Thoughts from Matthew 6

"So do not worry about tomorrow...."

These words of Christ have developed a deeper meaning over the last couple of months. Money and basic provisions come to mind of course when we think about this verse. And certainly, those are some of the issues that Jesus is talking about. With a CA house payment still in our life we've naturally given thought to our "financial future." But I'm not sure we've worried..... at least not yet :-) Why? Well, I'm not a seminary graduate (yet :-), but my little computer Bible software tells me that the word for "tomorrow" is actually the word for "next day" (yes, I'm laughing), the literal 24-hour period after NOW. I know, nothing fancy. But why, I wonder, is there such consumption with planning for the future? I'm not sure I've found a good way to articulate these thoughts because I certainly have no problem in planning for retirement, planning for a vacation, etc. But I'm afraid that sometimes I was/am being pushed to plan for things that I was never intended to plan for. We so want to SEE the safety nets in our lives just in case "this main pillar" gives way. It seemed my physical eyes had better vision than my spiritual eyes. How clear is my vision of God and His sufficiency and promises?

Once in this process of the last few months I asked God for 10 million dollars. That way we could just come to PA, live off the interest (no I didn't do a lot of calculations; 10 million just seemed like a good, round number) and do all the ministry we felt God was calling us to do. Then God seemed to say, "Geoff, why are you aiming so low? You know I've got way more than 10 mil. Why do you need to SEE it in your bank account? Isn't it enough for you to know that I know what you need and that I, the timeless God, can just liquidate and transfer in a moment? Come on man, you know Me better than that!" To which I replied, "Yeah God, I know, I was just seein'....." :-) Then I sensed God asking, "Geoff, do you have enough provision for the next month?" "Yes," I said. "How about the next week?" "Yes." "Well," I sensed God saying, "then why are you worrying about months and years from now when you have at least 7 'tomorrows' before you THINK you're in 'trouble.' If you're good for TODAY (and you are), just live on and enjoy today's provision to it's fullest. For beyond today, just be brave (though it's really not that scary) and trust Me. The word is faith. It's the spiritual proof of things you can't physically see, things that are more real than what you can SEE, and you can't make me happy without it (Hebrews 11:6), so walk on.......in FAITH!"

(Selah)

As I said, this lesson applied to more areas than just money for us. The certainty of an income-producing job was absent until just recently (I could actually make a case that none of us have a certainty for an income-producing job tomorrow but I think you understand my point). But again, did that really matter if the thing that was certain above all else was that God was directing us (a key pre-requisite to stepping out) to leave Grace Church and come to Northeastern PA? What is more solid and true than the Word of Almighty God? Nothing of course, and certainly not a job. So again I was confronted with God saying, "Geoff, do you trust the desires I've given you? (Psalm 37:4) You tell people all the time that's your life's guiding principle. Is it really?"

So, we were blessed with an opportunity to exercise and express our faith; a chance to prove God right and to see Him shine. By the way, that's one of my favorite definitions of being glorified - "to be proven right," especially in a case of intense doubt and questioning.

So, tomorrow, retirement, insurance, security, investments, etc........ How do they all fit? There's a balance to be sure. We're just learning the trust lesson on the faith side of the scale. Or maybe we've been learning it well enough to "give it a go." I hope so. Either way, we are blessed and are poised to see God really proven right. THAT is good times.

Thanks for reading.

"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" - Matthew 6:26

I (Geoff) took this picture of a Black-capped Chickadee (yes, I have a bird book and yes, I'm really getting into bird-watching) out our front window the other day. We have feeders on the windows and PA is gleefully packed with a variety of beautiful "birds of the air."

The picture at the top of this post was taken by BayLynn in my parents back yard. Quite an artistic eye she has, eh? The cross was a gift to my parents from my Aunt and Uncle in Wheaton (see "Sunday in Wheaton" here). The picture carries the theme of this post from Mathew 6:28-30:
"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!"

