February Update

Hi all!


Lis has done a great job at keeping you all up to date with the goings on around the Graeser home, I figure this is as good of a time as any for me to chip in.

Since Lis and I were married last May, so many wonderful events and changes have taken place. One of higher impact changes for me was my decision not to pursue professional baseball. Baseball was a wonderful ministry tool for me for over a decade, and I am so grateful the Lord allowed me to enjoy those years on the field!

The process of reevaluating how the Lord might see fit to use me outside of the game I had loved for so long began in May/June of last year and I won't lie, it has been an 'interesting' journey. :)

Up until that point last year, making a career of something besides baseball had not crossed my mind for a long, long time.
Realizing God was not opening a door for me in baseball and therefore allowing my heart to change about that expectation was a huge challenge for me. In the midst of that, I was allowed to see right off the bat (get it?) how marrying the a Godly woman can make life's hardest moments more manageable. Lis was an amazing source of support and encouragement.

While I began to reconsider what ultimate vocation God might be calling me to, there was second factor in play.
I needed some income!
So, for the last ten months I have worked primarily in some form of sports training, baseball specific most of the time, and it has been a blessing.

During those same ten months, my primary goal was to totally return the direction of my life back to God's hands, the same way I did years ago while making the decision to pursue baseball in college, and keep my eyes peeled for the open door I trusted would come. And so I waited and worked as a trainer, exploring practically every career option in existence (I think!), and learning as much as I could about each one. Along the way, things would interest me, and a couple times I even thought I might have found what it was I was looking for. But in each circumstance, in final analysis, I was unable to find true peace about any of them. I turned down several job offers and continued my search.

I don't know that a decision like this one is ever easy, and these last ten months surely were not, but the process has helped Lis and I to grow closer to each other and to trust more in the One who has promised to never let us out of His sight.

I am very thankful that today, after some very hard months of prayer and passing on seemingly good opportunities, I finally have that sense of peace and the settled spirit I have been searching for.

I feel the Lord has called me back to the career He first laid on my heart during my teenage years, the only passion I have that preceded my love for baseball: Medicine.

I've decided to continue my education and pursue a career as a Physician.
I'll be finishing the remaining pre-requisite coursework and preparing to take the MCAT (medical college admissions test) over the next several months. My plan is to be prepared to officially apply to medical schools late this summer for matriculation (pending acceptance) in August 2009.

Lis and I are excited to see how God uses this new set of challenges and life circumstances to shape and mold our character to more closely resemble Him!

We would greatly appreciate all of your prayers as we begin this new chapter in our lives together!

WE LOVE YOU!!

Tim & Lis

God's Rejections are always God's Protection

We are choosing to believe that God is saving us from something we may never understand.

Please pray as we seek for what God's will is as it relates to a new job for Tim.

East to West

As I sit in a big room, with the new Casting Crowns CD playing I can't help but think about the lyrics and then think about Jesus stretching his hands out wide and saying, "From the east to the west, this is how much I love you". When I think about Him doing that, I think about it covering the entire earth. Because I am a "how" thinker, I think, how can He do that? I can't even love the people in my life like that everyday, let alone everyone that is alive and breathing, before me, during me and ahead of me. What a Big God that is. Then it makes me think, about all the little worries or stresses I am feeling and then I think to myself, If God loves like that, then He does care about every little detail of our lives. It makes me get on my knees in front of a very holy God.


"East To West"
Here I am, Lord, and I'm drowning in your sea of forgetfulness
The chains of yesterday surround me
I yearn for peace and rest
I don't want to end up where You found me
And it echoes in my mind, keeps me awake tonight
I know You've cast my sin as far as the east is from the west
And I stand before You now as though I've never sinned
But today I feel like I'm just one mistake away from You leaving me this way

Jesus, can You show me just how far the east is from the west
'cause I can't bear to see the man I've been come rising up in me again
In the arms of Your mercy I find rest
'cause You know just how far the east is from the west
From one scarred hand to the other

I start the day, the war begins, endless reminding of my sin
Time and time again Your truth is drowned out by the storm I'm in
Today I feel like I'm just one mistake away from You leaving me this way

I know You've washed me white, turned my darkness into light
I need Your peace to get me through, to get me through this night
I can't live by what I feel, but by the truth Your word reveals
I'm not holding on to You, but You're holding on to me
You're holding on to me

Jesus, You know just how far the east is from the west
I don't have to see the man I've been come rising up in me again
In the arms of Your mercy I find rest
'cause You know just how far the east is from the west
From one scarred hand to the other
One scarred hand to the other
From one scarred hand to the other