In the Desert

We should have known this.
Things are seldom the way that you envision them. God’s plans are His and sometimes He doesn't give an inkling. If we had known what was in store for us..I frankly wonder if we would have gone at all.
Within 2 weeks of our move Dan went to a pastors lunch only to meet one who lived a block away and had an independent charismatic church interested in affiliation with the Vineyard Churches.
At that time all sorts of churches were affiliating. I don’t even know if there was even a process for this. But this really felt like an open door and the reason we came up to Washington. In many ways it could have been exactly what we thought would happen. The church was one of the most loving we have ever been in.
I got to be involved with worship team, cantatas’ and even taught the bible study I had in California. The pastor's wife and I walked every morning and I felt that we were becoming deep friends. I was warned by some folks that she would drop me at a seconds notice. Unfortunately that was the case.
The youth ministry was very good, we thought. Dan’s shift work limited what he could do in ministry. He was worn out from graveyard in the jail and so wiped out that he had little energy. He was put in charge of young adult ministry. These consisted of fallen away kids of the church leaders mostly.
We did have a ministry team from our home town come up. They were pretty much right-on but sort of tactless. Eventually it was clear that our church was not going to affiliate with the Vineyard Churches after all.
There was a tragic moral failure in the church leadership. It was apparent to most but the pastor. After this the leadership decided rich people needed Jesus too. This completely veered off from our vision. At that time we felt we were to leave and plant a Vineyard Church. It was confirmed to me in a dream.
I had never experienced pain like that..my heart was ripped out leaving these dear people. Everyone we knew, besides my unsaved family, were in that church. We left the kids there for the youth ministry. I was working part-time by this time. But making friends was very difficult.
Dan was so depressed. We tried twice to have meetings but it was apparent that we could not start a church, on our own, from scratch. We questioned the call of God. It was a parched time for us. Even with a river running through, it we felt lost in the desert.
The Vineyard had started to unravel and having a meeting with one of the pastors on the other side of the state was devastating for us. He said essentially he couldn't help us. We were totally on our own.
Dan was miserable in work. At that time seniority decided what shift he would have. Low man on the totem poll he was on graveyard for 4 years. Having had a jailer job offered to him when he was younger he refused and told them he would never work in the jail. God was listening.
We would go to the river looking out from the shore talked endlessly about what we had done wrong. It felt devastating to think we had not fulfilled the call of God to start a Vineyard Church.
Dan will tell you how he was made content in His job as he asked God. Being kind of old to start back in a law enforcement career, out of the blue he was offered a position on the road. He became a deputy for Benton County. The depression went away.
So, things began to change for the better. We had to be somewhere so went to our long time friend's church. God told us to join it in fact. They pastored a Congregational Church. Rich in history as the church of the Pilgrims and one of 2 churches in the state that taught the Bible as God’s truth.
I know that God used us there but he also provided a safe place for us..until the one night Dan was patrolling and saw a sign that said. "Calvary Chapel Meets Here".