Last week I showed a “2020 Recap” video during our morning worship time. I felt it appropriate to start with October 20, 2019 since that was the day a tornado touched down on our property and destroyed most of our main church building. It damaged our Coffee House and Healing Center, too. We are grateful that no one was hurt, even though much of the debris was propelled toward the apartments next to our property.
Proverbs 16:9 was one of our Scriptures this past Sunday:
"The heart of man plans his way,
But the Lord establishes his steps."
It is abundantly clear, after 2020, that although we can make plans, those plans may or may not happen, and they most likely will not follow the timeline we invent. We started demolition immediately in 2019, but didn’t get our final numbers back from the insurance company until late February 2020. Asbestos was discovered under the floor tiles, so a hazmat crew had to come in to clear the building. The exterior repairs took much longer than anticipated. Meanwhile, Covid-19 shutdowns occurred and the school where we were meeting closed its doors.
In May, we were blessed to meet in the renovated portion of our main building. Meanwhile, plans for the rest of the construction, required by the City of Midlothian, were repeatedly delayed. We are hopeful that these plans will be completed in the next two weeks. They will then be turned in to the city for approval, and then a building permit will be issued. Waiting. And more waiting.
Children’s classrooms will be completed next, while we are working on the part of the building which was completely leveled. We are hopeful that 2021 will see the re-opening of ALL of our facilities. Until then, we continue to meet, to livestream, to pray, and to believe that God is greater than setbacks, viruses, and even our own timelines.
Yes, 2020 was unpredictable. We are not as far along in the rebuilding process as we thought, but we are determined to “Seek first the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33) as we continue to pray “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
We have experienced so much encouragement from the community, and we are truly grateful. There has been an outpouring of love and finances over the past year. We have been overwhelmed by the kindness of many.
“2020 Vision” may not have been what we were expecting, but we serve a God who is faithful, who loves us, and His heart is for us to share this good news with the world. He is establishing our steps. In spite of all these setbacks, we were still able to reach out to our community as well as support a number of mission outreaches. We brought food and encouragement to the Dallas International Street Church on several occasions. Youth Pastor, Chris Aguilar, and I were even able to take a trip across the border to Mexico with some much-needed recovery tools and other supplies, along with veteran missionary Richard Apfel.
So, this past year was STILL a year of blessing, fulfillment, and MIRACLES. I will endeavor to keep the updates coming as progress is made.
With love,
Pastor Dan
Lighthouse Church, Midlothian
Comments