Tennessee Jed

The Grateful Dead once sang:

"Tennessee, Tennessee, there ain't no place I'd rather be,
Baby won't you carry me...back to Tennessee."

Well, I guess officially I've never been in Tennessee enough to be carried back, but it is a good lead in nonetheless.

Both of you will be happy to know that Jennifer, Cayce, Kyle, Unborn female baby and I are moving. To Tennessee. Nashville, actually. You may say to yourself, "WHAT???" If you are saying that, then this blog is for you.

I predicted to my wife on New Year's Eve that I believed I would have a job change in 2006. Little did I know that God had sooner rather than later on his mind. On January 10th, I received a phone call from Ricky Holoway, a good friend of mine and the Director of Admissions at Lipscomb University in Nashville. I had talked to him about doing some consulting at Lipscomb this year. He said to me, "You know that consulting we talked about? We will do it one better. We want you to come work here." In my mind, I laughed. There was no way we were moving to Nashville. Boy, was I wrong.

But, I decided I had nothing to lose and that the chances were exceptionally slim that I would actually get this job. So after an interview in Abilene and two in Nashville, the unthinkable has happened. I have accepted a job running enrollment at Lipscomb. Wow. They even called it an Associate Vice President position. That made my friend, Mike Shanks laugh. "You?", he said, "Are you sure they interviewed you? Have they met you?" He instills a lot of confidence in me, obviously. (For what it is worth, I shudder and kinda chuckle when I hear him called "Doctor"...so I guess we are even)

Anyway, God was all over this process. We threw all kinds of obstacles in the way of taking this job. He removed every one of them. We aren't even moving until after the baby is born (which was the biggest of all obstacles). It has been truly amazing to see God's hand at work. It has been a whirlwind two months.

So, we are moving. It should be a very interesting time in our lives. We think we will love Nashville. However, I do know that I will never see my friend, Craig Fisher ever again. He never goes to Nashville. Just ask his old roommate, Brandon Scott Thomas. Even with that, I am really excited. There is a ton of work to do. Lipscomb is a school with unbelievable potential. That is a big draw for us. We hope that we can make a difference in Nashville. We will need God every step of the way, trust me.

Kyle and Cayce are so excited about moving. They were a little hesitant at first, but it didn't take long for them to warm up. In fact, the second I told Kyle we could regularly go to Titans and Vols games, he immediately wanted to leave. At least I am raising him with his priorities straight. Geez...

We will really, really miss Abilene and ACU. But it is fun thinking about the journey that God has led us on up to this point as he "carries us back to Tennessee."

By the way, can you quote the Grateful Dead while talking about God??