2 Weeks ago...

The past couple of weeks have been a real whirlwind. I have gone from The Hague to Madrid, Madrid to The Hague, then to Manchester, then back to The Hague, now to Kirchheim (Hessen) Germany. Wow, That is a full two weeks, and I loved every minute of it...well, most minutes.

Madrid was a great trip. Neither Cecily nor I had ever been there and I have wanted to go for a long time. We stayed with my friend Amy (http://www.christianassociates.org/Our-Staff/amy-swacina.html)who works with Oasis Madrid (http://www.christianassociates.org/Europe/oasis-madrid.html) a CA church plant. We also met up with April and Kelly Crull who work with (http://www.spaindad.com/) another CA church plant. We had a great time with all of them and we enjoyed touring around Madrid for a couple days as well. For me it is always helpful to see our church planters in their context, with my job it helps me understand their challenges better and helps me to get an image of how I can support them from my desk. Also, they are just great people and I love hanging out with them and swapping stories.

When we returned to The Hague, I had a sermon to preach(http://www.crossroadschurch.nl/messages). I had been working on it, but the next couple of days were dedicated to this effort. I spoke on Psalm 23 and enjoyed the talk very much, which may sound conceded, but its not. I felt as though God spoke to me through the words of David and in this time of my life where there are so many changes and uncertainties. The words of Psalm 23 have been a real comfort to me. Also, I feel as though my comfort with public speaking is growing, I still get incredibly nervous and anxious, but less so that when I started a year ago.

After I spoke on Sunday, Cecily and I went shopping for a suit for our wedding. I am hoping to buy a nice European black suit to strut down the isle in. This way it will be less like beauty and beast and more like beauty and the well dressed beast. After that I got on Skype to talk with my cousin Andy and his fiancee Jill. The week after I return from Germany I am heading off to Minnesota where I will have the pleasure of officiating Andy and Jill's wedding. I am so excited to do this I can't wait. But it did make for a very full Sunday.

Manchester England was a trip to connect with two people, Richard and Nick. Nick is one of our European Board members and Richard is a data protection Lawyer who is going to be helping us out with some legal advice, not counsel, advice, so then we can't sue anyone...haha, just kidding. Unfortunately, Richard had an emergency at work so didn't get to spend the days with us, but we all managed to make it down to the local pub for Quiz night, where we promptly won the losers trophy and were recognized as “the americans who have come to save us.” It was all in good fun and we had a great time.

The other highlights from England were our trips to the Lake district and a day in Wales. Wales was a beautiful drive, we saw an old half finished castle and then went to a very strange place. I forget the name, but it was a Mediterranean type city right in the middle of wales, it was kitsch and it was so weird. The Lake district on the other hand was simply Brilliant (as the english say). We climbed a 1200 foot mountain and over looked valleys, lakes, waterfalls and amazing green and brown pastures it was a truly spectacular hike.

When we got back from the hike, Cecily and I got on Skype and talked with a very nice man who agreed to rent his apartment to us for one year. We were both amazing and very relieved, in our own ways. Cecily shows this by bouncing all over the room, smiling, telling everyone, laughing, kissing, hugging, expressing joy wherever she goes. I usually say, “this is great.” smile once, maybe twice then move on to the next issue. We are a great couple!!

This was a big deal, our budget for an apartment in Arlington, VA was $1,000 per month, which most people laughed at us. When I started looking at apartments I realized why they laughed. We were looking at 1 bedrooms and studio apartments for $1200 - $1500. This was just too much for our budget and both of us were getting pretty nervous, but we just prayed and as Cecily's parents graciously kept look at apartment after apartment for us, they found this place. We got a 2 bedroom, kitchen, living room, full-bathroom, located ¾ mile from Cecily's school (so we don't have to use the car and save some $$$), we got all this for $975.00 a month!! It was a real miracle and both of us knew it. We had been looking for apartments for 2 months, Cecily's parents had been looking for 2 months, there are no apartments in Arlington for $975.00 per month, certainly not any 2 bedrooms, but sure enough Cecily will be moving into one on August 26th. Praise God.

This past month has been really special. We have been able to travel a lot and we will always cherish those memories and the friends we have. Yesterday we said good bye to our time in The Hague together. Cecily is moving back to D.C. To start school and I will be in The Hague till mid November. This chapter in our life is coming to a close and a new chapter is rapidly approaching. As quickly as you can turn a page we will be married and living in D.C. I can't wait!

