we have emerged past emerging!

Yes it's time! We are retiring this blog and moving on to our nucleic house church page. When we started this we were looking into the various movements within the Christian Church and trying to see where God was leading us. Emerging, emergent, and open church were interesting but ultimately struck us as attempts to put a new face on the same traditional structures. Similar to the contemporary and megachurh movements, these trends are trying to put new life and vitality into the the traditional church. And I think that this is great and that God will use all of it to draw humanity to himself. I am certain that we have taken elements from everything we have experienced, read about, and connected with in any way. But the direction He is leading us in is a bit different. We feel called OUT of the traditional church structure altogether and into house church. Though we are a small congregation (that would be four...plus one new member on the way:) we are encouraged in so many ways that we are in the center of God's will.

This journey is not ending just starting a new leg, a wonderful, exciting, fascinating turn into house church.

Are you ready to die for your faith?

An interesting scenario- how would you answer the question?

John MacArthur confronts emergent church

MacArthur expresses many of my concerns about the emergent church that I have harbored for the last five years. Many of these concerns I have presented as I questioned some of the posts in emergent blogs and whatnot on the net. These issues where basically commented on and explained away at in multitudes of posts until everybody simply got sick and tired of talking about it. This is a huge concern...that there is NO concern for TRUTH! Let's just ask questions, give vague responses until everyone gets tired of talking. The following video by Driscoll does a good job explaining (for those still trying to figure this confusing picture out) the different streams of postmodern Christianity out there today. I believe we are in the "house church" category (yay!).

sometimes we need a reminder of just WHO God is!!!

Right now we wonder if God remembers us and is actually working. Then I came across this video...when the people of God testify...there is no doubt. He is always working!

"Bring them hither to me." Matt. 14:18

Are you encompassed with needs at this very moment, and almost overwhelmed with difficulties, trials and emergencies? These are all divinely provided vessels for the Holy Spirit to fill, and if you but rightly understood their meaning, they would become opportunities for receiving new blessings and deliverances which you can get in no other way.

Bring these vessels to God. Hold them steadily before Him in faith and prayer. Keep still, and stop your own restless working until He begins to work. Do nothing that He does not Himself command you to do. Give Him a chance to work, and He will surely do so; and the very trials that threatened to overcome you with discouragement and disaster, will become God's opportunity for the revelation of His grace and glory in your life, as you have never known Him before. "Bring them (all needs) to me." - A.B. Simpson

Where do we put our trust?

It's been a while since we have blogged on here, we are so sporadic partly because it seems nothing is happening. I should say nothing that we can see. We are still here and still striving to draw closer to God. That's where we are on this journey.

We have not been on health insurance for almost a year now. We have had an allergy type cold once during that entire time and that was it. It has been a miracle none of us has had any major illness or injury. Friday, JP made the kids scrambled eggs for breakfast. They were barely through eating when Daniel starting breaking out in a rash. Daniel has suffered from eczema since he was a baby but it has not flared up in over 2 years. He has complained of a tummy ache lately and I could see a connection to him drinking milk with his meals and his tummy hurting. So a week ago, I stopped giving him milk and his complaints got fewer while his appetite increased. Then Friday. He still has the rash. We have been giving him Benadryl (only when we see itching or complaining) since Friday night when his whole body was covered with the rash. Right now it has improved greatly but is still there. We get on JP's insurance in two weeks so I called today to make an appointment with an allergist. In the meantime, we are not giving him anything with eggs, milk and to be on the safe side peanut butter in it. We went to the grocery store and got some foods that we know are safe until we see the doctor. I do not want to aggravate the situation until then.

Since, Friday I have had a tough time emotionally. I have bee allergies and have had an anaphylaxis reaction as a child. I was so stressed out Friday when JP went to work, because I wasn't sure how bad it was going to get. It peaked about 11:30 PM right as JP got home from work, we didn't have any Benadryl so he ran back out to get some. It took him an hour to get back. We didn't get in bed until after 1:30 AM. The entire weekend we watched him closely. It was very stressful. We are still dealing with it but he is a whole lot better and probably won't have a reaction worse than the one he already has had since we are avoiding the foods we suspect are causing the problem.

