Today the next chapter begins. In a little over an hour from now we’ll be hitting the road and driving from Mt. Vernon to San Francisco. It’s going to take us a little while and we’ll be stopping in different cities like Lawrence Kansas, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Carson City before finally ending up in our new home.

For about a year we’ve been talking about and anticipating this day, planning, preparing for and praying about this next step and now it’s here. It’s a bit overwhelming and exciting all at the same time—so much so that it’s fairly difficult to describe. For a year it’s been “all talk” and now it’s time to put action behind the words, action behind the dream and take this massive step of faith into a brand new community to start something that only God can do.

I feel completely overwhelmed with this next step, despite all the coaching, preparation and people cheering me on. As I reflect and ponder exactly what God has called us to do and the sheer size of it all, I can only sit back and ask “Why me?!” I don’t feel worthy of such a calling, I don’t feel like I’m the right person at the right time going to the right place… but yet God continues to make it happen and continues to put everything into place. Part of the dream has been to go somewhere that we knew only God could make happen, and I guess we got what we asked for…

Despite the fear, despite the anxiety and complex feelings that are swirling around as we start our drive and this new chapter, I know that God is present and that’s the only thing that keeps this adventure worth doing!

Here’s to the next chapter and an amazing ride! May God bless this beyond the vision and dreams that He has revealed and do something so much bigger and amazing than I can fathom. Let the journey begin.