Blessings to you all,
Jason

Psalm 23

Here is a link to my last sermon on Psalm 23. This is a reflection on Psalm 23 and is meant to help people learn how to pray through the Psalms. In this Sermon I try to unpack the depth of Psalm 23 and allow space for God to speak to us today through David's words.

I would love to hear feedback and interaction about this sermon or other Psalm experiences.

Thanks,
Jason

The Last week

July 10, 2010

Ok, I am back at it or at least trying. I had coffee with a friend of mine today and we were both commenting about how much writing takes out of us. I don't know if I am strange in this regard, but really, I have wanted to be updating my blog for the past year, but when it came down to it I never had the energy. Well, today I do. I think having some things in my life getting settled, with lots of others still up in the air, unknown. Whatever the reason, I am going to blog again today.

I have toyed around with different structures and styles of blogging and I think for me, the best is doing one week at a time. So here goes. My week.

We started off the week with our nations independence day. This is not the first, nor will it probably be the last time I celebrated the 4th of july outside of the U.S. This year, Cecily (my fiancee) and I celebrated by relaxing. We had thrown a big engagment party the night before and we just relaxed all day Sunday. We had lunch with some friends, went back and each took naps. Then we headed off to the beach to visit another friend and catch the sunset. It was a nice end to a very relaxing day.

Monday we had small group, as we do every week, this week it was at a couple's flat that is new to our group, they are from Liverpool and have the great Liverpool accents. Our small group has been breathed into with new life in the recent month. We have added 5 new people, 2 couples and 1 single. I love our group all the more. We have always had a transitional group, but through that the coming and going, the spirit of the group has remained, open, honest and supportive. We have good discussions about the Bible, faith, theology, our lives and then we always come around each other in prayer to end the evening. It really is a special time and one that is a lift to myself.

Tuesday we had the third of our four premarital counseling appointments. This one was a bit more intense than the other two, mainly because we went through the Premarital inventory that we each filled out. Question by question we went through our strengths as a couple, and our weaknesses, we went through our personal triumphs and failures. Even though Cecily and I had discussed most of these things before, I realized we had not discussed them in quite a while and I think some things that were starting to get buried have been dug up, thankfully, but now we need to keep working on them, and celebrating them as well. Needless to say, this was a draining meeting for both of us. Thankfully though Holland beat Uruguay that evening and all was good...wink*

Actually, we were both tired, and Cecily left on Wednesday for Poland for 4 days. The time apart has not been easy, but I am always a fan of time apart, with in reason. I miss her terribly, but both of us have had time to think and pray. Even though we talk on the phone a couple times a day, the separation is good.

While Cecily is in Poland living the dream, I am back here in The Hague. To celebrate my bachelorhood for a couple days I decided to eat some bad spinach and get food poisoning. Yes, this was not a good idea, but I did it anyway, and I paid for it dearly. I do not like getting sick and stomach sickness is the worst for me. Thursday I was sick all day, but I toughed it out till about 5pm, then I had had enough, and gave up, cancelled my evening appointments and just rested. Something I probably should have done at the beginning of the day, but if I did that then I wouldn't be stubborn now would I?

Friday I felt much better, but still was really weak, not have eaten anything for 24 hours. I spend the day getting my strength back. And what a better way to spend your time when sick, than watching movies. I watched two really thought provoking movies, “Unthinkable” (which you better have a strong stomach to watch) and “The Good Shepard” (no, not the one with Matt Damon, but the one with Christian Slater). “Unthinkable” was a movie that addressed a specific ethical question, basically, if millions of people's lives are at stake, it is ok to do anything to save them? Good question. “The Good Shephard” was about a priest who through a series of regrettable events re-discovers why he became a priest. Both of these movies cause me to think personally in very different ways.

The first was about the nature of truth, belief, and knowledge. Wrestling with what I know to be true, with what others know to be true, and how the relates, does it relate, yes the wonderful abstract questions of life. Is there a God? Well, there is and I believe I know who God is, and I believe that God is truth. I guess that settles that...

The second movie caused me to think back to the beginning of Seminary. Why did I go to Seminary, why have I become a Missionary? Where is my ministry going? What does God want me to do? I wrote down two questions in my notebook: 1) What is my fear? 2) Where is my doubt? I think with all the has gone on in the past 9 months, I have not been examining myself in certain areas. Along with writing I have not had a lot of energy to do lots of things I want to. Not that I regret moving to the Netherlands, or getting engaged or working through personal problems, but I severely underestimated their toll on me. So, like more people out of seminary I ran into the mission field with guns-a-blazing, only to be pulled down to earth very quickly.