I have also dealt with the spiritually significance of all this, this weekend. If our trust is in God why am I so worried over this situation. I was reading in my devotion Bible the Scripture in Mark where Jesus calms the storm. The disciples had Jesus in the boat with them yet they felt abandoned and scared. When we are a Christian, Jesus is even closer to us so why do we feel scared and abandoned. Jesus rebuked the disciples and said "Where is your faith?" They had seen Jesus work miracles before and so have we. So I have been asking myself-"where is your faith?" I have to admit that I am still wrestling with this. I know worrying is wrong but I find myself falling into it. I just had to begin to pray- "Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief". And I have to trust that He will answer that pray.

I found a lot to praise the Lord about during this situation though. I praised Him for Daniel's protection through this ordeal. I thanked Him for a car and money to buy medicine. I thanked Him I wasn't alone but had a loving husband who came home after work on a Friday night physically able to go and get medicine. I thanked Him this happened now when we are very close to being on insurance so we will not have a lot of medical bills. I thanked Him that we had money to buy extra groceries for Daniel to eat these next two weeks. These are all things we sometimes take for granted but God is good and although I am still stressed and worrying, He is right here and taking care of us anyway.

Opportunity in Closed Doors

As I was reading today in Streams in the Desert devotional book, this thought was the theme.

Acts 16:6: They were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia.

"Beloved, whenever you are doubtful to your course, submit your judgment absolutely to the Spirit of God, and ask Him to shut against you every door but the right one. Say,

'Blessed Spirit, I cast on Thee the entire responsibility of closing against my steps any and every course which is not of God. Let me hear Thy voice behind me whenever I turn to the right hand or the left.'" It goes on to say when you are listening to God and following Him-"Do not be surprised if the answer comes in closed doors."

What a thought. What opportunity awaits us when we are obedient to God. Waiting on God is a hard thing to do. Sometimes it is discouraging but hold on-don't run ahead. Wait. Ask God to shut from you everything that would cause you to turn aside from His course. He is so faithful and keeps us. That is exciting.

Faithful to God's Call

It's been a while and to be honest that is probably because of discouragement on our part. To quote an old theologian: "I'm in a hurry and God is not". It amazes me just how much God wants to speak to our situations in life. I read through several devotion books as well as a read the Bible through the year devotional called My Utmost Devotional Bible. This is today's reading just for us at this time. God is so awesome.

"Faithful to God's Call- Jonah 1:1-3

The discernment of God's call does not come in every moment of life, but only in rare moments; the moments our Lord spoke of as "the light." We have to remain true to what we see in those moments; if we do not, we will put back God's purpose in our life. the undercurrent of regret arises when we confer with those who have not hear the call of God, and if we listen to them we get into darkness. (NOT KNOWING)

Arguers against obeying the call of God will arise in the shape of country and kindred, and if you listen to them you will soon dull your ears to God's call and become the dullest, most commonplace Christian imaginable, because you have no courage in your faith; you have seen and heard, but have not gone on. If you accept sympathy from those who have not heard the call of God, it will so blunt your own sense of His call that you become useless to Him. (NOT KNOWING)

You hear the call of God and realize what He wants, then you begin to find reasons why you should not obey Him. Well, obey Him, because away in some other part of the world there are other circumstances being worked by God, and if you say- "I shan't, I wasn't made for this" you get out of touch with God. Your "goings" are not according to your mind, but according to God's mind. Remain true at all costs to what God is doing with you and don't ask why He is doing it." (NOT KNOWING)

Friend, remain true to what God is calling you to do. It may be hard but God is always faithful. We feel we are on a threshold at this point in time. Waiting is hard to do but God is drawing us ever more into His presence. Don't give up the call even if it seems strange or crazy to you. If you have given yourself to God, He decides how you are to be used. Just be available and don't quit.

Hinds' Feet On High Places

I have been reading this piece of classic Christian literature- Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. It is an allegory a lot like Pilgrim's Progress except the main character is a woman. I was looking for something new to read and have seen this on the shelf many times. I picked it up finally this week and it's been hard to put down.

The main character, Much-Afraid is from the Fearing family. She broke away to follow the Shepherd and now He wants to take her from the Valley of Humiliation to the High Places. The book chronicles her journey with her two companions- Sorrow and Suffering. I have so identified with this character. Being at home at night while my husband works second shift really brings out my anxious heart. Also, this new chapter in our ministry is a little scary. I prayed that the Lord would speak to me through this book and He has especially through the dialogue shared between Much-Afraid and the Shepherd.