August 26 Update

It's been over a week and a half since you've heard from us so it's time for an update. It's been an active 10 days with Connor finally getting his hair trimmed and then jumping in with the Abington Heights High School soccer team (who had been conditioning already for 2 weeks - he was sore the first few days and has actually played in a few scrimmages against other schools), getting both the kids registered for school (Connor at ABHS and BayLynn with Connections Academy, an online school), both start next week. We also visited our storage unit and got some more clothes and other necessities, gave our van a well-deserved oil change, etc. But really its been about getting the kids settled and ready for their experience here, in both school and church and future friends. The latter two are still somewhat uncertain and/or unknown.

I (Geoff) also went to orientation at the seminary on Saturday. It's likely that I will wait a semester before jumping in full bore, largely because of the work I'll be doing at the college (Baptist Bible College http://www.bbc.edu/). Let me explain. The official title of the position is simply "Admission Counselor." The beauty of the position, however, is that it's for a Christian college and it's riddled with pastoral work. I'm told I'll be travelling an average of 10-12 days a month (and yes, I can take my family with me!) in my assigned region of Western PA, Ohio and Michigan (I'm already scheduled to be in Cleveland and Columbus in just over 2 weeks). I'll be visiting Christian High Schools, churches, youth groups, camps, etc. challenging young people and their parents to consider God's call on their lives and then encouraging them to get training for that calling at a good Bible teaching school like BBC. This challenge will come in the form of speaking and worship leading. It is my ultimate desire to take some students with me on these trips and develop them in worship leading through these experiences. Once contacts are made with high schoolers, I then keep in touch with them and their parents and essentially shepherd them through the process of discovering God's provision for His call on their lives. It's remarkably different and yet remarkably similar to what I've been doing and I'm very excited. Perhaps I can keep you posted on the different people I've met and you can pray for God's work in their lives. Matter of fact, I would love for you to petition Him right now that He would work in the hearts of the young people I'm going to come in contact with. The focus on Bible training (let alone full-time) ministry is pretty low in churched youth right now. That's not a good trend. You'll be hearing more about this in the future (and some opportunities I might be able to provide for YOUR kids, even if you live in CA; click here for a clue for ONE of them) but for now, thank you for praying. Other pending opportunities for the fall are assisting with the music/worship of a launch of a new church plant in the lower Pocono region, speaking on worship ministry for a weekend retreat for 30+ church planters and a 4 day seminary module. I'll look forward to keeping you posted.

OK, I know you're saying, "Enough about you, Geoff. What about Susan? That's who we REALLY care about, plus the kids of course :-)" Honestly, we're all adjusting pretty well so far. We're not out of the woods yet, especially since we haven't experienced winter. But there is a remarkable sense of peace and joyful acceptance and excitement about our future here. Susan's life right now, as all of you moms can attest to, is mostly "all about the kids." She is busy getting the kids (especially BayLynn) ready for school. But she's also enjoying the change of scenery, culture and other unique things about NE PA. God continues to challenge AND bless us in our marriage and we are excited about this new environment in which we can continue to grow. I am a very fortunate man to have a woman like Susan by my side. Hopefully you'll hear from her soon in this blog.

We didn't take many pictures this week but here's one from last Thursday when we went to the Harford Fair. This is the fair I grew up going to. It's a "real" fair where parking is free and you pay just $6 to get in and they actually have...... oh, don't get me started :-) Here's BayLynn standing above the horse arena during barrel racing competition. We also saw the Christian bands "33 Miles" and "Caedmon's Call."

Keep checking in with us as I am still planning to share some of the great lessons we've been learning from scripture and real life. Thank you all again for checking in with us and remembering us in your prayers. We love you all.

New Chapter

Today was Day One of a new chapter. Nothing super-significant happened in it but it was still "Day One." We emptied the van (which allowed the back to raise more than 2 inches) and took "The Box" off of the trailer and got some things packed away. Susan and Bay went with Mom Ellsworth to WalMart to get a few things. We are staying with my parents for awhile until things get settled - probably a couple of months at least. We are VERY grateful to them.

