"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised..."
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
Sunday was a day of multiple emotions... After hitting the snooze button a couple times, I finally arose at 6:30 AM. With a cup of coffee, Bible and journal in hand I took a few moments to reflect on 9/11 ten years ago and where the Lord has brought us over the past decade...
Fall 2001 - having transferred from George Mason University, I began my graduate studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary...
9/11/01 - I skipped chapel that morning, having sensed a need to do so. Upon entering my car (my Volkswagen Jetta, which I miss;-), I turned the radio on just in time to hear the reporter's horror filled voices describe the twin tower attacks... followed by the live coverage of the pentagon attack... Filled with shock, I immediately called my dad to see where he was. He retired from the Army at the Pentagon just a few years before, but still had regular meetings there. "I'm in Alabama!" answered my dad. We didn't talk long, as he was trying to find alternative transportation back home. I wept in my car, a great sense of release. The next several hours were intense as my roommates and I huddled around a tv with rabbit ears and slow moving internet. When I was finished with classes on Friday, I hit the road north to be with my family, church and our community (many of whom worked in Washington, DC). We spent time Sunday hearing from pentagon survivors, praying for all of the victims' families and worshipping our savior, Jesus, who knows our needs and by his grace and mercy, meets them...
Summer 2002 - met Tony while serving on staff together at Centrifuge Camp Union University, Jackson, TN...
Spring 2003 - Tony proposed (and I said "yes" ;-)
December 2003 - graduated with a MACE degree and two weeks later married my best friend, Tony, back in my home state of Virginia...
January 2004 - following our honeymoon, we began our life together in New Orleans... Tony traveled a few weekends a month speaking, while I directed a missions program through NOBTS seeking to minister to the great needs (both physical and spiritual) in our city...
January 2005 - moved out of our NOLA apartment that had bars on the windows and Nutria running around (a.k.a. river rats, ha) to an apartment in Greater New Orleans where Tony began as pastor of FBC Kenner...
August 2005 - eight months later, Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on New Orleans, the Gulf Coast, our church family and community... as we drove back into the city for the first time, this verse came to mind...
"For here we have no lasting city; but we seek the city that is to come." Hebrews 13:14
December 2005 - following a few months of homelessness and living with various people, we bought our first house in LaPlace, Louisiana...
2006 - amidst a year of healing, recovery, and hard work, Tony finished his dissertation and graduated with his PhD (woo hoo!)...
Spring 2007 - Tony started full-time faculty at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary... a month later we began serving as interim pastor at Temple Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, MS...
August 2007 - officially began the international adoption process...
July 2008 - began full-time at TBC in MS...
May 2009 - returned home from 6 weeks in Ukraine with our four precious children: James, Angela, Jana and Victoria (can we say "life change?!." :)
August 2010 - returned home from Ethiopia with our precious son, Joshua...
May 2011 - we relocated to begin a new season in ministry on faculty at SEBTS and to plant a church = Imago Dei Church...
9/11/2001 - Imago Dei Church officially launches in Raleigh, North Carolina...
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17
(a picture from the Imago Dei kids sermon based activity sheet my kids helped put together)
"All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them....
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:18-21
Thanks for all of your kind words, tweets, text messages, emails and prayers as we officially launched IDC this Sunday! We had a wonderful morning of musical worship, the Word, worship through the communion and Christian fellowship. You can read some highlights from the day, as well as see some of the sights by visiting the church website: www.idcraleigh.com/blog
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