After months of planning, praying, and preparing, the day has finally come.
We still have not received any word from the bank on our house so today we are moving into an extended stay hotel. It is similar to a one bedroom apt. and we were ‘lucky’ enough to find a great monthly rate! I will start my Student Teaching the 8th and Genesis Church is starting the 24th! Needless to say, we are going to hit the ground running!
Today marks the next milestone in our journey and even though nothing has turned out the way we pictured it in our minds, Jason and I are truly thankful for and humbled by all of God’s provisions, and the journey has only begun! I am beyond excited to see how God uses Genesis Church to touch the lives of the community!
We love you all and thank you for love, support, and prayers!
-Rachel & Jason-
** For more on Genesis Church go to www.onlyonecity.com **
** If you are interested- our new address at the extended stay hotel is:
11801 High Tech Ave, Suite 515
Orlando, FL 32817 **
“I will go, Lord send me
To the world, To the lost
To the poor and hungry
Take everything I am
I’m clay within your hands
I will go, I will go, send me.”
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
-Philippians 4: 6&7-
For the past 3 months Jason and I have been waiting to hear from the bank about our house. We have been planning, preparing, and praying but still we have not heard anything. As you can imagine, we began having feelings of worry, stress, and discouragement. About 2 ½ weeks ago God laid this verse heavly on our hearts after we were reminded by many of our friends and family that God’s timing is perfect.
Perfect. His timing is just that. As we marinated on that truth, our prayers began to change. We had become so focused on this house, we had lost sight of all the ways God was already providing for us.
We are human, and therefore, we still have moments where we begin to wonder why it’s taking so long, but we write this with thankful hearts. We are thankful for what the Lord has been teaching us through this. We are thankful for how our marriage has grown in the past months, and we are thankful for the reminder that without our Lord, we can do nothing.
We ask you to continue to join us in prayer. We know one thing, and that is we are being called to Orlando, FL to play a part in Genesis Church. God has given us a peace about the situation, now we are just excited to see how He provides! Even if it does not look like what we are expecting.
Many exciting things have been happening with Genesis Church!
We now have a facility to meet in!
We have had about 5 new couples join the launch team!
We have had audio equipment donated or sold to us at an amazing price.
We have been receiving a lot of support from the surrounding churches.
Aaaannnddd we are just under 2 months from our Launch date of January 24, 2010!
Things to be praying for…
1. Jason & Rachel- we would hear from the back about the house.
2. Tim & Tandy- their house would sell.
3. Jim & Katie- would hear about his job transfer.
4. Josh & Katie- to get settled after their move, that Alaina would adjust quickly, and that Josh would find a job.
5. John & Kristie- pray for their newest addition & for Kristie’s pregnancy. J
Thank you all for your continued support and prayers. We love you all and will continue to keep you updated!
P.S. Here is our Wedding Day Trailer!!
Thanks Lauren and Mark Estes for our wonderful wedding video!!
We’ve all had the feeling. After being gone on a trip, there are few things better than finally being home. Well, when you are living life in two different places, which one do you call home? The answer is both.
Jason and I are currently living in my parent’s basement while I finish up this semester of school and Jason his last 2 months of work. We are trying to soak up our family and friends as much as possible before the big move in December. In the past few months…
we went tubing in alligator infested waters
one of my best friend got engaged
we got a little rebellious with some of our closest friends
and we had to say goodbye to two of my favorite people in the whole world as Davis and Caroline went to college.
On the weekends that we are not in Georgia, we are in Orlando preparing for our new life. Labor Day weekend the entire Genesis team was in town for our first community event. Saturday we spent the day at the UCF tailgate where we handed out about 500 free meals to students on campus. We were able to meet and connect with the people at the tailgate. If you want to see a little bit of our day you can go to www.genesischuchorlando.com.
We drove home Sunday night and were back in the car Thursday headed back to Orlando. This time… it was time to shop for a house! Friday morning we woke up and headed out to a day full of houses. House after house, hour after hour, the day flew by and yet we still hadn’t found “the” house. We had 3 houses left and were feeling a little discouraged. We walked into the house and fell in love. We had found it. Our future home. We placed an offer and the seller accepted! Now we wait for the bank, which could take up to 60 days. We love our house and cannot wait to make it our home.
We can’t even being to describe the sadness we feel as we face the realization that in a mere 2 ½ months we will be leaving the place we have known as home for so long. Although we know we are just a state away, we are leaving our wonderful family and amazing friends. While we are full of sadness, we are also full of excitement and anticipation as we embark on this new journey into the unknown. We are going where God has called and we know that he will provide in ways we have never dreamed of.
As we leave our home in Georgia and begin to make a new home in Orlando, we ask for your continued prayers. We ask that you pray for our friends that are on this journey with us. Many of them need their houses to sell and job opportunities to present themselves. Also, please be praying for Genesis Church as we continue to reach out to and love on the people of Orlando.
After months and months of meticulous planning and endless nights of dreaming the “big day” was finally here! On the morning of June 6th I woke up with a stomach full of butterflies and I was overflowing with so many different emotions! I was excited, nervous, anxious, and most of all, I was thankful. It was the day I was going to say “I do” to the most amazing man I have ever met, the only man that has truly ever held my heart, and I could hardly wait!
The day flew by as if someone had pressed the fast forward button and before I knew it Jason and I were waving goodbye and were on our way as Mr. & Mrs. Jason Chandler.
The next morning we boarded our flight and headed to Mexico where we spent an entire week doing absolutely nothing! We enjoyed every second of our trip just soaking each other up.
Now that we are back Jason and I have started preparing for the hardest/most exciting/scariest thing that God has asked either of us to do. This past October Tim Grandstaff approached us about moving to Orlando to help plant Genesis Church. For years now Jason has felt called to be a part of a church plant the only question was when and where. We both took time to pray about the decision separately and then together and it was obvious that God had given us the same answer… Go. So we will. This December, as soon as I am finished with school, we will be packing up and moving down. As excited as we are to be on this journey, we are not naïve enough to think that it will be easy. We are preparing our hearts and marriage for attacks and tough times but we are also anxious to be amazed and humbled by God’s provision and never failing love. We ask that you will keep all of us embarking on this journey together in your prayers!