One in particular comes when Much-Afraid is faced with a sheer cliff she must climb in order to follow the path of the Shepherd. The Shepherd knows her concerns about having to go this way. He reminds her if she wants hinds' feet she must go the way of the hind to develop them. She says she's not sure she wants them if that is what it takes. The Shepherd almost laughs as he says: "Oh, yes you do, I know you better than you know yourself, Much-Afraid. You want it very much indeed, and I promise you these hinds' feet. Indeed, I have brought you on purpose to this back side of the desert, where the mountains are particularly steep...." He reminds her of something He said earlier "Now thou shalt see what I will do." She says "Why, it's too preposterously absurd! It's crazy! Whatever will you do next?"

That sums up exactly how we have felt from the beginning of this journey. We know God has called us here and sometimes everything seems so crazy. There is excitement and fear all rolled up in one. Much-Afraid faces more on this journey and at times she listens to the voices telling her she is headed in the wrong direction, but yet she trusts the Shepherd. Although the Way to the High Places seems at times to lead in the opposite direction, she stays on the path. She is willing to trust even though it means giving up everything.

God sometimes takes us through things in our lives on purpose to develop His Ways in us. May I be like Much-Afraid and follow the Shepherd no matter the cost.

Happy Birthday, Daniel

Daniel's birthday was August 29th but last night he experienced a different kind of birthday. As you have already read, we broke away yesterday for a worship experience in the woods. As we were on the third mile of the four mile hike, Daniel started talking to me. I cannot remember the exact words but he said something along the lines of I cannot have Jesus in my heart because I haven't been baptized. I explained that you didn't have to be baptized first all you have to do is pray and Jesus will live in your heart. He answered okay I'll do that when we get back to the car or we get home. I went on to ask him if he did bad stuff and he said yes as he begins to list his latest offenses. Then he changed the subject. I didn't want to push him so we left it at that. As I was praying with him at bedtime, I prayed first with my usual prayer for his salvation and when I was done He prayed his bedtime prayers which consists of "Dear Heavenly Father, help me to know you." He had barely said amen when he said he needed to kneel down and ask Jesus to come into his heart. I explained he could pray where he was but he insisted he had to kneel down. We kneeled down beside his bed and I led him (more like stammered through) the sinner's prayer. When he got up, he ran out to tell JP and Tera just beaming from ear to ear. JP explained that now Daniel was not only his son but his brother as well. Daniel latched onto that. I went to tuck him in and in the sweetest voice you ever heard-Daniel said "I love you, sister." That was music to this mother's heart. I have had the privilege of leading both my children to the Lord.

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

Following The Right Path

Today was the first time we decided to separate completely from our old routine and begin to allow God to develop a new pattern for worship apart from what we have always known. Until now we figured we would continue in a local church waiting for some kind of message from God saying, "OK, go now and do something different!" But we realized that this already happened when we were called to come out here in the first place. So we took what we already loved to do and became more intentional about it; turning what was a recreational activity into a worship event.




Today we hiked the Little Greenbrier School trail to the Walker Sisters cabin, about a four mile hike. Before the hike during breakfast we read Psalm 119:105-106 together, "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn and confirmed that I will keep your righteous judgments". Then on the trail we talked about the path we were taking. I asked the kids, "what would this trail look like if it were a moonless night? What if we decided we would forge our own trail and go tromping off through the woods? Why is it important to follow the path already laid out here before us?" The kids already know how to identify several types of plants such as Mountain Laurel, Dog Hobble, and Rhododendron. The know that Dog Hobble are thorny vines that can stop a pack of dogs running through the woods. They talked of the "Laurel Hells" that can trap hikers. These are patches of growth with Dog Hobble and Mountain Laurel (a tangly vine) on the floor of the forest and Rhododendron at body level above the ground. Getting lost in a Laurel Hell means getting tangled up and disoriented so that, even seasoned hikers, could get trapped and end up dying of thirst or starvation before finding a way out or being rescued.

By the time we arrived at the Walker Sisters cabin the kids already had summarized the message for the day. The path through the forest is like the path of life and God's Word, the Bible, is the guide that helps us stay on the right path. Choosing to forge our own path apart from God's Word is to end up lost and entangled by bad choices and disorienting voices in our world. But even in the dark times God's Word will show us the way. Through this exercise the kids not only reinforced things they learned about the forest, but also learned to apply this knowledge to their spiritual walk. These little five and seven year old children could repeat a Biblical lesson on a level of understanding they may have never obtained from a traditional church service. I think we are on the right path!

