Life on the River (the Mississippis River if you weren't sure)

It is almost midnight Saturday morning and I am finally able to get away to the office/building to do some work and get caught up with my correspondence. Update from the last week:

Sunday - Had a great crew of friends and neighbors, our brothers and sisters in Christ, show up to help out with the loading of the truck. Got everything packed up and slept on the dining room floor of our empty home, our last night at 512 E. Main St. in Caledonia. We spent 8 years in that home, had 5 children there, and had a ton of life experiences. It was great to reflect with Julie about God's faithfulness during those years.

Monday - Woke up and finally got my Uhaul trailer on the third attempt. Filled the trailer, said good bye to the home and drove an hour south to our friends home near South Haven to stay a couple nights.

Tuesday - Our dear friends Brant and Mary came out with their boys (Dawson, Braydon, and Hutch) and spent the afternoon and evening with us.

Wednesday - Packed up the Uhaul again, said good bye to our friends and began the drive to St. Louis at 9:30 am Central Standard Time. We made decent time with the boys cheering when we crossed from Michigan into Indiana and again when we crossed from Indiana into Illinois. I remember being young and how cool it was to drive from one state to the next. At 6 pm about 30 minutes outside St. Louis, the Mississippi, and the Missouri state line...Caroline "gave back" her sandwich from lunch along with remnants of the huge bowl of BLUE MOON ice cream from the night before. Combine this with the red coloring from the drink she drank some of and well... Luckily we were only 1 mile from a rest stop on I-70 in southern Illinois and pulled in there to clean her and the van before continuing...so there I was in this dungeonesque janitor's closet scrubbing out the colorful stains in Caroline's clothes and her car seat. Finally, we hit the road, grabbed a bite to eat (except for Caroline) and were welcomed by my fellow staff members at Rooftop and their beautiful families. That night we again slept on the floor, this time in our new home, waiting for our stuff to arrive the next day.

Thursday - The trailer is delivered, but the house we are staying in needs to be inspected by the city first and so we have to wait until 3 pm to begin unloading. Rooftoppers begin showing up around 3 (thanks Bonnie and Jason) and more and more show up throughout the evening. Eventually, we have more people than we can give stuff to and the trailer is cleared in no time. Meanwhile, some guys are putting together the crib, some ladies are helping Julie organize the kitchen, and others are helping organize the many items sent to the garage for temporary storage. Julie and I were so blessed by our new church community and friends as we were blessed by our church community and friends which we left in Grand Rapids. The bonds of our faith in Christ are strong and endure whatever location you may find yourself. Thursday night we slept in our own bed and loved it!!!

Friday - Today we returned the small trailer to Uhaul. They came and towed away the large trailer. I had my first official Rooftop meeting over lunch up in Clayton, which is the finance district of St. Louis if you didn't already know that. I spent most the rest of the day helping unpack at home and spending time with Julie and the kids. Then after everyone went to bed I headed off to the church building and my new office to start getting caught on my admin, correspondence, and begin planning the days and weeks to come.

Who would have thought 5 weeks ago that we would sell our home, find a month to month rental, have a baby, move our family, and be ready to go May 1st here at Rooftop Community Church. God's grace has been felt and is deeply appreciated by our family. We look forward to relying more and more on God's grace as we continue building our life here and the relationships which are so vital to our lives and the building of the kingdom of God here in St. Louis. I am so thankful to God for His faithfulness after 2 1/2 years of waiting on him, and trusting that He in His time would lead us exactly where He wanted us to go.

