A couple of our best friends signed an offer sheet on their first house yesterday.  And that, my friends, is exciting.  Why?  Because you now have the perfect excuse to buy tools, and as I’ve said before, tools are awesome.  As a bonus, when you have a basement, you have plenty of room to store tools.  Life is perfect.

Ideally the procurement of tools happens over time, and it’s always important to start with the basics.  You need a good set of screw drivers and a good drill.  If you’re going to do any type of car work, a set of sockets is the necessary next step along with a full spread of combination wrenches.  There are always little things like side cutters or pliers to purchase.  And then there are power tools, oh yes, power tools.

The real fun starts to occur when you specialize in certain areas or open up your skill set and learn something new.  Pretty soon you’ll need a tile saw, or a drywall saw, or monkey wrenches and a propane torch.   This is when the magic happens.

When it comes to specialized tools, few fields surpass car maintenance.  I have special sockets, and crow’s foot oxygen sensor wrenches, and pilot bearing pullers and, well I’ll stop now in case Leah reads this.  My new favorite arrived in the mail last week.  It does one thing, and one thing only.  It’s a valve spring compressor for the BMW S38 and S14 engines.  It’s also 12″ long and would be a good substitute part for a captain hook costume.

I like the scene in “Gran Torino” where Thao stands in awe of Clint Eastwood’s character’s tool collection and frets that he can’t buy all those tools.  As Clint says, you do acquire tools over a lifetime.  I have my grandpa’s 3/8″ socket wrench in the basement.  Good hand tools often outlive their owners.  As much as I was impressed by Eastwood’s collection even he didn’t have a bridgeport mill and TIG welder.  Wuss.

Muahahahahahahahahaha.  Be afraid Leah, be very afraid.

pretty much the cutest thing. evar. leah at the ‘little miss jr. america’ pagent, 1985.

At church today Leah and I are sharing that we’re leaving Quest in order to hopefully churchplant in the near future.  It’s bittersweet.  On one hand we’re excited for the ways God may lead us over the coming months and years, but on the other, the thought of leaving Quest and many of the friendships we both have formed over the past years is difficult.

Leah has been at Quest since almost the very beginning eight years ago.  She may have been the first non-Asian visitor, and in the years since has held just about every possible position from cafe manager to lead associate pastor.  She’s worked hard, built many lasting relationships, and contributed greatly to the ministry of the church.  From the outpouring of affection she’s received today it’s clear than many people feel the same way about her that I do, and as a husband it’s always heartwarming to see your spouse appreciated.

I joined Quest five and a half years ago, just after completing college.  At the time attendance was around 200 people a week and we were meeting in the cafe.  It’s amazing to see how much the church has grown and changed in the time since.  Collectively, we’ve shared so much life together here.  We’ve grown so much here.  For that matter, we became “we” here.  It’s not a time in life that either of us will ever forget.  It’s been a privaledge to take part in it all, with all of you.

By marrying Leah, I knew there would be a time when she’d be called to a different congregation.  It’s an odd situation when one spouse’s change of job, even within the same city, can have such wide ranging implications on both spouses, their social circles and faith communities.  In leaving Quest, I’ve come to re-realize how special are the people who make up this church.  It is a blessed and gifted congregation brimming with unique talents and characters, musicians, photographers, humanitarians and poets.  And great, great families.  We’re greatly encouraged by your faith, your honesty and your willingness to share yourselves with us.

We’re at a little bit of a strange place in that we’re not yet approved to take the next steps towards the next step.  We still have some assessments to take with our denomination and conference.  We’re still visioning how we imagine the new church could be.  We’re excited and nervous and scared and hopeful all at the same time.  While we can’t share non-existant details at the point, we’ll be excited to as soon as we can.

It’s a blessing to be able to leave something you love on good terms, and in a good place.  I’m excited for Quest’s next steps and hope that the congregation and the leadership keeps true to its powerful and risky vision.  We pray for every manner of blessing on Quest, just as we ask the same for whatever our new venture becomes.

Thanks to everyone who has walked this journey with us.  You’re amazing.  We’ll miss seeing you every week, but it isn’t goodbye, just a redefinition of friendships, and regardless of where we’ll all be led, you’ll be in our hearts forever.  The upcoming month here, our last, will be very meaningful.  We hope to make the most of it.  More to come soon

XOXO