The Power of Prayer

While the kids had "revised morning school", JP took Buddy for his walk. Through several different situations ( a dog without a lease freaking Buddy out, an older man whose dog broke its chain and then lunged at Buddy, the older man getting up to catch his dog, etc), Buddy slipped his collar and ran off. When Buddy gets out of his collar, it's bad. He will not, I mean will not come to you. The bike trail is off of a four lane busy highway divided by a median. JP calls me on the cell phone which I "accidently" left in the car last night. Now I believe it was more Providence than an accident. He says pray because Buddy slipped out of the collar and is now in the middle of this highway running back and forth and sometimes just standing there while cars and motorcycles are driving by him. We immediately got off the phone to pray. I prayed God would put his angels around Buddy and protect him. We went back to work and less than 5 minutes later, JP called again. Buddy had run back to the car, then ran off but eventually came back and jumped in. It was crazy. JP said Buddy was in the middle of this street and it was a miracle he wasn't hit. God answers prayers!

August 27th Streams in the Desert

"Taken aside by Jesus,

To feel the touch of His hand;

To rest for a while in the shadow

Of the Rock in a weary land.

Taken aside by Jesus,

In the loneliness dark and drear,

Where no other comfort may reach me,

Than His voice to my heart so dear.

Taken aside by Jesus,

To be quite alone with Him,

To hear His wonderful tones of love

'Mid the silence and shadows dim.

Taken aside by Jesus,

Shall I shrink from the desert place;

When I hear as I never heard before,

And see Him 'face to face?"

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Have you ever felt like this?

This is Buddy's pose during a thunderstorm. He can hear thunder before we hear it. Sometimes in life, we feel like Buddy. We feel like hiding behind a bunch of pillows in a safe place. We are overwhelmed by the world and we're scared. But we have a promise to carry with us.

Jesus says to us in John 16:33
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Can you take it in stride when the floor's caving in?

It is hard to take life "in stride". Tera's room had a mysterious hump in the carpet which has gotten worse. The dip near the hump is now very weak and saging. So basically it seems the floor in that spot is caving in. JP has reassured me that won't happen but with everything else we have had to deal with it is hard to take it "in stride". We have left a message for the landlord about it but we will have to wait and see. As I was on the verge of tears this morning, I sat down with my devotional books- a mom's devotion and my Oswald Chambers "My Utmost Devotion Bible". That is usually where I head when things to me look darkest and it always seems there is something there that speaks to my situation. The first thing I read was that God is our rescuer and we need to wait patiently for him to deliver us. It may not be the way that we would like but He never abandons us or deserts us even when the floor around us seems like it is caving in. In Oswald Chambers the devotion was entitled "The Shape of the Vision".

It reads:
Thank God for the sight of all you have never yet been. The vision is not an ectasy or a dream, but a perfect understanding of what God wants, it is the divine light making manifest the calling of God. You may call the vision an emotion or a desire, but it is something that absorbs you. Learn to thank God for making known His demands. You have had the vision, but you are not there yet by any means. You have seen what God wants you to be but what you are not yet. Are you prepared to have this "iron dug from central gloom" battered into "shape and use"? "Battering" conveys the idea of a blacksmith putting good metal into right useful shape. The batterings of God come in commonplace days and commonplace ways. God is using the anvil to bring us into the shape of the vision. The length of time it takes God to do it depends upon us. If we prefer to loll on the mount of transfiguration, to live on the memory of the vision, we are of no use to live with the ordinary stuff of which human life is made up. We have not to live always in ectasy and conscious contemplation of God, but to live in reliance on what we saw in the vision when we are in the midst of actualities. It is when we are going through the valley to prove whether we will be the "choice" ones, that most of us turn tail; we are not prepared for the blows which must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision.

I definitely will not tuck my tail between my legs and run away from the battle but I will learn to rely more and more upon the One who has already won the war!