Moving Day

It is 11:30 pm, I am exhausted and should be sleeping, and yet...I am sitting in a van outside our local coffee shop where I can still get internet access since our modem was accidently paced up and is in a small box somewhere in our 27 foot trailer of stuff. Selah is with me since she was having a hard time sleeping and keeping Julie and I awake as we tried to sleep on our one remaining matress in the middle of our dining room. I want to write more and I will this week...there is so much to refelct on:



-leaving the home we have spent almost 8 years in and all that house has meant and been to us

-leaving our dear friends and neighbors who are WONDERFUL and such a blessing to us and our family

-excited about moving to St. Louis and beginning our life and ministry there with the Rooftoppers


Tomorrow we begin our journey south. Two nights at a friends cottage in Grand Junction, an hour south of Grand Rapids. Wednesday morning we drive to St. Louis and stay the night somewhere (to be determined), and Thursday we hope our stuff is delivered to our new home as we unload it and begin life in St. Louis.

P.S. For those of you following along I apologize for infrequent posts lately. We have been very busy and I do not know how often we will have internet access this next week. I hope this catches you up and I look forward to sharing more soon.

Friday Morning, 5 a.m.

It is Friday morning at 5am and I am hitting the road right on time. 8 hours of driving while gaining an hour crossing the time zone should put me at the Rooftop Church Building right around noon...we'll see. I have an appointment to see one rental at 1:30pm this afternoon and Julie is going to try to come up with another one or two this morning while I am on the road. Some Rooftoppers have been helping us with some leads. Hard to find 3 month rentals. Everyone wants 6 and mostly 12 months for a rental...See you in St. Louie

Weekend in St. Louis - 12 Days...

It is Wednesday and I am getting ready to hit the road to St. Louis early on Friday morning. I am driving down to drop off our car, look for a home to rent for several months, and take care of some business at Rooftop. I also plan on attending a cool Trivia Night event that the church is hosting on Friday evening, and then fly back to Grand Rapids on Saturday evening. As I have noted previously, our transition to Rooftop has gone quite well with the home selling in 4 days, Selah being born nearly weeks earlier than her due date of 4/21, and a bunch of other stuff that has been very complimentary to a quick and smooth transition to St. Louis.

Well, in the past 24 hours our two best leads for a home to rent are looking less probable as one reported a serious interest in purchasing their home and the other telling us of a long term rental inquiry which would be much better for them as well. We understand and are happy for these former Rooftoppers and their recent good fortune. The Zilkies however are still looking for a place to stay...

We are leaving our home in Caledonia on Monday (4/27) 12 days from today. We will live out of suitcases while staying locally at a friends cottage for a couple of days and then driving together to St. Louis on Wednesday (4/29) or Thursday (4/30), meeting up with our stuff the end of that week.

This weekend will be a great time as I love road trips, am thrilled to get to spend more time with our new church community, and the challenge of finding a short term rental house in a short time is also somewhat exciting. However, I would welcome your prayers for my travels, Julie and the kids as they are without me for a couple of days, and finding the right house in the right location which will help us connect all the more quickly with our new church family as well as keep me close to home during this challenging time of transition. Thank you in advance for your continued prayers and support!!!

20 Days...

Thank you to everyone who has followed along with Selah's birth and the last couple days. We Zilkies are doing well. Everyone is back home and we are adjusting to life with five wonderful kiddos. Julie has to take it easy and can't use the stairs like normal, but all in all things are going well. The oldest three enjoyed their three days with Grandma Jan and we are all back home as a big ole' family of 7.

It is roughly 20 days until we move with much to do in that time. We will keep you posted and are grateful for your interest, support, and prayers. Some of our dear friends here in Grand Rapids want to have a "Good-Bye Shindig" and are planning it for the afternoon of Saturday, April 25th from 3-5 p.m. in the Byron Lakes Community Center (click on the red link for directions). We would love for any of you available to stop in and see the family, our beautiful new addition (Selah) and give us a chance to say goodbye before leaving. More details will be forthcoming...

How Not To Sell A House In 4 Days

In my previous post "4 Days" we talked about the quick sale of our house and how we sense God's leading therein. Well that was not the whole story...

