It occurred to me, today, while reading Acts, that much is missed when we fail to report on the works God has done in our lives.

As Paul and Barnabas gathered with the believers in Antioch to report the works of the Lord to the Gentiles, so I will here report the good works of our Savior, that we may together “rejoice and glorify the word of the Lord” (Acts 13:48). And perhaps, as occurred in Pisidian Antioch, “those designated for eternal life [might] believe[]” (Acts 13:48).

This publication is as much for my own benefit as anyone else’s. When the works of the Lord are remembered and held close, resentment and bitterness are held at bay. And perhaps, through my simple proclamation of faith, others will be lead to His light.

So, what you should know about me: I’m a late twenties gal who’s known the Lord from a very young age. My parents, bless them, raised me in the scriptures from day one, and impressed upon me the importance of a life devoted to the King.

It wasn’t until early high school, when emotional maturity caught up with head knowledge, that I dedicated my life to serving Him. What that would mean, I could have hardly imagined at the time.

I have a quote on my refrigerator from Hellen Keller which reads, “Life is a daring adventure, or nothing.” That is how I would summarize my life for Christ. In all honesty, I wouldn’t have it any other way. The Lord has shaped my thirst for adventure into a comfort for embracing the unknown–which is exactly what I’ll have to do in these next steps of my life.

You see after high school, I married my kindred spirit (John), and, together devoted to the Lord, we started the scariest adventure of my life up to that point….a internationally focused non-profit called Jesus’ Economy.  Little did I know that through Jesus’ Economy, would come some of the greatest fruits of my ministry.

Now, three years after starting Jesus’ Economy, God has once again called us into the unknown.

Two years ago, a restlessness began deep in the pit of my stomach. I would lie awake at night and think about it. I would walk around my home during the day, listless and wondering. It was in the middle of the night that the Lord finally spoke to me. “Kalene,” he said, “I want you to start packing up your things. Sell them off and follow me.” These words washed over me like a wave of cool water.

To be honest, they didn’t come as a great shock. We were attending a church at the time with a worship leader who wrote a song called “You Say”. One of the verses reads, “if you say to sell everything and follow you, I am willing to—no matter how it hurts. When you say to pick up my cross and follow you, what else can I do? I’ll live what you say.” The words were like a pinch in my side, but I wanted to honestly say them.

So, a few months later, the Lord called me on those words with his vision in the middle of the night: a cleaned out house. A house ready to go.

That was two years ago, when I packed up almost our entire house, sold off our stuff, and got ready to move. I’ll give you a clue: I’m sitting in the same kitchen I’ve had for six years, surrounded by empty walls and boxes, with very little plan and nowhere to go.

You see, I figured that after I packed up my house as the Lord had asked me to, he would immediately provide the next place, the next task. Well he didn’t. Not even close. He took us on trip after trip to ministry opportunity after ministry opportunity and nothing was the right fit. He got me involved in youth ministry again, and, although that produced much great fruit, it wasn’t the right fit. He had us go down the road of adopting a little girl, only to have her be given to another family.

And now, once again, he’s telling me to get mobile. Get the house ready to sell. Focus on facilitating full-time ministry in my life through Jesus’ Economy. I don’t have a plan. We don’t have a place to go if we sell our house. We have options, but the right one hasn’t popped out yet.

So what’s my theory? Well, I believe that God is calling us on journey similar to Paul and Barnabas. We are setting out to proclaim his good news to the people. We are bringing life and hope to the poor through Jesus’ Economy and bridging the divides of the church through our other non-profit, Resurrect Church Movement. Who cares if we don’t know where we are going? We are being led by the owner of the earth. He has resources beyond number and He’s got a great network of folks who can help us.

My encouragement to you, if you’ve stuck through reading this whole thing, is to take the leap. Devoting your whole life to the Lord is scary, to be sure, but it’s the most rewarding thing you will ever do. The friendships we’ve made through this journey, and the deep fellowship we’ve had with other believers, would never have come about if we hadn’t chosen to let the Lord be our guide.

I’m excited for the next steps, and I’ll continue to proclaim his goodness on this site as the journey progresses.

What are your thoughts? Drop me a line if you like.

As some of you may know, my reading habits are formed by closing my eyes, wandering through the library (carefully :)), and pulling off the shelf. I invite you to join me on the adventure of my three new random books—reviews will follow:

Yes, I admit it to myself. Despite an overwhelming desire for free self expression, I subject myself to be known, scrutinized, and even criticized by the “other”. In writing these posts I have asked myself, “would I care if these very words were read by no one but myself?” Denial (of course I would not care. How absurd! What do I care what other people think of my intellectual property), then acceptance: yes, I would care.

The human desire to be known goes deep. Even the most introverted of us cannot live in isolation. It drives us mad–suicidal even. But what lies behind this need? What drives it?

I have landed firmly upon the realization that Christ himself has nested this desire in our souls. From where else could it have come? The concept of “needing” community with another individual is counterintuitive, hazardous for survival, a dagger to the ego, pushes towards self sacrifice, and practically impossible. Humans cause us pain. They cause us deep psychological damage and years of counseling. They cause us to question the very nature of ourselves. And yet, we cannot live without them.  Imagine how progressive we could be if we were unfeeling, driven robots, needing no approval except our own.

Is that really progressive?

The fabric of humanity is based on the undisputed fact that we need each other in order to advance.  Plain and simple. I need you. You, whether you realize it or not, need me.

Let’s do this thing together.