We NEED your help in the Journey…

We want to invite our friends in Siouxland to join us in the final stage of our Iowa journey. Many of you know our story of returning to Iowa 4 years ago to care for Sam’s aging parents. As we spoke with our realtor this week, we were reminded again of the faith walk that we have been traveling the last four years and how faithful God has been to us.

Here’s where our Siouxland friends come in. Last winter/spring our drive took a beating, with folks in and out numerous times each day, to help provide care for Pop. On the list of “to do” items was to fix that area. Yesterday a load of rock was dumped. Now this isn the bigger stuff to establish the base…and since we are running out of time…this is probably as good as it gets. Today we will be moving it around to cover the areas needed. THEN we need to pack it before Sunday at 1:30 when we have an open house scheduled.

For those of you who personally know the living God of the Old and New Testament, that is still in the business of doing miracles, would you stop by and help us pack the rock? Why is it important to personally know the miracle working God to pack rocks you ask? Because the second part to packing the drive is to pray. IF you believe God can do exceedingly more than we can imagine (Ephesians 3:20), and want to join us on the final leg of our Iowa faith walk, please come by 2121 S. Lakeport. The driveway is in the back of the house off Henry. Just come up the alley between 4th & 5th Ave. and drive forward and backward on the rock, thus helping the packing process (Please be careful just to drive on the rock and not the grass). As you drive back and forth on the rocks a few times, please say a prayer for the sale of our house, and honk. We acknowledge it is going to take a miracle for our house to sell this time of year and in the current market. We acknowledge God has done just this kind of miracle in our lives over and over during the last several years as He prepared our hearts and we moved here.

Want to be a part of our Iowa story as it will be told to our children’s children in the years to come? Stop by, pack, pray and honk! Thanks for joining us Siouxland and may God richly bless each of you!

God’s Leading

I have had this blog for quite awhile…so long that my domain name needs to be renewed. The problem…I have never taken the time to post. There never seemed like a good time. Finally…it seems like the right time.

4 weeks ago everything about our every-day life changed. A door sprang open so wide before us that we had to stop and immediately seek God’s face to determine if we should walk through it.

Four years ago we left Florida and moved back to my home area (Sioux City) to be near my parents. We always felt like we would move back to Florida…even planned on it…in 2012. Staring us in the face was the opportunity to go back…not in 2012 but NOW with the blessing of Sunnybrook leadership. Miracles had transpired to open the door.

We immediately began to pray and earnestly seek God’s face. What should we do?

After a few days vacation that we had planned over the 4th, I left for a missions trip to Haiti. Pam and I would pray while I was away and then we would decide when I got back.

God led me to Genesis for my devotions while in Haiti. I came to Gen. 12 and read verse 1, and stopped cold…
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.

I had my confirmation…as clear as a bell. Since then, we have been moving forward through the wide-open door that God opened.

Below is the email that Phil, the Sunnybrook administrator, sent to the congregation today…

Sunnybrook Members and Friends:
It is with very mixed feelings that we announce that the Todd family will be leaving Sunnybrook Community Church. Pastor Sam has accepted a pastoral position at a church near Orlando, Florida, and will be beginning his duties there early in September, 2010. This is the same church where Sam served prior to his moving to Sioux City, so it is a homecoming for him in many ways.

For the past 2 and a-half years, Sam’s presence has been felt in every aspect of the ministries of Sunnybrook. Whether it was preaching on Sunday mornings, participating in service design, working with the deacons, performing weddings and funerals, making coffee at 6:00 A.M. on Sunday mornings, greeting people, counseling, and being a resource and a friend to everyone on the staff of Sunnybrook, his enthusiasm and spiritual guidance will be missed. We appreciate and acknowledge his passion for people, his love of Christ, his outstanding serving nature, and his willingness to follow where God leads. We know the congregation in Florida will welcome him warmly and are certain that he will impact that community spiritually and personally.

Our prayers will go with Sam, Pam, Philip, and Sammy and while we are happy for this new ministry opportunity for the Todd family, we know that they will be missed by all of us in the Sunnybrook community. Thank you, Sam, for all of the contributions you’ve made and the lives that have been changed through your efforts and the love of Jesus Christ.

For now, I will use this blog to chronicle our journey of God’s leading.

Until next time…