You are doing what??

So now that it is out there – our future plans that is – it gives me a chance to write about the whys of what we are doing. First off let me tell you about our Napkin Dreams. A few months back our entire family (OK the little boys lasted about 3 minutes through the discussion) sat down and talked over the idea of doing an extended cross country RV trip. We talked about our dreams and fears of what a trip like this would be for our family.


We wrote down our dreams on two kitchen napkins (yes it took two napkins). This is where we got the idea of napkin dreams from. Napkins are very temporal and easily destroyed, like our dreams so often are. So we have to do more than just write these down but we have to commit them into our hearts. But I want to put aside our little dreams for this post and talk about dreams in the bigger sense. Joel 2:28 says "Then after I have poured out my rains again, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.

I know this isn’t the best hermeneutics, but humor me for a moment. Have you noticed how many people have dreams that they never pursue. Especially in tough economic times, people love to play it safe. In fact we cry out to our government to keep us safe! I don’t think God is about playing things safe. If that were true why would He give people visions and dreams? They always call us to live life closer to the edge, closer to relying completely on Him. The prophet Joel here lets us know that as history draws closer to the final wrap-up, God’s Spirit will call His people to even more dreaming and visioneering and future seeing! Kinda exciting to think about.

In my heart I like to buck the status quo. I don’t like the same things everyone else likes when it comes to pop culture fashion etc. This has made it easier at times for me to choose paths that are not well tread. There have been tons of decisions that people have asked me if I was sure about that. Becoming a pastor, becoming a children’s pastor, living in Mexico for a year, being part of a church plant, adopting three little boys, moving to Canada, marrying an older woman, going to a little known Bible College, homeschooling our kids and a host of other decisions have been off the expected highway to success and societal normalcy. The road less traveled.
This two-year (or more) RV road trip is one of the strangest yet though. I know. But I know God is in this. What lies around the corner, well that I’m not sure of. I’ve been surprised by God’s designs and His “whys” many times before. Most of the time it has more to do with shaping His character in me than it does me being a mover and shaker in the world. So I try not cling to the things this world sees as stability. A steady job, a house, a diversified financial portfolio, a solid retirement plan. Most of those things have been proven to be unreliable anyhow.

I do try cling to what is stable in the midst of it. God and His Word. The family He has given me. Who He made me. Where He is leading us as a family.
For those who have asked and are wondering, I will be blogging about our family’s adventures! Not here on Kid Kove though. Not sure if I will keep up the Kid Kove blog, retire it or just lay it down for a long nap during our travels. Stay tuned for more info on our travel blog and our plans here and on our Facebook page.

Chase turns 4 pin the tie on Pablo

Happy birthday to our youngest! He had a great "Back the yargagins" birthday.

Seasons of change

I took the big plunge earlier this month and officially gave my resignation as the Children's and Family Pastor at Forward Baptist. I am reading a statement to the the church on Sunday. Here is my statement (in blue):

A year and half ago my wife and I had come to a place in our former church where we were spiritually, physically and emotionally exhausted. One could even say “burnt out.” We both felt a change of scenery would be a tremendous help for us. At first it was. We felt a burst of energy and a rush of adrenaline as we came and jumped in with a flurry of activity and some pretty big changes too.
Then we both hit a wall sometime last fall. At about the same time Patsy and I both said we didn’t want to be a pastor/pastor’s wife anymore. We prayed about it and prayed about it and spoke with family and friends. I even spent some time with a pastoral counsellor. We also spoke with our pastor Steve Adams, so that he was in the loop as to what was going inside of our hearts. Thank-you Pastor Steve for your gracious attitude and prayerful support.
We also shared with a couple of ministry friends what was going on in our hearts and asked for prayer and guidance. One friend asked us what we would be doing if we could do anything we wanted. I know this sounds crazy to some of you, but we said we wanted to take a couple of years and travel around North America helping and encouraging churches and seeing the continent while calling an RV our home. This friend is the founder and director of a prominent non-profit ministry. He got excited about that idea and wanted to partner with us if we decided to go that route.
After another season of prayer and seeking advice, we both felt we did not have the passion and emotional energy to give to the position of Children’s Pastor at Forward. On May 11th, I offered my resignation to Pastor Steve. This was done with both great sadness for such a short stay at Forward but with tremendous relief in our hearts, feeling we can have a time of recharging and looking forward to a different adventure. After 18 years of being a pastor, this will be an entirely new experience for us, but we are trusting God to guide and lead and provide for both our family and Forward Baptist Church.



My last official day will be June 30th. We are then going to go and live at my sister's vacant house (her family is are living on military bases right now - my brother-in-law is a chaplain in the army) for a couple of months to regroup and strategize and buy an RV

Hipster Christianity

Check out this video North Point put together. Someday soon I'll have to blog about where the church in general is sliding too, from one man's perspective (OK mine). Let me say this though, I am feeling that the church needs a helathy dose of Vitamin D (D for Doctrine). Is Christianity slowly being reduced to a mode or insitution to simply help people live nice lives and be cool in the process. Is it loosing its saltiness by becoming so generic and vanilla. Should Christianity cause you to either rejoice or repel?

I think these are some serious questions we need to be asking ourselves for the time and day we live in!

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

Top 10 favorite WDW moments

I thought I would wrap up my vacation posts with my Top 10 favorite moments of my Disney World Vacation. These are not in any order, because it was so hard for me to put them one as more amazing than another! Here we go.

10. Watching my two oldest sons enter the Jedi Academy. Blake is just on the oldest end of being a part of this cool feature at Disney's Hollywood studios. They both enjoyed it so much and we look forward to a future visit where our little guys are old enough to become Padawans!

9. Patsy also blogged about this one. I loved watching David get so excited about the Pixar parade he was bouncing up an down watching it. I will also always remember my wife asking me to take a picture of Sully from Monsters Inc being helped out prior to the parade reaching us. I asked her why she wanted a picture of a beloved Disney character having a heat stroke?

8. I loved eating breakfast at Ohanas. It was family style so unlike Chef Mickey's you get the food brought to you and it was so yummy!

7. Our first day there as we rode Its a Small World and watching the eyes of my three youngest sons as they were glued to the singing animitronics.

6. Doing the new Team Possible experience at Epcot. It was so cool going around to the different countries getting clues and making some of the statues talk to us, getting a golf ball and then having it analyzed, etc.. Very cool family experience.

5. I loved that Epcot was holding the International Flower and Garden Festival. All the cool topiaries and the butterfly tent were a nice extra touch.

4. This is our first year for hunting down some Hidden Mickeys. We found a a few. To learn more about hidden mickeys go here.

3. Getting to spend everyday with my family. I think that is toughest thing to withdraw from for me. I am a family junkie!

2. The new Toy Story Mania ride was amazing!!

1. Being a part of all five boys doing the Pirates League at the Magic Kingdom. It was so fun and we felt like we were all kids again. Yes it cost extra, but I will treasure the memories forever!

Our first day in Disney - I am already Disney homesick

Happy birthday David!

Chase and his Lego Shark

Whispering Canyon

David and Chase meet Adriana

Tanner is a Padawan

Blake at the Jedi Academy