There’s nothing like coming home. Sunday we celebrated our first service back in our church building after being displaced for more than a year. For months this day had been circled on our calendars, and it didn’t disappoint. Doors opened at 9:00am, and people began flooding into the building. Twenty-eight inches of water in a … More Coming Home
It’s been 375 days since floodwaters first slid beneath the doors of our church building in west Houston. Twenty-eight inches later, the adventure had begun. It cost nearly $500,000 just to gut the first floor, and we lost at least $500,000 in contents. Reconstruction has lasted nine months, and the final cost—well beyond the initial … More Relaunching in Houston
The end of November marks six months we’ve been in Houston. Our kids haven’t completed a grade yet, we’re still looking for a house, and I’m laboring to match names and faces at church. But sometimes it feels like we’ve been here ten years. No one could’ve predicted the well-known events that have unfolded in … More Thankful in Houston
Four weeks ago, Hurricane Harvey made landfall south of Houston. Three weeks ago, I was kayaking up to the doors of our flooded church building. Two weeks ago, some church members were finally seeing the waters recede from their homes. One week ago, we were preparing for our first Sunday service in our new temporary … More Ten Brief Updates from Houston
The days seem to blend together now. Like discernible raindrops slurred into murky floodwaters, the calendar itself has lost its shape. Repeatedly over the past couple weeks, I’ve heard Houstonians confuse the days, just like the rain confused creeks and bayous and reservoirs with streets and neighborhoods and homes. Harvey, and now Irma, are slowly fading … More Hope and Help When It’s Hard
The water has finally subsided from our building. Like Noah’s dove (Genesis 8:12), we now land and begin exploring the new chapter God’s writing for us. We exit this ark with some trepidation, to be sure. But we also step out with great confidence, knowing that God loves bringing a new creation up from the … More The Dove and the New Creation: Our Next Chapter at BridgePoint
I never imagined I’d be sloshing through two feet of brown floodwater in our church building two weeks after my installation service and three months after we moved to Houston. But there I was this past Friday, with my brother Mike, kayaking across the parking lot and gliding through the glass doors and then wading … More Singing in the Rain
The South Texas catastrophe stemming from Hurricane Harvey has just begun here in Houston. The clouds over our home parted this evening and the sun shone through for the first time in five days, but make no mistake: high floodwaters are still filling much of the city, pregnant creeks and rivers are still sending runoff … More Tuesday’s Reflections from Houston
This is going to be an unedited, stream-of-consciousness post. As the nation knows, Hurricane Harvey made landfall along the Gulf Coast on Friday. Since then, rain has been falling constantly in the Houston area. The tropical storm has been hovering in-place over the region, picking up water from the Gulf and slinging it into the … More Help for Houston
On June 1, after a two-day caravan involving an Odyssey filled with kids trailing a U-Haul packed with stuff, our family awoke in the outskirts of west Houston and began the surprising new chapter God is authoring into our half-dozen lives. Now two months into our Texas adventure, I’m ready to start writing again, this … More Relaunching from Houston
BridgePoint Bible Church Ray and Hollington Architects Fretz Construction Photo: John Lindy We are thrilled to announce that God has called me to serve as Lead Pastor at BridgePoint Bible Church in Houston, Texas. Cindi and I just returned from a 5-day candidating trip, and the church voted overwhelmingly to invite us to serve with … More Following the Cloud and Flame: A New Gundersen Journey
I recently read a blogpost I wrote four years ago right before we left to pick up our youngest three children from Rwanda. Like reading an old journal, I was transported back to another time, to a complex of emotions and reflections that seem far gone but whose power still holds sway as I look back … More Gundersen Year in Review (2015)
Summer is finally here, and the Gundersen family is delighted. The joyful exclamation “Summertime!” has echoed around the house for the past ten days ever since the evening I arrived home after completing my final course of 2011-2012. Summer will still be full of important priorities and projects, but it’s quite unlikely to compare with the whirlwind that’s been … More Summertime Year in Review
I enjoyed three main courses this past school year in addition to doctoral colloquia and other projects. For those who may be interested, below are summaries of the three major papers I wrote for my Ph.D. seminars. TITLE: “Exegesis of Romans 1:18-25” COURSE: Exegesis of Romans with Dr. Tom Schreiner Thesis/Summary: “In Romans 1:18–25 Paul … More Ph.D. Papers
After we met our three new children on Father’s Day and spent the allotted two hours with them (3:00–5:00pm), we watched them scurry back down the long steps along the side wall of the orphanage compound, back to familiar surroundings and small friends. We turned left out of the compound and up the steep “Dancing … More Signing for Forever
The clock strikes 12:03am on Monday morning, June 13, as I begin writing. We have been waiting, working, praying, and preparing for this week for several years. In five short days we will bow our heads and unite our hearts together for the last time in our Kentucky home as we ask for the good hand of God … More On the Edge of Adoption: Reflections on a Long Journey of Grace
