions IN AMERICA? Nuts, right?
   
Missionary Elisabeth Elliot is famously quoted as saying:
"Sometimes when we are called to obey, the fear does not subside, and we are expected to move against the fear. One must choose to do it afraid."

These words are speaking directly to our hearts as we continue to move forward into the unknown. This vision is meant to be done in community, supported by community, so we can minister to other communities. Only recently, we started inviting people into this dream—no, this conviction—we had been called to. Crazy enough, many of you have locked arms with us and said YES to the unknown, too!

While we are choosing to do it afraid, overwhelmed at times with grief and sadness to leave a community in Potsdam that we love, there is also a sense of peace at being able to turn and set our face to move in the direction God is moving. Yesterday morning was such a time, as we meditated on the last chapter of the book of Joshua.

Since March, Nate and I have been studying Joshua together. We meet Joshua, not only as an assistant too Moses, but also a trusted military leader, for the first time in Exodus 17. We hung on to every word and verse as his origin story seemed to mirror our own.

Joshua was pulled out of slavery in Egypt. We often say, “God pulled us out of our own Egypt, our former life.”

Joshua wandered the wilderness with the Israelites, depending on God for all his provisions and livelihood.  We learned to depend on God for all our provisions and livelihood during our own 1.5-year season of joblessness that eventually launched us to the mission field.

Moses put Joshua in charge of assembling and leading men into battle against the Amalekites. Whenever Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed; when he lowered his hands, they lost. But Moses’s community, holding up his hands, brought Israel’s success. Hearing this news, Joshua would have realized his battle skills paled in comparison to the Lord’s power. Serving on the “battlefield” of Potsdam taught us of the limited nature of our own battle skills and the power of the Lord we serve.  It has also taught us how desperately we depend on community to do what God asks us to do.

Just like Joshua, this first battle helped establish our faith in our powerful and protective God. And just like Joshua, in his own dedicated book, we will need to rely on this faith often while moving into this next land.

The last chapter of Joshua recounts God’s faithful acts starting with Abraham.  Psalm 145:4 speaks of the importance of remembering and retelling our stories of God’s work in our lives: “One generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts.” Joshua clearly understood the importance of this practice as he recounted God’s mighty acts three times during his one book.

So, just as Joshua does in 24:15, Nate and I bowed our heads together yesterday morning to recount God’s mighty acts, set fire to our ships so we couldn’t turn back, and then declared, “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve ... but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord!”

~ Brittany

Today’s writings were formed by the words of encouragement from others. Just like God gave Eleasar the priest to Joshua, we too have been given a community of believers. We continue to be so blessed by our Renew Team...aptly renamed to be our Transition Team.

In addition, Ryan and Kelly with The Good Story continue to give us words to articulate the heart of God in us. Their heart is to platform small ministries doing big things in the Kingdom. If you know of a small ministry needing an extra push … please send them to The Good Story.