THE TETHERING PLACE

Hello my dear friends! If you could see me, this would be my expression:

I am tickled to be with you again. And I’m about to throw my arms around you in a big hug! I have missed you!

To be sure, this online space has been neglected for a time. Not out of laziness or lack of desire, but as a result of my focus being elsewhere. Four small and one tall man, a growing business, the privilege and responsibility of preparing and speaking at retreats and churches, all woven into a season of discernment about the promised lands the Lord is leading us into has caused for this beloved little blog to be shelved for a time.

But for weeks now, like the little tug from a persistent toddler on the corner of my shirt, these blank pages have been calling. After speaking on Mother’s Day at HCC {possibly the only Mother’s Day sermon that started in Revelation} and closing out the most glorious weekend at Young Life’s Discipleship weekend in Canada, {where high school students heard from the Lord in trajectory shifting ways} my speaking calendar is complete until late August and my brain has begun to shift into thinking in blogposts. My heart is aching to share what the Spirit has been speaking and teaching to me, and this space that God invited me into years ago has been patiently waiting.

But I ran into a conundrum.

Have you ever not spoken to a dear friend {who lives too far for a quick visit} for a period of time and you are so excited to reconnect but then you keep waiting til you have an hour of free time so you can be sure to have enough time to really catch up? Only to keep putting it off and putting it off because an hour of free phone time is an illusion?! And then you feel kind of bad and you wish you just picked up the phone a month ago for even just five minutes so you didn’t feel all the pressure!?!

That’s how I have been feeling.

To be sure, I have started multiple blog posts… wanting for an explosion back onto the scenes and feeling the need to post a petite novella to update you on ALL the things…. but I felt today like it would be more appropriate to pick up where we left off, like old friends who need no apologies for distance in time, but who share an unspoken and grand appreciation just for the fact that they are together again.

So here are a few highlights, and in the days and weeks coming, I hope to unravel the story of where were are now and what God is teaching us, and where we are headed. I hope you will come with!

First off,  Marshall and I met with some dear friends at the UW campus and our gem of a friend, Char Beck snapped a few pics for our Jamieson Coaching website, designed by the wonderful Chase Blood.

 

I am so excited to shift my business to primarily focus on college students! Marshall will have a more limited role, but considering all the work we do together, we were excited to have us both featured on the site. If you are a college student in the Seattle Area {or a parent or friend of one} I would love to get you on the books for this coming fall! I will take a limited number of students to be sure I can be deeply invested in your life, and will consider a few remote students (hello FaceTime) so contact me to get started!

Second, in the wake of 4 months of discernment, meeting with numerous people in ministry and mentorship roles, going through life plans and asking a multitude of questions of each other and others, we see clearly that God has divinely directed our steps. What we thought would be a month “sabbatical” of sorts turned into four. I could tell so many stories of God’s provision interwoven with late night conversations that went something like “what are we doing with our lives!?” all undergirded with a ridiculous amount of peace and a deep knowledge that nothing is wasted… Suffice it to say that this past month, we have begun work with Centered and we are so excited for the next chapter of life and ministry to unfold!

The beloved and trusted man who hired Marshall on staff with Young Life just over 11 years ago, Jeff Vancil, hired him yet again {and this time asked me to take part too!}. The mission of the Centered team is “raising up the next generation of Jesus centered leaders” and could not be more in line with Marshall’s and my heart for discipleship and focusing narrow and deep… While we get to primarily focus on millenials, we feel privileged to be invited to be a part of a dynamic team, spanning 6 generations, that is focused on Jesus as our leader and is about the next generation in all of us.

As an example, this week I am participating in a Centered event entitled “Women Discipling Women” that I am so very excited about. We will be hearing from Romanita Hairston-Overstreet, former VP of World Vison US and current Program Director at the Murdock Charitable Trust on mentorship and gifting women with training (and goodies!) to equip them and connect them on thier discipleship journeys.

{If you are a woman in the Seattle area and want to come, PLEASE DO! Rally your girls and get your buns to Bellevue on Wednesday at 7. Details here…}

Third and final, here is the crew:

This is my most favorite picture of late, depicting all my favorite men in my favorite place in the world. I cannot wait to tell you more of the amazingness that occured at Malibu Discipleship Weekend just weeks ago. Marshall served brilliantly and humbly as camp manager; I had the great privilege of speaking and teaching, we had my dear friend Krista Hengesh of Live Salted come as our rockstar nanny {and photographer} and teach a seminar on Living Eternally Minded; we witnessed a multitude of students hear God’s voice for the first time and deepen their relationships with Jesus and one another. I have never witnessed more spiritual warfare or seen more personal transformation across the board, from speakers to kids, and it was all adventurous and glorious and filled with the fragrance of the fullness of life.

A couple we met in January, the Browns, who were full of wisdom and encouragement and truly prophetic words for this season left us with these words: whatever comes, do it as a family. 

As much as it is crazy and chaotic and full of mishaps and interruptions and tears and whining {and I am not just talking about our kids!}, we are trying.

More to come on that, for sure, but for now, I am just glad we got a chance to reconnect!

So, how are you!?