Tonight we went to a Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees game (see picture above taken AFTER the game). This is the AAA team that directly feeds the New York Yankees. Ken, an administrator from the college, had tickets for a skybox so we enjoyed a great game from a great spot. Thank you, Ken. It was a good game but they lost to the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs - the team that supplies the Phillies. However, there was a great fireworks show afterwards and then it started to rain again. Ah, life is good :-)

Again, we want to thank you all for your thoughtful and prayerful following of our journey up to this point. It has meant a lot for us to see the clicks on the hit counter and know that many of them are equal to prayers for us. We value that and want you to know that we pray and thank God for you as well. This is a beautiful, reciprocal "Body of Christ" expression. We're so privileged to be a part of it.

We hope you'll continue to check in with us as over the next couple of weeks as I (Geoff) would like to share some things that we have been learning in this whole process. Two of the lessons will be from Matthew 6 and 1 Thessalonians 4. We'll look forward to sharing those with you soon as well as more news on the progress of our getting established here. We have NOT sold our house in Covina yet and that, along with getting the kids set for school, is the next big thing on the "to-do list." Thank you for your prayers on that matter too.

Please feel free to send us a comment from this blog or an email to ellsworthg@gmail.com

Thanks and love to you as together we move forward.

Destination Reached!

At 8:10 tonight (EST) we arrived at our destination in Clarks Summit, PA after leaving GmaC at 12:12pm. We saw more rainfall today than all the days of our trip combined. Matter of fact, we saw more rain today than we saw all last year in CA! They closed the I-80 and sent us on a detour that set us back about an hour. But we made it, and are we ever grateful - to the Lord first of all and to all of you who are praying for us as well. 3,564.6 miles from our house in Covina to my parents house in Clarks Summit. Every mile an expression of God's grace as we're all aware of the many things that could have gone wrong (plus the things we're not aware of :-) We averaged 20.5 mpg - not bad for pulling a trailer and having a luggage carrier on the roof.

On the trip today, Connor solved the "Alexander's Star" that Aunt Jean loaned to him in Wheaton. That's right Aunt Jean, it's done already! That little stinker genius boy :-)

Here's a little picture collage of the day's progress. The "Huntington Beach" sign was from yesterday at Lake Erie. I had an extra slot in the collage so....

Also, sorry for the half PA sign pic. I thought about turning around and getting a better one (like we have for a few other state signs :-) but.......

Moving forward by grace and prayer (including yours - thank you) .

Last Day in Ohio

Job 12:11-12 (CEV) “We hear with our ears, taste with our tongues, and gain some wisdom from those who have lived a long time.”

(Pictures below) Today we started by going to see Grandpa C’s gravesite. Connor and I were there over 2 years ago of course for the funeral. Connor is named after Gpa C (the first name “Jonathan” part; for those of you who don’t know, we call Connor by his middle name. His first name is Jonathan). You can see that they share the same birthday. In the one picture, I think Connor and Bay are acting a little as we weren’t really that “sad.” :-) The top middle picture is of a grave marker of a soldier in the Revolutionary War.

Then we moved on to see where Gma was born and grew up until she was 12 (a big Ohio farm); at which time her appendix burst and she was not expected to live. She did and all is well. Then on to the cemetery where her parents and some siblings are buried and where we had a really nice talk on life perspectives. Then a drive past Uncle Virg’s house (her only living sibling), then around the corner to Middlefield – Ohio Amish Country. We stopped at the Middlefield Cheese Factory where we got the greatest homestyle sandwiches made by Amish People for less than $2 each. Gotta love that. Then we visited Mary Yoder’s Amish kitchen (Restaurant and Shop). The set of “Amish” pictures say the rest. Lots of fun. And oh yeah, corn is BIG out here. Go ethanol! (yep, we've used some in our van on this trip, starting in Nebraska of course :-)

