Monday, June 9, 2008

Glenn Odell

Hey guys,

Don't you wish the good times would last forever? Our season with Glenn is coming to an end. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 says:

To every [thing there is] a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up [that which is] planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.


So tonight is our last night with our friend...until he blesses us with another visit. And here's why he's leaving:

Hi Guys,

We just wanted to share the background behind what, to some, may seem an improbable and out-of-the-blue move.

We will be leaving Santa Barbara for the small northern CA town of Quincy, Monday June 16. Quincy is an unincorporated town of just over 5,000 souls and is the county seat of Plumas County. It is 2 hours north of Lake Tahoe, where the Sierra Nevada Mtn Range ends and the Cascade Mtn Range begins. The county economy is timber based and Quincy is home to the county’s last mill. There are many places to fish with lots of challenging jeep trails nearby. At 3,500 ft elevation it is a four season climate.

We have been to Quincy many times over the last two years. My oldest son (Matt) is a captain with the Plumas National Forest and has lived in Quincy for the last 8 years or so. Recently, my middle son (Seth) took a promotional transfer (now I have two fire captains in the family) to the Lassen National Forest from the Flagstaff, AZ area. This brought his family (including my grandson Jacob and granddaughter Jasmine) to within an hour of Quincy.

The most significant ingredient in the decision to move was our dear friends (Bob and Dee Burwell) accepted Jesus into their lives 3 months ago (a year ago they asked us for our testimony). Quincy presents a big challenge for spirit-filled believers. It seems pretty bleak right now with a smattering of very small (dying), main-line denomination churches plus a small presence of the JW and LDS cults. However, there is a small group of believers (6-10 couples) that has met in a home on Wed. nights for the last year or so. Their teaching, worship and fellowship is right-on, and we were welcomed with open arms! We hope this bright spot will be used by The Lord to bring revival to Quincy. Matt (my oldest) has been with that group since its beginning.

Bob and Dee’s commitment to The Lord was an answer to my prayers to God that He show me just one tangible sign of fruit being produced as I walk my path with Him.

The love, teaching, worship and fellowship we have experienced with our Reality family has enabled us to grow in so many ways. We’ve seen our faith become established on that firm foundation that is “The Lord”. Not that we have attained (in the Phil 3:12 context). We have been prayerful in our consideration of this big step. One of the most meaningful signs He gave us was the welcome the four of us received at the church-in-the-home. We certainly feel “stretched” spiritually by this undertaking, but we feel that moving out of “the comfort zone” and not settling for being merely “fat sheep” waiting for the rapture is consistent with the goal of finishing the race strong (not by our works-but by our abiding in Him).

Bob helped us get our first load of stuff to Quincy the Monday after the Baptism. He attended Reality with us and witnessed Deb’s baptism and it blew his doors off!!

Bob and Dee will be back in SB next weekend (Father’s Day) to help us pack up the remainder of our stuff. They will be with us at church as well! Dee wants to experience being in a room with 400+ people who love Jesus and are worshipping Him together. We will be back in SB for a short time after the move, to finish preparing the SB place for rental - so you will see us again!

Deb will certainly miss coming in weekly to lend a hand. It has been such a blessing to be able to serve The Lord in that capacity.

You guys remain our core family and will continue to have our support for the foreseeable future. Our love for you is deep, spiritual and emotional and will have to leave it at that…

Thank you so much…
God bless you all!


Glenn and Deb Odell
P.O. Box 737
Quincy, CA 95971

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Glenn, good idea not to become a fat sheep. I hope none of us do that. You truly are gonna be missed, but for sure remembered and thanks for being with us for a bit. God Bless TG