Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare. Psalm 40:5

I had been telling people that the decision to plant a church had been a two year process. Some thought that we had been making plans to plant for two years. That was slightly problematic in that I was on staff as a children's pastor at the time. Such was not the case. We didn't actually make plans until mid-September of 2007.

When the calling to plant a church came in September of 2007 it was really the destination on a path that God had marked out for me long before. How long before? Who can tell? Ultimately--before the foundation of the world. At that moment in September I could trace that path back two years.

Like the Psalmist--"the things you planned for us no one can recount to you . . ." While looking back over two or three years, I see traces of this call. I see the gathering of the wave. I see the gathering swell of September. At other times I see large waves breaking. Like the favor with which we were received at Rio Vista Middle School by the principal. (cf. James' blog). Or the person in Atlanta, Georgia who has been praying for a church plant like ours for the Ventura/Oxnard community for the last two years. John, the fantastic friend and world-class coach for River Park Community Church. The invitation to be part of the Growing Healthy Churches Network. That we are even talking strategic partnership with North Point Community Church. When I see these waves break I know that their beginning was not on the shore, but somewhere in the ocean far from land.

At these times, I begin to understand "who can recount?" While my call came in September of last year, and while I could trace it back two years . . . before that was God. God was aligning people along the path long before the call . . . for such a time as this. So . . . "Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done."