Good-bye Family and Friends

Dear family and friends,

     I want to take my first blog post to thank you so much for all you have given me to aid me in my walk with God.  You have all been very supportive of my desire to go to the mission field and I am extremely grateful for it. 

     I have wanted to go to the mission field for a very long time, and God has known it, so He began to teach me. He has used you to teach me practical things, construction, mechanics, and resourcefulness to name a few.  Though those are skills I will no doubt use in the mission field, they are the least of what you have taught me.  Through you, I have learned how to work, give, serve, and most of all love. 

     I thank God that he put you all in my life, I could never have gotten this far without all the work you put into me.  You have been a wonderful representation of what God's loving kindness looks like, and how full ones life can be when completely given over to God.

     To my friends, I would like to encourage you to pursue your dreams, don't put God in a box, He can do anything! What He did for me is proof of that, against all the odds with my health issues, He did the impossible. God cannot use a man or woman that chooses to sit still; run straight for the goal, but stay open to the idea that God may have something else for you.  Don’t get too much into what you are doing that you miss God speaking to you.  As you very well know, He will speak through strange people and even stranger circumstances.  Together we have been through so much, but still our friendships have endured. I will miss our crazy adventures we have been on together, especially the life-threatening ones (you guys know who you are J)

     To my family, I am going to miss you so much!  Life is going to be so different without spending evenings playing with Vesper, or laughing at jokes by Brian Regan, or making memories on a beach in Outer Banks, North Carolina.  I am sure we will see each other a couple of times during the year and I am sure they will be filled with laughter and fun. But I will miss having access to that all the time.  You have all been behind me as I have pursued the mission field, and I am very grateful for it.  Thanks so much for all you have given me while I was living here in the Village.

     To my much larger family:  Rose Creek Village has been my home for nearly my entire life, from the beginning in Geneva, FL to where we are now in Selmer, TN.  The adventures of our lives together have been full of excitement and have played a crucial role in shaping the man I am today.  Every adult has been a mentor to me and helped me walk God’s path, every peer was there to pick me up when I fell.  I am extremely grateful for the send off you all gave me last Sunday at the Gathering.

     There is very little I feel that I can say to express my gratitude to everyone, words just don’t quite do the trick.  Just know that I am excited, and honored to be called by God and to be sent by His people on an adventure filled with unknowns.  I am honored to have known you and lived among His people for as long as I did.  Thanks so much for your support and encouragement. To God be the glory!

Your friend and brother,

Austin