Julie and I had been working for a couple weeks on the house to get it ready for sale. There were 8 years worth of little projects we had thought of doing, but never did that were compressed into two weeks time. On Thursday, March 12 our house officially went up for sale and appeared on MLS or whatever it is called. Now our work list was still not complete at this time and we continued working on it even as the sign went up in the front lawn. On Friday our Realtor, Eric Freeman of Pillar Realty contacted us about our first walk-through which was to take place on Saturday evening. Normally people will leave their home during a viewing, giving any prospective buyers a quiet and comfortable setting to view the home. Well, when you have 4 and 7/8 kids, getting out of the home is not so easy. So we planned to go for a walk Saturday evening while the viewing took place.

All day Saturday we spent time finishing up our list and getting the home ready for our first viewing. As 6:30 came close, Julie put some soothing instrumental music on the iPod in the living room and we began getting the crew out of the house and on our way. Well, for those of you who have multiple children, you know this is easier said than done. The two older boys are pretty self sufficient these days in getting their bikes, but Caroline (3) and Ezekiel (16 months) require a little more assistance getting into the double stroller. Add to that the beautiful, talented, and very pregnant Julie whose days of fluid movement have long since passed and you have a very sloooow progression out of the garage, down the driveway and onto the sidewalk...

About 1/3 of the way down the driveway the first car pulls in and I am thinking "oh crap, we didn't make it". Then all of a sudden this (even more pregnant than Julie) woman gets out of her car and we realize it is the other Realtor. She sees Julie and runs up all excited saying, "oh you are almost having a baby too!!!, my due date is actually today and I am showing a house...yada, yada, yada" Anyway, after a minute or two of pregnancy talk, we continue SLOWLY down the drive way and then the second car pulls in with a young couple and an older couple inside...I think "crap, we missed it again"...

As they are getting out of the car while we are walking by, the middle-aged woman says very emphatically, "Julie!!!" Julie then returns the enthusiasm and says, "Karen!!!" They hug each other and feeling very left out at this point and a little confused, I pipe in with "why don't I know you???" Julie then realizes the inequity of the current social interaction and mentions that she used to work with Karen way back 7 years ago when we first moved to our home in Caledonia. We come to find out that Karen's daughter and son-in-law are newly married and are looking for a starter home (like we were at that very same point in our marriage). This is where the real problem begins...

Up until that time I was pretty focused and aware of what needed and didn't need to happen during this first viewing. However, with all of the commotion and reunions going on, I got distracted. Moreover, I began getting too comfortable with all of the chit-chat and warmth that was taking place before our home even got looked at. It was here that the real Jeremy Zilkie began to come out....

Seeing the "coincidences" and obvious peculiarities about the whole viewing appointment I began thinking (very quickly as I often do) and thought I would inject a little humor and light-heartedness into all that was taking place (since I was the one person not presently included in the many varied conversations). Karen happened to say when she looked at a very pregnant Julie and our four children, "boy, you have been busy!" Well this was my opportunity...loving our kids, our family, and thinking that everyone loves some big family humor, I begin articulating the phrase "Be careful, if you buy this place you too could end up with 5 kids in 8 years" However, as I began saying the words some other thoughts crept into my mind...words of sensibility and wisdom...phrases like: What if they don't want a big family? What if they aren't really big on children? What if they can't have children? Is it really worth being witty and a little funny with these people if you possibly offend them and jeopardize their viewing of your home???

Unfortunately this sensibility did not set in until after a couple words did escape from my mouth, the words "Be careful...", and me being me, I didn't exactly whisper them. Well everyone stops and looks at me as I am now silent and realizing what I have just said. Having raised the general curiosity level of everyone present with my provocative statement, one of the members of the buying party says "Be careful about what?" Completely stupefied and without anything to say to try to recover I quickly stammer the words, "never mind..." and leave my "be careful" comment hanging out there all by itself...

