unMediocre

Yeah… I just made up a word.

Ridiculosity.

What’s ridiculosity? It’s the state of being ridiculous.

And what’s so ridiculous?

What’s ridiculous is the insane degree to which I have been blessed in the last year.

A little over a year ago, Annette and I decided together to pack up our family and move to Charleston, SC to be part of the staff of River Church.

Since then, we have experienced more turmoil, despair, drama, chaos, adventure, community, growth, blessing, and overwhelming joy than we ever have in our lives.

The past year has been an awesome reminder that He is much more interested in me trusting Him than He is in me paying my bills on time. He is much more interested in me being interdependent than independent. He is much more interested in me being willing to listen than able to speak. And He is much more interested in me living a reckless life that is as daring as His than a responsible life that impresses responsible people.

His belief in me is ridiculous. No one in his or her right mind would trust me to be a mouthpiece for such a critical cause.

As this Good Friday comes to a close, I’m overwhelmed by the ridiculosity of what God has done to care for and grow my family and me. As a result, I am determined that the sacrifice he made when he placed my sin on his Son WILL NOT be in vain.

One of my primary reasons for blogging when I set out was to keep a timeline of what’s happened in my life. I figure if I can hang onto this database long enough, I’ll be able to read it back to help me recall things when I’m old and geezerish.

So with my track record lately, there are a few months of my life will vanish like the wind.

C’est la vie.

In an effort to get back on track, here’s the unabridged version of what’s happening these days:

• We ‘moved’ into our new house in Charleston on Saturday, June 13. We have the best friends in the world. Jon, Joel, and Randy helped load everything up, and then Jon, Joel, and Jason stinkin’ drove all the way to CHS with me to unload and set up. Katie kept the girls while Annette was at a girls’ overnighter/going away party. Then Terri drove Annette and the girls to CHS on Sunday. Forever indebted. (more…)

Big changes are underway here in the Parris household. Yesterday marked my final day of serving as the Program Director at West Ridge Church…and today marks Day 1 of an adventure in Church Planting! Annette and I will soon be packing up our lives and moving to Charleston, SC, to join some friends who are planting River Church in the West Ashley community. I will serve as Arts + Innovation Pastor.

I’ll write about how all this came to be in great detail very soon, but for now you can check it all out on our new family blog, parrisfam.com.