Then we headed back north through a fierce thunderstorm with pelting rain (had to use the super-fast speed on the wipers) and big thunder cracks overhead. We were on the way to Lake Erie where we stopped and stepped in and skipped some rocks. Something about Lake Erie that gives it the best and most plenteous skipping stones I’ve ever seen. As we drove through Fairport Harbor, I learned that my mom marched through these streets as a majorette. Something I never knew. Why is that mom? :-) We came home through downtown Painesville (another place I had NO recollection of), but then when we got home I went and filled up on gas and bought a new tarp for the trailer as part of the first one started falling apart on the drive yesterday. OK, so this is getting a little boring. Sorry about that……

Tomorrow we make our final leg of the trip into Clarks Summit, PA. About 6.5 hours. It will be the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. We look forward to reporting to you from there.

I'm sorry about the sideways picture. Not sure why that's happening. I've tried to fix it numerous times but I must stop now. I'll try to fix it another day but for now, here's to standing on your side :-)

from Mentor (Cleveland), OH

Well, I have no idea how I'm connected here but somehow in Gma's condo complex someone has unsecure wireless internet. So, I'll take advantage of it while I can :-)

We made it here last night around 10pm. We're going today to go see Grandpa's gravesite and some Ohio Amish country. Hopefully we'll have some pictures and post some tonight.

Good onward day to you all.

Pictures are worth....

Here are 7,000 words (7 pictures) that show a little of our day yesterday and a little bit this morning. As though you're reading them: 1- in Buffalo Grove with Ashley (cousin) with Adam and Stephanie (cousin with baby due 12/24) who are leaving Wed. for East Asia where they are language students. 2 - with Ashley and Dave at their place in Waukegan. 3 - on the Wisconsin, Illinois border (for you Amy G.) 4 - this morning with Uncle Wilbur, Aunt Jean, Beth (cousin) and her husband Mike with their sons Benjamin and Nicholas (on Aunt Jean's lap) oh yeah, and don't forget Cody, their new Sheltie. 5 - one of BayLynn's beautiful creations. 6 - Susan and Connor on the Lake Michigan shore at Waukegan Municipal Beach. 7 - on Lake Michigan with Dave while Ashley was at a job interview (if you look hard you can see the Chicago skyline in the background to the right).
So we're off in a few minutes to Cleveland. We'll get a closer look at downtown Chicago on the way but we're planning to be with Great Grandma for dinner tonight. Gotta go. Thanks for reading.

Chicago-area Monday

Well, it is very late so we'll send pictures and update a little more tomorrow but today was a really fun day with the most significant things being the visiting time with 3 more cousins (Ashley, Stephanie and Beth) and their spouses (Adam, Dave and Mike). Also included was a walk along the shore of Lake Michigan and a quick jaunt (sp?) into Wisconsin. Amy G. if you're reading this, we have a fun little picture for you :-)

It's 2:35am and Beth, Mike and the boys left about a half hour ago so....... since we plan to get up and get to Grandma C's in Cleveland tomorrow, we'll try to check in late morning before we go and post a few pictures.

Thanks and love.

Sunday in Wheaton

We started the day at Uncle Wilbur's Church - Holy Transfiguration Antiochian Orthodox Church. Needless to say it was a church experience unlike any other we've had before. A lot of interesting and thought-provoking things. We really enjoyed being there and appreciated the fellowship we shared with this unique congregation.

Then, after a little nap at the house, we went out to Cantigny Park to hear the Air Force Band which turned out to be a jazz version of the band. We walked around the gardens, and looked at a bunch of old tanks then went into the museum where they had some really great displays of real war scenes (see lower set of pictures). We then came home and walked my Aunt and Uncle's new dog, Cody, a Sheltie. We don't have any pictures yet of Aunt Jean or Cody but we'll get them before we leave town.

Tomorrow we connect with two cousins and their husbands. We'll share pictures of that with you tomorrow.

