The Bridge

About 6 months ago I was praying and heard from the Lord that I was suppose to prayer walk from the town I currently live in (Pella) to the city (Ottumwa) where we will be planting a church.  Added to that I heard that I was suppose to walk it 9 months prior to the launch date.

 

Fate would have it that 9 months prior was December 9.  This has been a relatively mild winter by
Iowa standards but the day before I set out on journey it was a high of 33 with some wind.  I quickly talked to those friends of mine that are into the outdoors and borrowed the proper gear.

 

December 8 – 5:30am my alarm goes off.  I spend 20 minutes getting ready drive over to my start destination put on the three ski masks and get out of my car and start walking.  I wasn’t sure exactly how long it was even though I had driven it a number of times.  I didn’t know how long it would take me either.  Eight hours in I had made it to the destination that I thought I would get to that evening.  The drive back was 27 miles.  My legs were tired.  Wasn’t sure what the next day would bring.  The next morning I was dropped off and plodded ahead.  3.5 more hours and 13 more miles I came to the sign that said, “Ottumwa – City of
Bridges�   The name of the church we are starting is “The Bridge� and it is our hope to be just that to a city that is actually quite divided.

 

This past week people have asked what I heard and really I don’t have a great answer for them.  It wasn’t about getting more insight it was about obeying what I had already heard.  It became more symbolic then revelatory.  I remember reflecting after 17 miles on that was the distance Jews & Gentiles would walk from Jericho to
Jerusalem.  The grand total of 40 miles is Biblically significant which is cool even if I can’t assimilate it to the context of the church plant.

 

Today I was with a friend praying through
Ottumwa and meeting people and he thought nine months was pretty cool.  I said yeah I don’t get why it had to be 9 months but it was suppose to be.  Shortly after that we were talking about how my wife is pregnant with our second and it hit us.  The birth process of this church officially started with this walk.  The next 9 months we are preparing.  That doesn’t mean there wasn’t talk or planning taking place prior it just means the Church is growing in hearts and minds just waiting to be birthed 9/9/07.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 15th, 2006 at 5:16 pm and is filed under Church Planting, Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.