Kristin McLendon

Kristin McLendon: May 2008

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Here We Go...

I started off this week telling Robert that once Sunday (when we leave for New Orleans) gets here…I’ll see you in August in Marietta. The closer Sunday has gotten the more I realize how hard this is going to be. For the first time since the summer of 2004 I don’t have Robert by my side walking every step of the summer with me. Wiping my tears when I get mad at the enemy, there to pray for me, there for me to look to and ask “What’s Jesus telling you?” If I let myself think too much about it, I get anxious. Can I do this on my own? Can I lead without knowing I have my number one fan right there behind me interceding on my behalf? Granted, he will still be praying for me. And I know I’m being a little dramatic…but it is our first summer as a married couple and we’ll be apart for most of it. When Robert is asked why he’s not going, his response is, “My wife quit her job, so I have to work.” Which partly is true, but Robert knew back in February that the Lord wasn’t calling him to go with us this summer. It took me a little bit longer to submit and listen to what I didn’t want to hear from the Lord. Dang it, I hate it when he is right.

So here we go…I know I’ll be fine…I’m just a little sad. But Jesus has been speaking to me all week about how He wants my sole attention. I’m coming in expectation of Him. I desire this week to be life changing for these kids and I will lay down my selfish desires of wanting my husband with me. Jesus is my Heavenly Bridegroom and I will fix my eyes on Him.

This week has been a little different than a normal week before a mission trip. He’s been showing me once again the importance of being still, so in that I’ve been trying to be diligent…I’ve been reading Elisabeth Elliot’s “A Chance to Die-The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael.” And as usual I’m stuck on one paragraph. One paragraph that I’ve been dissecting and asking the Lord to pierce my heart with. I’d like to share it with you.

“To be like Christ. To displace self from the inner throne, and to enthrone Him; to make not the slightest compromise with the smallest sin. We aim at nothing less than to walk with God all day long, to abide every hour in Christ and He and His words in us, to love God with all the heart and our neighbor as ourselves…It is possible to cast every care on Him daily, and to be at peace amidst pressure, to see the will of God in everything, to put away all bitterness and clamor and evil speaking, daily and hourly. It is possible by unreserved resort to divine power under divine conditions to become strongest through and through at our weakest point.”

So here we go…desiring to be like Christ. Please pray for us while we are gone. We will return home late Saturday, June 7th. I’ve given Robert full reign of the blog while I’m gone and I won’t even be able to check what he writes (which worries me) but should be entertaining for you! I have been worried about what he will be eating this week (I mean I’m gone…but that also means he’s home by himself for a week). I’ve spent way too much money on processed foods for him and even reorganized our pantry so he could find things (my friend Ashley would be so proud!). He also will be updating our New Orleans blog with prayer requests as I get them to him…so please keep up to date with that too! http://rhumcyouthinneworleans.blogspot.com

Have a blessed week seeking to displace the self from the inner throne to enthrone Him!

posted by Kristin @ May 31, 2008 1 Comments

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

I Don't Know

So… What does moving to the big ATL mean for me? I don’t know. Kristin has accepted a nice job at a wonderful church. She will be working for a good pastor, at a good church, with a great youth program. What will I be doing? I don’t know. The sad thing is that Kristin’s new job will not be making enough money for me to catch up on my Jerry Springer and Oprah time. I will have to find a job, and guess where I’ll be working??? I don’t know. Kristin will get a nice office where she can hang her UGA diploma, and I may have to tack my Middle Diddle (associates) degree on the wall at home with safety pins. I wonder if she’ll let me put it above our bed. I don’t know. Along with working, I’ll be trying to earn my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Kennesaw State University. When will that be? I don’t know. Will I get accepted? I don’t know (I don’t know why I wouldn’t – unless I just really think to highly of myself, NAHH). What will I do with a degree in Psychology? I don’t know. I have looked into some graduate schools and some masters programs that interest me.

We will be probably living in the Kennesaw area. Where in the Kennesaw area? I don’t know. We have been looking at several options. We have scoped out a few apartments and houses via the internet, but soon we will be making a trip up there to check it all out. This opportunity is one of many uncertainties (as you can tell). I begin to get stressed most in life when I begin to try to plan and make sense of the future. What will become of me in this new arena I get to play in? Where will the 4.5 million dollars come from that we will need to catch up on everything we are about to undertake? My umbrella of security doesn’t stretch to the northern regions of Atlanta. I find something new everyday that seems to overwhelm me with the task of moving. Getting married is fun – the best thing I’ve ever done – but this whole growing up thing is for the birds.

God has blessed us with this wave of uncertainty, and He will be the one to put it together. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, so if He gives me 100 hills of cattle, I can feed Kristin, myself, and Abigail (our cat), sell some of them and pay Chase Credit Card Services the total 5 million that I’ll be in debt (going into the move with ½ a million in debt). So you see… God’s got it all taken care of. So why am I worried? I don’t know.

posted by Robert @ May 27, 2008 4 Comments

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Our first attempt at a blog...

The first time I created a blog name for Robert and I, I entitled it mclendonsinthehill.blogspot.com. The very next day the Lord began opening the door for us and told us we were going into a transition. Lesson learned...you get too comfortable when you title the blog with where you live. I learned my lesson. So our new blog title is this one...The McLendon Whereabouts. Our prayer is that this blog will be a tool to keep those who love us up to date with what's going on in our lives. We pray it will be an encouragement, a place for discussion, a place for sharing life, a place to pray for one another...no matter where the Lord has these McLendons!

Since our first attempt at titling a blog...we have had a time of being on our faces before the Lord. It's been a time where there were very painful migraines, but a level of desperation of wanting to hear His voice that we wouldn't trade for anything.

We now find our 5 years of ministry in Richmond Hill coming to a close. The word "bittersweet" has been what I have been using as of late. It is sad to leave the ones I love...the kids I have fallen head over heels for and have taken a permanent place in my heart...but the Lord wants to bring them a new voice...so I will step aside. I will lead our two mission trips, New Orleans, June 1-7 and Costa Rica, July 7-15....and then my final day as Youth Minister of RHUMC will be July 20th.

Robert and I will remain in RH till after August 2nd when my baby sister gets married and then we will begin our transition to the Marietta/Kennesaw area as I will join the staff of RiverStone Church (www.riverstonewf.org). We are very excited for this opprotunity the Lord has laid before us and can't wait to see His total plan unfold!

We ask for your prayers during this time! Please pray for the Youth Ministry of RHUMC...pray that the Lord would bring who He wants here to take these kids to the next level in their relationship with Him. Please pray that Robert would be able to find a job and we would be able to find affordable housing! :-)

Thank you for loving us!!!

posted by Kristin @ May 25, 2008 4 Comments