Yesterday we made an announcement at Kingsfield Church that next Sunday would be the last for the James family.  This has been something that has been in the works for a while now and we believe that God had us here for a season and that season has ended.  With that, next week, we will be saying goodbye.

But yesterday I mentioned on Twitter that I had another big announcement to let loose!  So, buckle up.  Are you ready?

After 2 years of living in Southern California and 3 years prior to that living in Texas, we will be officially moving our family to Oklahoma!  The past 2 years here in Huntington Beach have been amazing, but now it’s time to take our little piece of California (Jessi Girl) to Oklahoma for a while.  We have a place lined up to live, but beyond that, we are taking a step of faith into what we believe God has placed before us!

I will get into more detail about why we are going later this week, but for now, we would love it if you would pray for our family as we are giving up our gorgeous Huntington Beach home and headed to sunny/rainy/windy/cloudy/tornado-y/snowy/icy/humidy Oklahoma!  We are excited about this move and can’t wait to see what God has for us there!

Thanks for your support and prayers!

(If you would like to see the really cute version of this announcement, click HERE!)

Throughout our lives we are faced with challenging decisions.  They are inevitable.  Recently the wife and I had been talking through some things and keep saying that we wanted to choose the options that were in God’s will.  And it’s true.  We always want to stay in the things that God has for us.

So as we have talked and prayed through things, what if we don’t get a neon flashing sign from heaven that says go here?  What if we just don’t know?  What if we have multiple very good options?  Does that mean that we aren’t really following God?  Are we now outside of His will?

I’m not sure that there is just one path that we could take to be in God’s will.  If there was only one possible path it seems like if  you make one wrong decision you are stuck for the rest of your life.  You have left God’s will and can’t ever get back to it.  But Paul tells us differently.

…he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion…

Philippians 1:6

He started something in us when we first believed in Christ.  He isn’t going to give that up.  As long as I am following His Word, obeying, submitting and believing, He will work out everything for good in whatever decision is made.  As long as our motivations are pure and not self-centered, either option will work.  And He knows what He is doing too!

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

Jeremiah 29:11

So as we continue living our lives and keep trying to wrap our feeble minds around everything that comes our way, maybe we need to stop and remember that He is far more powerful than we can imagine.  He is big enough and smart enough to see more than one option.  He is capable and faithful to work things out for good of those that love for Him.

(Last week I mentioned to you that we had something coming up that you would not want to miss out on.  I was planning on writing out a great post for you, but then I read what KK wrote and I knew I wasn’t gonna come close to it so I asked her to guest post here instead!)

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I have always dreamed of having a big family. Having children, and lots of them is something my hubby and I have always talked about from the beginning. It wasn’t an option for us not to.

I always knew I was called to do something great. But I was never sure exactly what that was until hubs posed the question to me: “what if we adopted?”

My heart melted the day he said those blessed 4 words to me. I knew this man was more than perfect for me.

It had always been something I was interested in, mostly because my heart is pretty much in the shape of Africa. But I never brought it up to him, because I wanted him to be called to it as well. It needed to be something that God put on both our hearts. I’m so thankful that He did.

“Once our eyes are opened, we can’t pretend we don’t know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows what we know, and holds us responsible to act.”
Proverbs 24:12

After walking through a really tough pregnancy, delivery and recovery – we weren’t sure how many times my body would be able to handle it. It’s worth every bit of it, but I still need to physically be able to care for my family as well. Adopting seems like an easy fix to that, but it’s so much more than that.

After we discussed it the first time, I knew there was no turning back. This was what God had planned for our family all along. To love and welcome an orphan into our family. To put love above blood. To care for and give a father to the fatherless.

I’m honored that God has chosen us to bring a baby home from Ethiopia.
This will be a long process, and will take lots of prayer, tears and funds. Adopting is not free. It’s not easy. But God will provide. I ask you to begin praying for how you might like to be a part of our adoption. In the coming months we will begin asking for money, and doing everything in our power to raise the funds to bring this sweet baby home. A baby that God already has hand-picked for us.

