Journey of Shawn Peoples' Walk in Grace!

     The past seven days have been brutal. It started for Michelle and I last Saturday as my brother Clint was not recovering well from a surgery I had 10 years earlier. As Michelle and I had the joy of committing to marriage two great friends and disciples, our minds were on Kettering Hospital and Clint's life and family. I didn't feel well last weekend while I fought a cold, a little fatigue and carried a little worry how Clint's surgery had turned from routine to life-threatening. I went to bed sick and woke up the same.      Sunday morning was much like Saturday night. My head was a little foggy and I knew that Clint wasn't doing well. As we prayed for him during the first service at church, I rested in the Lord, as I knew He is able to overcome any problems Clint was having in that room. I trusted that the Lord was holding his wife Michelle, together. Soon, early in the second service, it became clear that Clint was in trouble. Pastor Tom and I stopped the se

     Well, some of you have been in suspense long enough. I sent out a little Facebook teaser a couple of days ago about an announcement we must make. However, before I make that announcement, I have to admit the last 3 weeks have been incredibly emotional. There were days of great highs which would be followed by days of great lows. Michelle, the kids, and I have been on this emotional rollercoaster for the last month. We hope we are stepping off of it for a little while, just so we can get out of feeling like we have sea legs. So let me fill you in on what's been going on and then give you what you have been waiting for ... or maybe you haven't, but I am going to give you something anyway.      About 3 months ago, I was contacted by Vanderbloemen Search Group as they searched for the next Lead pastor of a church they had been contracted by. I had sent them my resume a little over a month earlier and they felt I might be a fit. After an initial interview, they set me up with

     I have sat down in-front of this computer many days and nights ... written blog posts only to delete them the next day. This season of waiting on the Lord to reveal what's next for our family has been (as I wrote in my journal today) heartbreaking, peaceful, painful, wondrous, and helpless. Sermons I have preached on the meaning of faith are being applied to my life currently and I have to admit that it is not always fun to go through those lessons. If you have wondered where I have been and why I haven't been writing, I haven't had the words to say or write ... although I have had an incredible peace in these last months. So here's a little update. Would you pray for us while you read?      "God wastes nothing", these words have both haunted me and thrilled me in the past days. For the past two months, I have been interviewing for a lead pastor role in another part of the country. Last week I would have told you, we were moving to that city with a chur

My wife is currently asleep next to me as Mother's Day has come and gone. The woman in this picture is incredible. She is the mom to five of our kids, an adopted mother to many of the students we have lead, and the type of woman that I pray my daughters turn out to be. She is God's grace to me. Years ago, when she and I were dating, we came to a push point in our relationship. Unfortunately for her, I was a self-conscious, jealous, fearful, controlling, and immature man; probably more like a little boy who had to have everyone serve them. My jealousy in our dating days has pushed our relationship to the brink of ending. As we sat in the car and cried, she made a decision not to end it, allowing me to continue being her man. Every day, I am thankful she continued on and pushed through my foolishness. I know I don't deserve her, and yet here I am, married to her for almost 20 years. 21 years ago, I almost forfeited one of the greatest gifts from God, but today I am remind

     It has been 2 months since my last writing honoring my son and the man he is becoming. Tons of happened in that time and the Lord Jesus has been incredibly good to us in growing us and challenging sinful patterns in my life and our family's structure. However, He is not talking to me about our future. Thus one of the reasons I have not written in a while ... well that and I have not made time for it because I was angry. I have been acting like a spoiled brat for the months of January and February. I have been angry that God will not open doors I wanted or has given me answers I desire. This has been my plight these last months and what began as an incredibly promising year, has quickly become filled with angst, worry, and anger. Yes, this has been my walk to begin this year and yes, I am admitting to you that I have not walked faithfully trusting the Lord for our future while He has had to drag me through this time. Yes, God has been astonishingly quiet about our future but no

Today is Caleb’s 13th birthday! 13 years ago, I anticipated his arrival with great expectation and desire. As much as I loved our daughter Haleigh, I wanted a son to share my likes and hobbies, to lead and train into a man, and to be a companion one day as he would begin manhood and have a family. In the last 13 years, I have not been disappointed with Caleb for a minute. He is everything I desire to be in a man; calm, caring, gentle, strong willed, steady, loving, and intelligent. In many ways, Caleb is like me and in many other ways he is not. We share a common love for analytical challenges. When he was under a year old, people would think he was mad because he would carry this scowl about him, however it wasn’t his emotion showing but his mental process showing while he attempted to analyze the people interacting with him and the situations he was experiencing. I could see in his eyes then, and still see today, a man engaging the world before speaking, and loving