A Maxwell Transition.

Alasha and I are planning to move back to the Southern part of the US to be closer to family. It is something we have been thinking about more and more with the birth of our first child, Jonah Tobias. Jonas is now almost 10 months old and we have had a challenging year just wanting to be closer to family. The best part about this year has been God’s consistency and friends being there at exactly the right time. Mmm, I wonder if that has to do with how awesome God is. (The answer is “yes”, just in case there are any questions.)
We will leave having spent just shy of 4 years here in the great Northwest. We will miss it. It has been both fun and challenging. The most challenging aspect is what led to our decision to be closer to family. I have learned so much here in the Northwest and this is my second stint here. The toughest thing for me will be the fact that most of my closest friends are located here in the Northwest. We will both miss the incredible relationships we have made here.
PUMP church has been one the most incredible ministry experiences I have ever had. I will miss PUMP church in a big way. I love working with children and their parents and this has been the opportunity of a lifetime. My co-wokers have shown me love and I love them back. There is nothing like doing ministry pedal to the metal for periods of time to help strengthen your character. The friends and family we have gained here are priceless and will be sorely missed. Of course, there is so much of God’s beauty here to see, that you would have to come here and travel exclusively to take it all in so you can bet we will be back out this way again to visit friends and blend that with some coast and mountain visits.
I will continue to work in full time ministry. The need is growing 10:1 for people of God to do their best to spread Jesus so I will continue to do that in Arlington, Texas. I will be the Associate Minister at Park Row church of Christ working in the areas of worship and community outreach. I will share more about that in later posts. For now you can visit the site and keep us in your prayers. Alasha and I are excited about working with the Park Row. I have enjoyed working with both PUMP and Park Row in this transition. Park Row has come out for the past 3 summers in a row to work with the PUMP Summer Program and they have been a blessing. If I can remember I will post sometime about how PUMP and Park Row’s relationship started. I am blessed to be blessed by PUMP and sent into the next phase of our ministry. Sometimes that does not happen, but God is good and always faithful. Thank you, PUMP.
We will be moving sometime in April so again we solicit your prayers. It will be crazy moving 2135 miles back across the US. Pray that we get chance to visit and tell a lot of people how much we love them and will miss them. Pray that God continues to use us here in Portland until it is time to leave. Pray that we can do as much pre-packing as possible. Pray that we will continue to grow as couple and just pray that we make it through a move with a 10 month old. Alasha and I are going to try and go to a retreat in Southern Louisiana before we get started at Park Row so pray that we can pull that off financially along with the other financial responsibilities we want to put in order before we leave. Finally, at least for now, pray that God continue to give us the strength to make it through this holiday season. It will be the first for Jonah and we are excited. He won’t know it from any other day this year but – Lord willing – we will just be together this year as a family.
Remember we have 4 months until we move so we would love to say goodbye to as many of you here in the great Northwest as we can. With love and peace that only Jesus can bring – God bless.