While I am excited to be getting this trailer this weekend (another piece of the puzzle) I am SO ready to be done with all these 10, 11, 12 hour each way trips.  I am ready to just BE in Pittsburgh and spend time getting to know some people.

Observation: For about the last 2 months or so I have just been aching to get out and build relationships.  I am a very outgoing guy, but as I think through my life experience it normally takes me a while to warm up to a new area after a move.  So I’ve got this internal struggle going on: trying to learn/decipher a new city while knowing I need to (and wanting to) be actively making connections with people in the community.  On top of all that I’ve spent nearly every waking hour getting systems in place for last Sunday’s first service.  And then there’s the traveling….

Prediction: The further I go along this journey of starting Iron City Church, the more I’m going to appreciate all the prep time of the last few months.  Even now, my number one focus between now and Man Day (June 17) is investing in relationships and inviting people to church.  In effect, my prediction is that I’ll be thankful for front-loading the administrative tasks so that I can spend the bulk of my time from here on out on relational tasks…