Wisdom from The Railway Children

I am reading The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit to the kids one chapter at a time. They really enjoy this classic story of three children whose father is falsely accused of a crime and imprisoned. The children are not aware of what has happened for most of the book. The book focuses on their adventures as they move into a very modest country home by the railroad with their mother. Their mother writes stories as a means of support for herself and the children. This is a quote from today's reading:


(Mother talking to Peter)
"Don't you think it's rather nice to think that we're in a book that God's writing? If I were writing a book, I might make mistakes. but God knows how to make the story end just right-in the way that's best for us."

"Do you really believe that , Mother?" Peter asked quietly.

"Yes," she said, " I do believe it- almost always-except when I'm so sad that I can't believe anything. But even when I can't believe it, I know it's true-and I try to believe it."

I really like that conversation. When things are hard, we know that God is working everything out for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Let our hardships and struggles give Him glory always and point others to Him.

Overtime Shuffle

We haven't updated recently just because for me personally I haven't really had a stream of creativity. JP worked 14 hours of overtime last week and is set to have 7-8 by the end of this week with July Fourth off. This will continue he has been told until the end of the month. He comes in an hour early and stays an hour late. This does help us financially but we are all tired. JP accidentally overslept this morning and had to rush out the door to be an hour late for work. He is a very conscientious worker so he felt really bad about it. I felt bad for him too.

My constant prayer has been for God's provision during this difficult time and He has been faithful to do it through JP's work and other means we never planned on. We have to trust God that right now He is using this overtime as a means of provision for us. We also rely on His promise that He will not put more on us than we can bear. God is taking care of us each step of the way and we are learning more and more to trust Him. After you have been a Christian for a long time, there is a temptation to become comfortable where you are and not realize the extent to which we are so far from where we should be. This experience has shown me that to grow closer to God we have to be willing to be tested by fire and refined as silver.

I was reading in Psalms 66 yesterday and these verses stood out to me:

For you, O God, tested us; You refined us like silver.

You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs.

You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water,

but You brought us to a place of abundance.

Did you noticed how many You's with a capital there are in those verses? God uses hard times in our lives to bring us into a place of spiritual abundance. I am learning to let go and let God work and move. He is so much more equipped than I am.

Update

The temptation of having a blog is to create elaborate posts that are attention grabbers like magazine articles. Well...I like that so I will keep doing it! But for this post I thought I might update all our friends and family. First, I have to tell everyone that I have gone to a first shift (7-3:30) position while I wait for an opportunity to re-apply to Denso Manufacturing. I was not hired on my first attempt most likely due to my lack of manufacturing experience. I was told I could re-apply in six months. I had been working second shift but Christy did not like being home alone at night so I requested this change and they granted it. I did move however from the electronics plant across the street to the starter/alternator plant. It's more like a traditional factory and much more relaxed. I like it a lot even though I caused three trays of starter housings worth about $120 to fall on the floor on my first day!

Another recent event was our District campmeeting. It was out at the Foothills campground (our Nazarene campground). The services were held in an open-air tabernacle. Now that was an experience! I actually liked it. It wasn't too hot even though the weather was blistering. The fans and shade of the building along with a cool breeze made for an enjoyable service. I got to meet our D.S., Rev. Ron McCormick and his wife as well as many other folks on the district. They were all exceptionally nice to us and welcomed us to the district with open arms. I was surprised, after all we came moving in without an invitation and without taking a church, I assumed they would at least be suspicious. We explained we were on a Sabbatical and felt God leading us into some non-traditional ministry. They were very encouraging and offered to help in any way they could!

Things are going fairly well at home as well. We got the fence up in the back yard and I fixed a doggie door in the screening that originally was for some kind of small toy dog. I added some 2x4's to make it bigger for Buddy to use and he seems happy. He goes out back, does his thing and is back in about 3 minutes waiting at the sliding glass door! He is warming up day by day but is still very shy. We knew it was time for the doggie door when somebody in the neighborhood was putting up siding with a nail gun the other day and Buddy was so scared that he ran up the porch steps lept over the metal part of the porch door and came right through the screen! How he did it I will never know! I am still trying to figure out how he jumped from five feet of steep steps through the door without cutting himself to pieces on the sheet metal.