Unlike the character of Christian Slater, I haven't had a series of regrettable events to wake me up. I have had tough times, be sure of that, but for me, the good things have drained me. I think for me this has always been something I struggled with. I expect the bad then good happens and I have such a hard time excepting it. Don't get me wrong I except it and deal with it. This is not a cry for sympathy or pity. I have had a great life, hands down. My question is why can't I except that fact, what is it that is keeping me from entering into the good things without hesitation?

Next Steps...

Hello everyone,

I have had a very exciting and life changing spring. I am engaged! On April 25th I asked Cecily Hutton to marry me and she said, “YES!!!” and then she cried, haha. I hope that is a good sign. We are both very excited and have appreciated all the prayers and support you have given us. With this engagement comes many changes. I will be married, which as most of you know will change both our lives completely. I will be moving to Washington D.C. this December. This will be a year short of my two year commitment to C.A. in Europe. Before I get into the logistics of all this, please know that this decision to get married and move to D.C. came with much prayer and discussion, and it was not entered into lightly. We both have peace about making this next step in our relationships and we both have peace about moving to D.C. for the next two years of our lives.

What does this mean for me and Christian Associates? I am pursuing a position with C.A. on our U.S. Operations Team. I would like to remain with C.A. My boss Dudley has known about the possibility of me moving back early for a couple months and he is very excited to help find a place for me on the U.S. Operations staff. I hope to have a position detailed out by August of this year.

What does this mean for all of you? For all my supporters I want to thank you for the money, prayers, and encouragement you have given me over the past couple years; from when I started my journey with C.A. through the present and hopefully continuing into the future.

What am I leaving behind? While I have been in Europe these past nine months, we have been able to accomplish most of what I had planned to accomplish in two years. We have cleaned up our Europe office and made it paperless. This means our office can be operated by laptop and is not confined to a rented office space. We have cut operations cost, which allows us as an organization to put more money into our church planting, and we have been able to hire more support staff, which will allow us to recruit, train, and support more church planters. The last task to wrap up my time is to find a replacement for my position. I have been praying from the start that God would raise up a European to replace me. I ask you to join with me in this prayer. My position is at a place where it can be performed from anywhere in Europe and that opens the door to many more people who could do this job. I am able to move back to the U.S. knowing that God has done good work here and that I am leaving C.A. Europe operations in a better state than when I arrived.

What is ahead for Cecily and me? We are planning to get married December 30, 2010 in Washington D.C. Cecily is starting graduate school this fall at George Mason University in the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution program. She will be pursuing a degree in Conflict resolution and social development. We will be living in Arlington, VA for the next two years. After that time we are both open to the plans God has in store for us.

When I look back on the last year, I can't help but shake my head. I can't believe I am in Europe, I can't believe I am getting married, and now I can't believe I am leaving Europe. I truly feel as though I am on a journey in which God is leading me. I would never have envisioned this path for myself. I am excited about what is next for Cecily and me in our lives and ministry. I hope and pray that you will continue to join us in this journey.

Tot Ziens (Dutch way to say good-bye)
Jason Cutshall

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I am Engaged!!!

Yes, it actually happened I got Engaged!!!!