My Uncle's homily from the Gospels (Mt. 14; Mk. 6; Lk. 9; Jn. 6) today was from Jesus' feeding of the five thousand. The disciples plea to "send them away so they can take care of themselves" was met by Jesus in essence saying, "No, you bring them to me and let me take care of them." A great lesson in loving people, no matter how inconvenient.

Onward in love.

from Wheaton, IL

(remember, you can click on any of the pictures in our blog to view them in larger size)

Hello! It's late here in Chicago-land (I think they call it that here) but we wanted to let you know that we made it safely to our destination for the weekend (plus Monday). We're here at my Uncle Wilbur and Aunt Jean's house in Wheaton where we'll be staying for the next two nights at least. We crossed the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers today and we spent about an hour in the Bass Pro Shop in Iowa across the river from Omaha where we did $2 worth of their shooting gallery (the middle set of pictures). Cool place! We also checked out prices on kayaks and canoes and the street legality of ATV's :-) We also saw them (Iowa workers, not Bass Pro Shop) constructing one of those windmills (upper right picture) you see out by Palm Springs. Always wondered how they did that. Basically it's just big cranes. REALLY big cranes.

Anyway, tomorrow morning we're visiting the Holy Transfiguration Antiochian Orthodox Church in Warrenville where my Uncle is priest. It will be a unique experience I'm sure. Divine Liturgy starts at 9:30am. We'll talk to you more tomorrow about it tomorrow but for now we just wanted to let you know we made it. Thanks for your prayers.

The cloud pictures are courtesy of BayLynn. We've seen a lot of those along the way. Reminders of Psalm 57:10 - Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens, Your truth to the clouds.

Onward, to celebrate it, live it and love it.

from Lincoln, NE

Well, we wanted to get to Omaha, and we could have, but we stopped at a few places today and there was no big need to push ourselves. Plus we got to see that last few minutes of the Olympic opening ceremonies.

The drive out of Laramie to Cheyenne was really cool. Beautiful scenery! We sure would like to come back. Wyoming is soon becoming a favorite, right there next to Montana and Colorado. That drive included that big bronze bust of Abe Lincoln you see in the collage. We learned that I-80 was named the Lincoln Highway on the centennial of his birth. This statue commemorates that.

We fulfilled our plan to stop in North Platte, NE and check out Buffalo Bill State Park where "Mr. Wild West" had a home and barn with some really cool stuff from his shows and all kinds of neat Old West history. The frog, barn and turkey shots are from there. Click here for some additional, perhaps "less interesting" shots from this stop :-)

We left North Platte at 6pm thinking we were going to drive straight to Omaha. Then we saw a sign for an Original Pony Express building in Gothenburg, so we stopped. That was really interesting. The last two pictures are from there.

We listened to a little "book on tape" of Pastor Jeremiah's thoughts on angels. Then we listened to the "message-version" of "The Barbarian Way" by our latest favorite, Erwin McManus (I think you can still download this message at the podcast section of http://www.mosaic.org/ ) Geoff read the book a few months ago. Then Connor read it. To say the least, it was a very impacting book and I (Geoff) would recommend it to anyone fighting "faith domestication." I would like to blog someday soon about all the lessons that God has been teaching us in this process. There have been many. But to part with today, a reminder that God's main concern is not our comfort and safety, but rather His glory and our sanctification. Starting in 2 Corinthians 11:23, Paul lists things that were neither physically safe OR comfortable, and surely Paul knew something about God's main concerns. Was Paul outside the will of God? No, God was working IN him and THROUGH him to bring glory to Himself and to accomplish his purposes, regardless of physical safety. This is outrageously purpose-filled life adventure that God calls us to; and the safety and vibrance of our soul in this context couldn't be greater.