The kids are enjoying summer vacation from homeschooling (and I think Christy is too). They are learning somethings to earn special treats like going out for ice cream. Daniel learned how to write his name and count to twenty and Tera learned multiplication table up to 3 (multiplied by 1-10). Christy said she was able to complete all the multiplication problems 0-3 written out randomly in less than three minutes! And in our devotional time we have been learning scripture memory verses. For months now we have been working on Psalm 23 adding a verse every couple of weeks. Daniel and Tera were able to recite Psalm 23 clearly and perfectly word for word! These kids scare me sometimes.

Well I suppose that's all the latest news I have for now other than what we put on our other blog posts. Thank you all for checking in on us and praying for us.

The Puzzle

My kids have been mesmerized by the miracle of the jigsaw puzzle lately. Our house is decorated by a scattering of Spiderman, Strawberry Short Cake and Dora the Explorer puzzles. They are amazed by their new found ability to assemble the pieces of a puzzle into the picture on the box.

I feel like our life has been like that lately. People always email and call saying, "so what is it your doing? What's this all about?" And I have to go talk to the East Tennessee D.S. this week and explain the same thing. The truth is, its a puzzle. The pieces are all scattered around and we are just not sure how they will fit together. Creative worship elements that we used in our prayer stations are one piece. They were fantastic and helped, not only adults and teens, but even our children connect with God in new and exciting ways. Story telling, object lessons, participatory worship is another puzzle piece. And even though I don't ever plan to be on any kind of platform (stage) again, it seems that teaching (even preaching?) is a gift I cannot ignore or assume has no purpose in my life.

A third piece is our fascination with house churches (or at least my fascination). The truth is we have never been to one as a family although I had visited one with newly saved friends as a teen. I visited that church very reluctantly while I still partied and was getting into trouble. Some friends of mine who were car-hoppers (guys who went around stealing whatever they could from unlocked cars) and drug users. They walked up one day and said, "we got saved!". We looked at them strangely but could not deny the incredible change that came over all of them. They invited and invited until I agreed to attend this house church. I only remember sitting in a little apartment that was so crowded with folding chairs that the back of mine was pressed up against the front door. And I remember the prayer which I believed, even at that time of rebellion, that it was a message right to my heart from the lips of God warning me of the certainty of spiritual death had I chosen to continue on my path. I have never forgotten that intense moment. Since then, I have come to understand the kind of church structure that changed the world in the New Testament was very different from what we call "church" in the Western world today. Of all the different movements I have looked at, it seems the freedom and intimacy that house churches produce is most faithful to a New Testament understanding of "Church". What the house church folks are fond of saying (and I agree with totally) is that the "Church" is wherever two or three are gathered be it on a park bench, over a cup of coffee or in a room with worship music playing.

A fourth piece of the puzzle is our desire to connect with GenXers or following generations who are looking for something real and intense in a relationship with God. They are just not finding it in our traditional churches or the "new fab" contemporary churches that are "seeker sensitive" or trying to be so "culturally relevant". Following Jesus means that you can't be relevant to everyone. Jesus hand picked a small group of disciples as an inner-circle. He explained things to the culture that they couldn't possibly understand and would only provide in-depth explanation to his little inner-circle. Yes, he ate with sinners and was in their world, but he was never "of" that world. He always freaked them out and called them to something more! I have a desire to be in the world, walk, work and live alongside people who don't know Jesus. But I always want to freak them out with excessive love, compassion, caring, giving, and being. If they see my life and think, "he's one of us", then I missed the whole point of Christlike living. Today's generations are not fooled by religious churchy folk who want to carbon copy others but neither are they fooled by pseudo-christians who curse, party, and listen to vulgar anti-Christian music just to be accepted by non-Christians. (oops got off on a soap box, sorry....well, not really sorry:)

Finally, (and I probably missed one) there is the worship music. Christy and I have found such joy with a simpler form of worship music than we are used to. Now don't panic, we are not anti-hymn people! But lately we have been worshipping with music that has the sound of folk but the words are simply Psalms set to acoustic music (acoustic guitar, other strings and hand drums-no drum kits or electric stuff). Its a very inclusive, 'world-music' sound that is very awesome and seems like it will have its place somehow.

Other pieces? The Smoky Mountains? The East Tennessee District of the Church of the Nazarene? Denso Manufacturing? Nebo Mountain? Who knows! We have no idea how these pieces may or may not fit together. We don't know if there are pieces that are not yet revealed or that we have not recognized at this moment. Right now the puzzle is laying scattered on the coffee table of God's throne room and He's smiling.