Stretchable



I never had one of those stretchable toys like Stretch Armstrong, but I remember watching those commercials and thinking they were really cool.

As any fitness trainer will tell you, stretching is good and necessary.

The same is true spiritually speaking. We need to be stretched. The Bible tells one story after another of people who were stretched by God to do more than they felt they were capable of doing. That is the point of stretching–doing more than we are naturally capable of. God stretches people to move them to a point where they are dependent on Him.

Over the last couple of years God has been stretching our family. Two specific books, Crazy Love and Radical, have been instrumental in opening our eyes to what God is wanting to do in our lives. God has been stretching our faith as we have answered the question about whether we are willing to follow God where ever He leads us. Are we willing to let God stretch us?

There was an opportunity for me to teach in South Korea or China. Really God? Move our family to the other side of the planet? God used those months to stretch us. I applied and interviewed. However, that was not in God’s plans for our family. Melissa and I have always said we would follow God where ever, but considering moving our family to Asia made us ask ourselves if we were really “all in.” God pulled and stretched…we grew.

As God closed that door of opportunity, He began stretching us with another one. Our former pastor, Randall Wright, approached us about planting a church with him. Where? We didn’t know at that time, but somewhere. Randall just asked us to pray about it. We agreed to pray, but really didn’t expect God to move us in that direction. Once again, God pulled and stretched…we grew.

To keep this post from getting any longer, we prayed and God moved us. We, along with the Wrights, felt God calling us to plant a church in the Dallas metroplex. A stretch? Definitely! I don’t think God would have it any other way.