I've been keeping a secret!

We've been renting a house since we moved here nearly 2 years ago.

A month ago we bought it.

And then Paul renovated it.

And now we intend to sell it.

And move.

In July.

To Abbotsford.

Coming to this decision has been the result of a whole lot of soul-searching over the 5 years of our marriage, and especially over the last year. I shall steal the explanation from Paul's blog to explain it more.

after a great deal of musing, praying, reconsidering, listening, reading...I submitted my resignation today.

both rachel and i have, over the past five years, been intrigued by the idea of tentmaking and what that would look like in todays culture and context. essentially we see a modern day tentmaker as someone who serves in the function or role of leadership within a church without the title or monetary payment. they are like a self-supporting local missionary...if that makes sense.

we will be moving back to the lower mainland and i will be resuming my electrical apprenticeship to earn my journeyman's ticket. our family will relocate in July but i will return to PR for August and then fly back to the lower mainland to put the tools back on in September.

the details beyond this are somewhat vague as we're not sure how God is going to direct our path once we have relocated. we do have some idealistic long term goals, but realize that we need to complete the obvious before speculating what might be in the future.

although we are "getting out of ministry" formally, for us we are actually becoming more intentional about living out our gifts and passions within the local church. our hope is to get connected with a local church and refine our gifts as we carefully embrace ministry opportunities therein. we are also excited to rethink how our family will operate as this transition will mean less flexibility (which i absolutely loved about being a pastor) and vacation time (which was also a generous gift from our church).

our time here in Prince Rupert has been a wonderful experience...the people are incredible and the natural beauty is stunning. whoever comes to replace us will be spoiled on so many levels. we will miss all that was, all that is, and all that which could have been. we realize so much more could have been experienced here and yet realize that looking long term at our life a transition was inevitable.

there's a quote on a picture in my office which reads, "Life is a journey, not a destination." our life has been just that, a journey, and we wouldn't trade it for anything. whatever this next step leads to will be yet another privilege as we participate with God in what he's doing in the lives of people.

Paul made the announcement after his sermon this morning. The initial tears have been shed, for which we're thankful. That part really stinks. Even after only 2 short years, it will be very hard to say our final goodbyes. We shared tearful hugs with some very dear people, and even some who expressed an unanticipated attachment to us. Although it's very tough to leave, we are so confident that God is at work in the hearts of many many people in our little church. We are encouraged to hear that we will be dearly missed but we have their blessing as well.

So. There you have it. For me, I've been dwelling more on the practicalities of this transition for our family. And this is where you can help, if you live in the Lower Mainland area ... We'll need some help finding a place to rent beginning July 1! We have a few ways to search from here but it will be tricky finding just the right place without being there in person. If you know of a basement suite, townhouse, upstairs suite, whole entire house for the price of a basement suite, farmhouse ... anything! ... we'd love to hear from you. Post a comment or email me rzalinko (at) citytel (dot) net or phone 250-624-4174. The essentials we'd be looking for are at least 3 bedrooms, a bathtub (sorry, Kel!), decent storage, room for our gigantic kitchen table, that kind of thing. The area of town really doesn't matter too much. Closer to the core would be nice but if the right place is out of town a bit, that would be fine too. My parents and my incredibly wonderful friend Brenda are willing to help check places out for us. And speaking of Brenda - watch here for an upcoming post titled "Timing stinks!"

I think that's enough reading for now. Looking forward to hearing your feedback on all of this. You can also go to Paul's blog for more discussion on the deeper level of this whole decision.