Transitions: Thanksgiving and Thoughts
Shortly after I married my wife almost two years ago, the Brazil family (plus one German Shepherd) loaded up a U-haul and trekked to Casper, Wyoming.
On February 28th, the Brazil family will load back up in a U-haul for another move --- back to Reno, Nevada.
First of all, I am grateful to the Lord Jesus Christ who by His grace, saw fit to bring my family here. God has done amazing things in my marriage, and in my heart and my mind personally. He has done amazing things with my wife, and grown her into a more ferocious, godly woman than I ever could have imagined. God has also done amazing things in the lives of others, and we are thankful to have witnessed many hearts transformed and lives changed by the Gospel. As I reflect on our time here, so many things need to be expressed in light of our transition. This will most likely be long, but there is so much to be said for our time here. I will address a few people specifically, and reflect on a few things generally.
My marriage was rough (to say the least) when we first arrived in Casper. But even though there was a lot of sin, there was infinitely more grace. "Honeymoon phase"...? We didn't have that! Instead we struggled, and we struggled hard. We learned so much about each other as a couple, and what it means to truly become one flesh in the covenant of marriage. I am grateful to God for not changing our circumstances early on, or zapping our problems away, but instead pulling us through to find the joy of a gospel centered marriage on the other side.
God granted us so much repentance, and gave us the ability to forgive and love each other through all the sin and variables we have been through. We by no means have it figured out. Marriage is forever sanctifying and the growth will continue for the rest of our time together. However, I am grateful to have gone through these things here in Casper where we were forced to depend on Christ and Christ alone. These times forced us to abandon a lot selfishness, pride and arrogance. As a result, we now have a marriage and a friendship that is sustained and defined by the radical grace of God. I am also incredibly blown away that God has grown us this way as husband and wife as we get ready for our first son to be born here in a few short weeks. A gift I cannot even begin to express my appreciation for. To my wife, I am grateful for every moment of our marriage. I love you dearly.
Next, I am grateful for Salt and Light Church, where I have had the privilege of serving as an elder. It has been a joy to serve this amazing community of saints and get to know many amazing people. I am grateful that they are committed to this church not for the dim lights and booming sound system, the fancy facility or amazing band, but for the centrality of the preaching of the word. So to all of Salt and Light Church, thank you for welcoming the Brazil family into the body with such kindness. Also, to everyone that has been a part of Eikon on Thursday nights, I love you dearly and have been tremendously blessed by each and every one of you. I have learned more from this church and from this group than any of you probably ever learned from me, and I hope to see you all again soon. I will forever praise God for my time with you, and will continually remember you all in my prayers.
I want to express my gratitude to Dr. Charles Plant, who has become a dear friend, mentor, and father in the faith to me. I hope that when I get to the end of my life, I will be able to say I possess a fraction of the humility and faithfulness that Dr. Plant does.
At age 61 after nearly 40 years of ministry, he left comfortable salaries and other pastoral positions to plant a church here in Casper. After several years here, he still works a full time job and leads the church faithfully day in and day out. This baffles me, because in a time when church planters are half his age, and tend to be less eager to work while planting, he remains on the front lines of the battle bi-vocationally, and he does it with great joy. I am thankful to have his example of humility, commitment to the gospel and the mission of the church.
I am also grateful for how he has challenged me, and forced me to examine my doctrinal commitments and embedded theologies that were from my Christian infancy. Through much deliberate reflection, he helped to expose and refine my many inconsistencies. If you know me, this did not happen easily. But God has been gracious to grow and transform where I have been in error in many places of Christian thinking and living. The Christian faith, taken even somewhat seriously, is intellectually rigorous, and Dr. Plant has reminded me to embrace this aspect of the faith in a time it is so often dismissed.
If there is a day the wind isn’t blowing in Casper, I enjoy my lunch breaks by the river near my office. One day I was sitting doing some reading, and I saw Charlie’s truck pull up in the parking lot. He jumped out of the truck, with a wetsuit on his lower half and a Best Buy polo on his upper half. He was on his lunch break as well, but he was going kayaking. I knew that he loved kayaking, but a quick 20 minute shred session at lunch seemed strange for the 61 year old Doc! He was clearly excited, eyeing out the water racing down a short stretch of the North Platte, where you can catch him paddling on most nice days of the year. I share this because it is an example of something Charlie taught me about myself and the Christian life.
Shortly after the Lord called me to pursue the ministry almost half a decade ago, I was told that in order to serve the Lord in that capacity, I needed to abandon all my hobbies. So I did, and spent the next few years filling my schedule with every possible ministry activity or leadership opportunity to replace my hobbies. To my surprise, there was not much joy in this. It was foolish idolatry, pretending to be zeal and faithfulness. I hurt a lot of people along the way, including my wife, which is something that grieved me deeply when we first moved to Wyoming. Charlie graciously (and very quickly) unwired the nonsense that was engrained in my mind about the Christian life worldview. Christians, above all other people, should be able to participate in hobbies and the fullness of God's creation, and do so with joy. Why? Because our engagement with those activities goes beyond the experience, becoming praise and thanksgiving, directed to the Triune God of the universe. I had expressed this many times to other people and even in writing, but I never truly believed it, or lived it. Charlie on the other hand was the first example of this I had ever seen, and I am so thankful to have learned this from him early in my life and ministry.
I could go on and on about my love and appreciation for this man, but I must conclude. Charlie, I am so grateful to have labored alongside you for the Kingdom. Thank you for your commitment to faithful preaching, your love for the local church, your example of godly character, and your wonderful friendship. It means far more than you will ever know.
I wanted to write this to basically say that the time here was by no means a waste. I am not moving my family back to Reno because it didn’t work out here. We are moving to Reno because we believe it is the obedient thing to do (for many reasons) as we seek to live and grow as a Kingdom driven family. Even though our time here was short, I have learned and grown in ways that would have taken many years, much pain, and much heartache had we not come when we knew it was the right thing to do. I can confidently say the same thing about my amazing wife, who by God's grace, is now going to be an amazing mother. Thank you to each and every one of you here in Casper, and to those of you in Reno who have loved my family and me so dearly. May God bless you.