Well, like we said yesterday, we hope to make it to the Chicago area tomorrow. 500 miles seems to be our daily average. Should be the same tomorrow. We should make it to my Aunt and Uncle's house in Wheaton where we'll likely take a bit of a break from long travel days and catch up with a variety of family in the area. Thank you again for your love for us and the many ways you express it. Especially in your conversations with God. We look forward to keeping you posted. Onward, for God's glory and fame!

from Laramie, WY

I (Geoff) love Wyoming. The open space, the antelope, the lightning and thunder shows, the torrential downpours, the beautiful sunsets, the older-middle-age couples riding to McDonald's on their ATV. . . . Yep, we saw all that today. We started in Nevada, went into Utah via the Bonneville Salt Flats, the Great Salt Lake and Salt Lake City and up into Park City. WOW! Park City was beautiful. Some rolling thunder and the view of the mountains where the Olympics were held. We were able to see the ski jump clear as day. Then we hit Wyoming, our third state for the day. The old west feel just permeates the air and I love it.

The van and trailer seem to be doing great. We take the trailer off the van each night just to give the shocks and tires some relief. I don't know if they care or not but it makes me feel better. The rooftop carrier and the trailer got their first real waterproofing test today with all the rain. They seemed to have passed just fine.

For all you CA friends who forget what precipitation is like, I include this brief video from just outside Green River, WY. This shows about a third of the strength of the strongest downpour we had, but at least it's something :-)

Tomorrow we hope to make it to Omaha (that's Nebraska) after maybe stopping briefly in North Platte to checkout Buffalo Bill State Park where they have some cool stuff to see. This way we hope to make it to the Chicago area by Saturday night and spend a couple of days there with numerous family members.

Today we listened to a talk by Erwin McManus on relationships. He started in John 17 where Jesus prays for our unity with one another. The character refining and relational art skills that unified relationships demand are at least half (Matthew 22:36-40) of the fulfilment of God's will (sanctification - 1 Thess. 4:3) for us. May we all enter the process with soft, teachable hearts.

Onward, with love and thanks.

from Wells, NV

Greetings! We made it to Wells, NV tonight. We had a great swim and some fun time watching the Discovery Channel (Mythbusters and Man vs. Wild). We left Scott and Annette's house (first picture minus Scott who was at work) and stopped briefly in Placerville (see "Hangtown" picture) then had a beautiful drive over the Sierra's down into South Lake Tahoe (3rd picture). We left California around 12:30pm (last picture). We drove through Winnemuca and Elko, NV, towns where Geoff sang back in college. We hit a few rain showers and a little lightning and a beautiful rainbow (see * at end). We'll be in the Pacific time zone very briefly tomorrow as we have just about an hour's drive to Utah and the Mountain Time Zone. We'll get through Utah and probably stay somewhere in Wyoming tomorrow. We'll hope to connect with you all again then. Please feel free to send us a comment or an email. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading. Onward!

click here for a link to a couple more pictures.

* - It's always been powerful to me to read God's words in Genesis 9:16 - "When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." Now, I know that God sees everything we do and everyplace we are. But there's something special about looking at something that God says he looks at too whenever it appears. The rainbow is that for me. Truly Emmanuel.

Eastward Bound!

Bright and early tomorrow (Wed) morning we will head east out of El Dorado Hills, CA and connect with I-80 somewhere around Lake Tahoe and stick with I-80 most of the way out. I think we've forgone the "Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, I-90 idea," in favor of less travel time and love for our van.

We've had a great time with Susan's family these last several days. Thanks very much to Nonno, Nonna, Tia Corina, Aunt Annette and Uncle Scott and boys for all the great food, hospitality, fun (including the great time out on the lake yesterday - Thanks Uncle Scott for driving all day). From the awesome weather in Santa Maria, to the good time at David and Andrea's wedding to all the fun here in El Dorado Hillls, We are very blessed (see a couple pictures below).

We will likely arrive in the Chicago area on Sunday. We'll spend a few days there seeing a number of different family members. Then on to Cleveland to see Geoff's grandma for a day or so, then on to Clarks Summit, PA. We hope to keep in touch along the way. It depends on the reliability of the internet access we have as we go.

Thank you for your prayers for us, the van, trailer, roads, etc. We're looking forward to seeing more of America and seeing more of the story that God has written for us to bring Him more glory and fame. Onward!