“I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.”
John 14:18

Please keep us in your prayers as we walk through the early stages of the adoption. Right now, we are studying and praying through the right agency and deciding exactly when we will begin our paperwork. Please pray for wisdom and clarity as we make these decisions.

We are so excited to share this wonderful news with you and bring you along our journey!!

I hate election season (yet I will stay up late and watch until all the polls are in and counting is done).  I am all for the voting process and change when it is needed.  I am all for the representation and such.  But I absolutely hate political ads and commercials.  They always start off nice.

Hi, I’m Candidate A.  I have these qualifications.  I wanna do these things to help you.  Vote for me.

But for some reason they never can stay there.  They have to take a leap into the abyss and completely lose me.

Did you know that Candidate B sucks?  Well you should.  Candidate B is a stupid, idiotic, ignoramus-y poopy face.  If you vote for Candidate B you are asking for more of your money to be stolen by the evil government, given to terrorists in exchange for sacrificial lambs and sacrificed to the gods of Sodom and Gomorrah.   Oh and did we mention that Wikipedia says that Candidate B is the reason you lost your job and that actually a 5-year-old in Laos does it now for far less money and better skill that you?  PS – I approved this message.

It’s ridiculous.  Every election the TV is smeared with smear ads.  I’m sure the intention is to get me to like message approver more, but in all honesty, does that work for anyone?  I mean, I guess it must for some people or they wouldn’t do it, but every time I see one, I want less and less to vote for that message approver.

The more I see them, the less I want to vote at all!

But if you think about it, how often do we as the church do the same thing to other churches?  Many times we really don’t know what they believe but we know what we have heard about them and how they like to charm snakes while using tambourines to bludgeon non-believers over the head so as not to ruin a perfectly good Gideon stamped Bible.  We don’t agree with them so they can’t possibly be doing any good to the community.

So we try to win people over by smearing the other guys.  I know I have been guilty of this.  But the truth is that we should be known for what we are for and not only for shouting at people what we are against.  That is a major turn off.  No one is converted by what appears to outsiders as fighting amongst ourselves.  Just like watching the political smear ads back to back, one against the other, it makes people want to run in the opposite direction.

I want me, my family and my church to be known for loving others and showing the world around us what we are for and not just making sure you know what we are against.

What about you?  How do the political ads sway you?  Do you tend to show the world what you are for or what you are against?

It’s pretty easy to get your own space on the internet.  You can say what you want.  Promote what you want.  When you want.  How you want.  But creating or fostering community is much more difficult.  That is a big part of what this new web site is all about.  I’m not looking to have just another place where I spill my guts.  My dream is for something bigger.

What if we created instead of me?  What if there was collaboration instead of one opinion?  What if we discussed instead of told?  That’s the kind of place that I dream about.  So that’s what I’m aiming for.  And I would love to have you join in, too!  Write a post, ask a question, express a thought, share your story.  Plus, it works in your favor because you are opening up yourself to a new group of readers!

So, this is a special invitation intended specifically for you.  Yes, you.  I want to invite you to join me in doing something different here.

I’m back! After a year straight, taking a week off from blogging was nice.  But, now we have a new place and a new name and a new outlook!

Welcome to the brand new biggerthanme.com!  This is something I have been thinking and dreaming about for a while now.  I’m excited to see this new journey start!

For a long time now, I have been bothered by the fact that my web site was based on my name.  Whether I intended it or not it was all still revolving around my name.  I’m not saying that this is always the case, but it felt like it for me.  So I wanted to make a change and here we are!  I wanted to make sure that my name wasn’t getting in the way.

I want to be able to get out of the way and let God use this for something bigger than I can accomplish.  I have big dreams that I know I am incapable of pulling off myself.  I want to see a community that benefits everyone.  A place to pool some common resources and cut down on work for others.  A place for discussions and not just what I think.

So, now it’s your turn.

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