We ate a lot of ice cream during this trip, which I'm sure is going to quickly become a tradition of ours anytime we are hanging out, being that it's always our desert of choice. We did a lot of fun things, but Monica and I also did a lot of praying while in Billings.
One of the reasons for taking this trip, besides visiting our good friends, was also to survey the land and see if the Lord would have us make the move from Kalispell to Billings. To be honest, Monica and I wrestled more with this decision than when we decided to move from California to Kalispell. To us, it didn't make sense to have to leave a place that we believed God had called us to stay at for a while. I have always said though, ever since we moved here, that we really did not know if we were going to be here long and that God may call us to leave, I guess we just did not expect that to happen so soon..
We spent all Saturday being driven around the city by Tiffany, and I was personally overwhelmed with the size of Billings. It had been maybe over a year since I had been in a big city with traffic, with so many stores and so many people. A part of me wanted to crawl back into the shell that I called Kalispell Montana, living the slow paced life that I had gotten used to. I could not help but think about how the pace of this city was so fast, everyone was in a hurry, it reminded me a lot of California.
We drove around to various parts of Billings, looking for a place that we might be able to rent but everything we saw was out of our price range.
By the end of Saturday night I could not help but think that this could not work and that it felt nearly impossible to take on the task of moving from Kalispell to Billing for the new Fresh Life Campus. God quickly reminded me though, that when the Israelites surveyed the land, all felt it would be impossible to take on because of the giants they saw.. all except for 2. The 2 Israelites believed in God's words when He said that He would give them the land, so the 2 Israelites believed that this battle could be won, that they could overcome the giants with His help, and that the land would be theirs. These two were Joshua and Caleb. In my mind I was thinking of the circumstances being the giants, and how Matt and Tiffany were Joshua, and I could not help but wonder that through this story God was trying to tell me that Monica and I could be Caleb, along with the many that will take the step of faith in moving to Billings for this campus.
The next morning, we woke to watch a very inspiring message given by Pastor Levi, basically talking about praying and asking God to cause the sun to stand still so that we have the chance to complete the task He had called us to do even if there's a risk of the sun setting before we can accomplish it. This message spoke volumes to me, but what God used to really jolt my heart to really take this radical step of faith was a vision that He gave me while we prayed at the end of the message.
The vision itself, is basically a vision for the Solis Household, what God expects of the Solis Household, which is basically divided into 3 points.
1. Be Willing to Leave: Jesus reminded me of the story of the guy He told to follow Him, and how the guy responded by saying that he wanted to bury his father first. Many, including myself, believe that his father was not dead, and that this guy was simply making an excuse to stay behind and not follow Jesus. Some speculate that just maybe this guy wanted to stay behind so that he could inherit his' dads money, thus making him financially stable and make it 'safe' for him to follow Jesus, with him being able to afford travel. Jesus responded to this by saying, 'Let the dead bury their own'. Circumstances like being financially stable or even having a secure job cannot be reasons to hold us back, we must be willing to leave the comfortable and 'safeness' if Jesus is calling us to. We must keep the perspective that our security is in Jesus and not the stuff of this world like money, work, apartments. We must be willing to Leave when Jesus says, 'Go'.
2. Be Willing to Mobilize: Once we leave and decide to follow Jesus, we also have to keep in mind that just as Jesus said, 'Foxes have holes, birds have nest, but the Son of Man has no place to rest His head' we also do not have a place to lay our heads on this earth. We have to understand that our greater citizenship is in Heaven, and that we are pilgrims passing through on this earth. The Foxes and Birds have homes here on earth, their holes and their nest, but our permanent residence is in Heaven, not here. So with that understanding, we believe that God does not want us to settle but instead continue moving as well as He pleases, understanding that the cities we want to hold on to will eventually burn. In the end if we were mobile, we will not have regrets about holding on to the things that will eventually pass away.
3. Be Willing to Live out the Great Commission: We have to keep in mind that Jesus is pursuing His 100th Sheep, while leaving behind the 99 Sheep who are safe and well taken care of. In the Parable of the Lost Sheep, Jesus points out that the Shepherd LEFT in order to pursue the Lost Sheep. So if we are willing to leave, and we are willing to be mobile, Jesus through us will find His lost Sheep and bring them home. There are many Lost Sheep scattered across the world, and they will not be reached unless we leave, are mobile, and are available for God to use us to reach these Sheep. After all, this is what it is about.
While in Billings I definitely sensed that God needed to impact that community for Him. I sensed a lot of pain and anger, I sensed a lot of ignorance toward Jesus Himself. I sensed deeply that this city needed Jesus. And we would love nothing more than to be apart of this launch in Billings.
Everyday we lean more and more toward a yes answer, and as of right now we are Snakebirding our way through figuring out how this is going to work. We will pray and ask God to make the Sun stand still so that we may do what He is calling us to do, and we expect to see God send down many giant hail stones to knock out the giants that seem impossible to lay down flat on their backs dead.
We would definitely appreciate the prayers for us, this Campus, for Matt and Tiffany, for laborers at this campus, and the staff in general at Fresh Life. A part of me feels like this will be a challenge, but with God, all things He wills will come to pass, and there's no stopping Him.
***UPDATE: We have decided to move to Billings***
Wow…. will continue to pray for God's leading!
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