Freedom comes in the most unpredictable ways. For the Israelites, it came after years of wandering in the wilderness---they were set free at last from wandering in circles through the same tired wilderness.

For us, a series of 40's has led to a new found freedom too.



For one, we celebrated our 40th anniversary. I'm married to an amazing woman with whom I've shared trials and joys, rejections and pains. She has stood by my side in so many amazing ways. She's been a complement to the gifts God has given me, and I to her. We just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. In so many ways, our love has reached a new freedom to grow.

That was one amazing “40” we experienced this year.

For another, I celebrated, or at least noted, the anniversary of the 40th year of my college graduation. It was a major rudder of my life, as it marked my complete buy into a path and journey that would take me through 40 years of a bit of my own wandering through the spiritual desert. There were oasis’s along the way, to be sure. But there was something that was not right, something that was too limiting. Something that needed to change.  

On the day of the anniversary of the 40th year of my college graduation, the journey came to an official end.



God set me on a new path. My eyes were opened to see things about myself and that experience that I’d never dreamed I’d see. I'd been trapped in ways of doing and being and thinking that were always going that would be a hindrance and weight to the ministry I believe God has given me. God set me free. This was another landmark turn in "the year of 40's".

Finally, there was another "40" that would forever change our lives. Forty wonderful people who loved us and stood beside us in ways I would never forget. Forty wonderful people who wanted to form a new church, a new way of being a church and doing church.



They were forty wonderful people who wanted Becky and me to journey with them and were sent to us by God to honor us with their love.

We call them the Founding Forty. And they’re the nucleus of what is and will grow to be a wonderful expression of faith.

They’re the Founding Forty of Community ConneXions Church.

The last calendar year has been the "year of the 40's" for Becky and me. And now we’re looking forward to the next 40 years of serving God and living with Him.

Thank God for the year of the 40's! Thank God for all He’s going to do.