Friday, June 27, 2014

We are selling our home. Interested?

OK friends. Gonna give this at try...
Do you know of anyone that wants to live in the Clearlake/Whiteaker/McNary area? Pass this along if you know someone. Pls send a private message if you would like our address. 

This beautiful home on quiet street is move in ready.  Four bedroom/ two bath.  1866 sq.ft.  Nice open floor plan with fireplace in great room.  Kitchen has hardwoods, SS appliances, an eating bar and walk in pantry. Laundry room with storage. Beautiful Large master suite with luxury master bath with jetted tub, double sinks, and large walk-in closet. Fenced in yard with sprinkler system (front and back) and hot tub!! Central A/C and wonderful neighbors (huge plus!). 

$239,900

If you are interested please contact me at erikwithak777 at gmail dot com (never put your email online or spam bots will find it).

 






Saturday, June 21, 2014

The Next Chapter in Our Lives

When I was told "I think it's time for transition" my world was rocked. I am a loyalist and don't look to jump around from place to place. I have been in my last 2 jobs for almost 18 years. As you know, I have been a stay-at-home dad since March 1 and it has been fantastic. I have really enjoyed being home with my kids. (There is an upcoming post on stay-at-home Pappa life).

I want to tell you a story. On Saturday, March 8, I had lunch with my friend Kurt. We were catching up and sharing stories. He asked me what I wanted to do next. One of the things I told him I would love to do is to be a youth pastor leading a student ministry team in a local church. He thought I would be great in that kind of role. An hour later, Scott, the executive pastor at Southwest church in Indian Wells, California called him and told him that their student ministries team leader was leaving and wondered if Kurt knew anyone who might fit the bill. He told Scott that he just had lunch with his next guy!

I didn't know about that phone call until about a month later but Kurt did tell me that night but he found the perfect place for me. He set us both up on an email together and later that week we had a phone conversation just to get to know each other a little bit. We really enjoyed our conversation!

From there he asked us to look at some of the videos from the services that explain their vision for the future the church. After watching that and chatting the next week they asked us to come down and see if the area in the church and the people even fit. If that was the case then we could keep going with our conversation.

Even though we were down during a sandstorm we both loved our time there! We love the people, the area, the vision of the church, etc. We even stayed in the same hotel with bands who are performing at the Coachella festival and got to know son of them. That was pretty cool. 

After praying and seeking counsel we decided we want to come back for round two. That was a week, for me, looking "under the hood" during all of their meetings throughout the week. I also got to sit down with several of the people on their team one on one. It was a great time and I was thankful that Jeanne-Ann joined me for the last weekend of that trip. 

We met with the high school volunteer team for lunch and asked lots of questions back and forth. That was a really cool time. I also spoke at the 1st middle school service and then the high school service. On Monday we drove around with a real estate agent and looked at a bunch of homes before we flew home. Wow!

We chatted at the end of the week and agreed that we should make this thing happen. I'm so thankful that Kynzi and Karston have been involved in the conversation since the beginning. Although it will be a tough departure we all agree that this is what God is calling us to do. 

So, on August 1, I will start at Southwest Church as the Student Ministries Team Leader/High School Pastor! I will be working with a great team in the student ministries world and a great team at the church! Anyone need a place to stay during their next vacation? 😊👍✈️


We sure could use your prayers on a number of things. We need to sell our house! Ugh. We also need to find a place to live there too. We need to find the right home, neighborhood, schools, etc. Transition is not easy. Jeanne-Ann is leaving a job she loves, we are leaving "family" and our home of 18 years, Kynzi and Karston are leaving all they have known (so are Haak and Nyah, but they are getting bunk beds when we move and that is all that really matters...though there will be a point when they don't understand why we can't see some of their favorite people) and we are starting over in so many senses. 

I am super excited about what we are going to, but quite sad about what we are leaving. 

Thank you for your prayers!

Sunday, June 08, 2014

A Dream Come True (baptizing my own kids)

From the day I first knew our children were on their way there were many things I dreamed for them. I dreamed of wrestling with them and teaching them to fish and how to throw ball and how to care for people and how to be humble and how to love. I dreamed of showing them how to love Jesus who loves them infinitely more than I could ever imagine. Which, honestly, is difficult to imagine.

I've dreamed of marrying them off someday to an amazing spouse! I've dreamed of them having children of their own that I get to spoil. One of my dreams became a reality today after inviting Jesus into their life many years ago, I got to baptize them. 

I don't like to make assumptions, so I'm not going to assume you know or don't know much about baptism. Here's what I do know: I know that baptism is not a magical thing. There is no magic powers you get when you go in the water. Baptism is an outward expression of an inward choice to follow after Jesus for the rest of your life. It's also a symbol of our death to sin and our new life in Christ. Going down in the water is like death that Jesus paid as a result of our sin. Coming up out of the water symbolizes the new life that we have in Jesus. It also symbolizes Jesus rising from the grave and coming back to life.


Today I got to baptize both Kynzi and Karston! As a dad, to see my own children publicly claimed that they love Jesus and want to follow him for the rest of their lives is so huge! Trying to keep it together while I was in the tank was difficult. Tears began to well up in my eyes. Of course, if you've read my blog for very long you know that tears come relatively quickly to me. Ha ha. It was also cool to have Meesh and Sean in there with us as their pastors!

If you've never been baptized but have thought about it I would encourage you to consider it and talk to a pastor about it. Or contact me and I would be happy to chat with you about it.



I'm blessed to have some pretty amazing kids!

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