Watch the video at the end of this article.
Introduction
It is the reason my family and I are here in Texas for this season of our lives. We did not come because everything was clear, comfortable, or carefully planned. We came because, little by little, I began to feel God calling us into something deeper. That calling did not arrive with a complete map or a list of guarantees. It came quietly, through prayer, through circumstances, through conversations, and through a growing sense that staying where we were might be easier, but stepping forward would require faith. So we chose to move. We chose to trust. And now, day by day, we are learning what it means to walk into the unknown with God.
Texas has become more than a new place for us. It has become a classroom for the soul. We are immersing ourselves in a different culture, meeting people whose lives and traditions are not exactly like ours, and discovering new ways to make faith part of everyday life. We are learning that following Jesus is not simply about what we say we believe on Sunday mornings. It is about how we treat people, how we respond when plans fail, how we forgive, how we serve, and how we carry hope into ordinary moments. Faith becomes real when it enters the kitchen, the workplace, the road, the hard conversations, and the quiet decisions no one else sees.
More than anything, we are learning how to follow the cross of Jesus. The cross is not a symbol of comfort or personal success. It is a call to surrender, humility, sacrifice, and love. It reminds us that living for God may require us to release our pride, our need for control, and even our carefully protected dreams. We are discovering that true life is not found by holding tightly to what we want, but by placing everything in God’s hands and trusting that His purpose is greater than our own understanding.
This season is also teaching us how to share the new hope we have found. Hope is not something we want to keep hidden inside our own family. It is meant to be carried into the lives of others, especially those who feel discouraged, forgotten, or afraid. Sometimes sharing hope means speaking about what God has done. Other times it means listening without judgment, showing kindness, offering practical help, or simply being present when someone feels alone. Ministry does not always begin on a stage. Often, it begins across a table, in a sincere conversation, or in the willingness to love someone right where they are.
A dear friend of mine, Paul, understood this before I did. A few years ago, when I told him about the calling God was beginning to place on my heart, he said, “Rory, you already have a ministry. God’s just waiting for you to step into it.”
Those words stayed with me. For a long time, I wondered whether I was ready, qualified, or strong enough. But perhaps God was never asking me to have every answer. Perhaps He was only asking me to say yes.
So here we are, in Texas, learning, surrendering, growing, and walking forward in faith. Not perfectly, not fearlessly, but faithfully, one step and one prayer at a time. Amen, brother Paul. I’m stepping into it.