Spring time update

The last three months have been full of novel experiences. I have done everything from helping my girlfriend move from the U.S. to the Netherlands, all the way to attending a funeral for the four year old son of a friend of mine. There have been highs and lows, singular experiences and some that are becoming normal. One thing I am learning during this time is that my “normal” is changing rapidly and drastically. I believe God is at the heart of this change.
In the past three months, I have been stretched in the areas of preaching, pastoring and organization. In preaching I spoke on the topic of contentment in any circumstance, not a light subject for anyone, but two weeks before my sermon, I attended the funeral of four year old Ian; he was the son of a friend of mine. Around this same time the earthquake in Haiti happened. These were two very traumatic events that hit at both the personal and global level. This challenged me to grow in both preaching and in pastoring. I saw how God worked through the struggle in my own life to speak into others' struggles. I also witnessed God ministering to people in their trauma, grief, and shock. This was a tremendous time of growth for my faith and my trust in God. We may not always understand, but we know that God is good, all the time. I clung to this.
The organizational challenge came in the form of our annual global leadership conference, Summit in Portugal. I was in charge of arranging all transportation and accommodation for the 100-plus guests who came from three continents. This was a huge job and a scale with which I had not previously dealt. I was stretched in many practical ways: communication, flexibility, service and patience. Along with a great team to work with, we had a wonderful conference and again I saw God working. This time not in ministering to people, which did happen, but rather in the details, in the technical details. The week of our conference there were three strikes in Europe, two airlines (British Airways and Luftansa) were on strike and thousands of flights were cancelled. Also, all the air traffic controllers in France went on strike, meaning that all planes in Europe had to be rerouted not to fly over French airspace. This happened precisely while everyone was trying to get to Portugal. The potential was for a huge problem, but God stepped into this situation to get everyone to the conference. The story that sticks in my mind is this one: we had two people stranded in Lisbon, because their flight had been cancelled, and they had no phone, nor access to internet. Therefore no way to contact us. In the airport, they happened to run into one of our church planters who was arriving and had rented a car. They made it to the conference on time. It was amazing to see God at work in the details of our conference and again my faith grew in the ways God works.
Now I am back in The Hague and am looking ahead to the coming year. Cecily, my girlfriend, is here and we are enjoying being in the same city and discovering daily life together. I am focusing more on organizing our Europe office to get it to where it needs to be to service the needs in Europe. We are also planning the next conference, Connect, which is our global conference and we expect about 400-plus people to attend. Again, I am in charge of transportation, which will be a big job, but we have another great team with whom to work.
It has been interesting to reflect on how these experiences helped me grow in my relationship with God and also in my plans for the future. God continues to stretch me through work, and I learn daily more of God's ways. I am looking forward to seeing how God will work through our Connect conference, what ways Cecily and I will grow, and what new surprises God has in store for me in the coming months.
If you are interested in receiving my weekly prayer email, please let me know at jascut@me.com.
Blessings, Jason

Contentment in any Circumstance

Here is my latest sermon from 31/1/2010 at Crossroads church. I was speaking from Philipians 4:10-14.

End of the Year Update...in the New Year

As I think back over the past year I am truly amazed by where God has taken me. Thanks to all of you I am able to be living and working in Europe trying to build God's kingdom here. I am also amazed at the real and miraculous ways God has intervened in my life. I am convinced that this is where I am supposed to be and this is what I am supposed to be doing. As I look ahead I am filled with hope that we can create a strong church planting movement in Europe and see the churches here filled not emptied, but there is still a lot of work to be done and we have a long road in front of us.
Hopefully all of you got and read my October letter. I experienced a series of miracles when I arrived here in Holland. When I returned I felt right at home thanks to the community of Crossroads International Church who welcomed me back to The Hague with open arms and lots of help. If anything I have had to make sure to schedule nights to myself, because there is always something going on or someone to have a good conversation with. The church here has become a real family to me.
Along with Crossroads I have witnessed God working in my life in concrete ways. It has been confirming and faith building to see that God is providing for my physical needs here in Holland. Providing an amazing place to stay, a place beyond my wildest dreams. Providing me with an amazing group of friends that I can rely on like family and providing for me ways to share my faith and engage in discussions with people about God. As I look back on the last couple months there is not doubt in my mind that I am doing what God wants me to do and I am where God wants me to be.
I am enjoying the work I am doing, but we are in a real time of transition and severe budget cuts, as is everyone else. The part that makes this challenging is that I am new, my boss is new, and our C.F.O. is new so we are all learning the ropes at the same time. I feel as though I have been taking crash courses in international law, business and culture all at once. It has taken a lot of work, but that is what I like. I don't come home completely drained at the end of a day, but rather energized to learn more so that Christian Associates (CA) can run more efficiently.
There are challenges in the new year, my visa, our finances as an organization and personally, our systems and structure, these are all problems I will be helping to solve in the coming year. As I look ahead I am encouraged. We have made progress since I have arrived. We have a growing pipeline of people who want to be involved in church planting in Europe. This is all very exciting and encouraging to me and gives me great hope for what God is going to do this next year.
I wanted to update all of you on Loren. Loren is the gentleman who showed up at the Crossroads office my first day here and accepted Christ. Loren is doing well, his 6 year old son who is fighting cancer is doing better, he still has a long way to go, but progresses each day. Loren and I have met a couple of times and Loren has brought me on a writing group that he organizes. I have really enjoyed getting to know Loren and seeing how God is working in his life. Please keep Loren in your prayers, he is in a difficult position, with his wife not being a Christian and not being open to going to church. I am hoping that in the New Year Loren and I will go through the Alpha Course together to help him get a better understanding of the Christian faith.
I want to thank you all for your financial support and your prayers. I know times have been tough for everyone economically and that makes my gratitude even greater for your sacrifice, know that you are helping to build God's Kingdom. I continue to pray for you all and have appreciated all the support and encouragement that you have given me. Have a Happy New Year.

Blessings to you all, Jason Cutshall