Well at this point, to no one's suprise, the conversations have come to an abrupt end and our family began the slooooow march up the street. Yet, my mind continued..."be careful? be careful?" "What did they think I meant? Why would the owner of the home (me) tell them (the prospective buyers) to be careful and then say 'never mind'?" "They must be thinking something is wrong with the house or I am trying to hide something or who knows what?" I begin to feel an ache in my gut as we continue sauntering along the sidewalk. Julie then inquires what I was talking about when I said what I said. Feeling horrible, not wanting to make her anxious and knowing I might as well have left one of Zeke's dirty diapers on the floor of the kitchen during their viewing, I tell her "nothing, don't worry about it", and we continue on. Well I did worry about it for the next 30 minutes, metaphorically kicking myself as we slowly walked around ONE block in our neighborhood as they looked at the house.

Interestingly enough, this whole time Julie is talking about how sure she is they will love the home, how neat it was to see Karen, how she thinks they will make us an offer and they will probably end up buying our home. I on the other hand, though I am smiling and nodding, know in my mind and heart the metaphorical grenade I threw into the evenings festivities. As we walked I just kept thinking to myself what many others have probably thought of me at one point or another, "Jeremy, you Moron! Why couldn't you just keep quiet?"

When we got back to the house they were gone and our evening went on as normal. When we got the call from Eric the next day with an offer, I was TRULY surprised. It had to be a miracle and an act of God for them to overlook my moronic statement and to love our home as they obviously do. So for those of you who saw God in our home selling in 4 days, consider my contributions on that Saturday evening and be even more amazed.

4 Days (Updated Fri, 3/27)

This past Thursday, March 19th, our home officially went up for sale. We had our first viewing on Saturday evening, and by Sunday we had received a respectful but low offer for our home. Monday we countered and the buyers accepted our counter-offer. 4 days, 1 showing, an offer agreement and a fair price for both us and the buyer...here in Michigan...

People often talk about "the favor of God". However, in our prosperity focused and suffering averse American Christian society, the idea of God's favor almost always has to do with comfort, ease, success, money, etc. This bothers me. It bothers me because did not Jesus have God's favor EVERY step of EVERY day of His life? Yet, was not Jesus misunderstood, ridiculed, blasphemed, persecuted, beaten, betrayed and ultimately tortured to death? Jesus, the only and most favored Son of the Most High God.

I am very careful to presume to know what the favor of God actually is and who is the recipient of it. Moreover, Julie and I want to walk the path of our Savior, which is a narrow and difficult path, and as trials and challenges come we want to be able to honestly and authentically glorify God and face the struggles with the winsomeness and grace God provides.

Then you have these past 4 days...and the wind of the Spirit has been completely at our backs. To sell your home at a good price, in this housing market, here in Michigan, with a counter offer, in just 4 days is...God's favor? I don't know...

What I do know is that Julie and I have graciously accepted the contrarian's way these past two years. I have worked in a warehouse much of that time, talked of a crazy move to Indiana that never happened, sacrificed a ton materially and financially toward our "long term savings goals", struggled trying to find my path back into "vocational ministry", ultimately led by God to give up my need and pursuit of said ministry job, and yet we have walked in some of the most spiritually fertile ground we have ever known. Moreover, our joy for life, for Jesus, for our family, has only grown stronger in that time.

Oh, one more thing...the baby coming in a month had been breech for some time. Well, at Julie's doctor appointment this (Monday) morning, the baby's head had turned south and all systems are go.

I sit here Monday evening in a fog of sorts, with St. Louis and Rooftop that much closer in just a couple of days. Today as these events were unfolding, four different people: an owner of our company, a coworker, the UPS guy Linc, and my friend in Detroit all made reference to God wanting us to go with His blessing and making the way clear for us. When four (and probably more) different people all testify to the power and activity of God in this world and (by His grace) in my life, I say thank you for allowing me to be a part of what You (God) are doing.

It will not continue like this. The Scriptures say that ALL who will truly follow after Jesus will suffer as He did and we continue to pray that we too could know "the fellowship of His sufferings" (Phil3:10). In the meantime, we adjust our sails, accept the Spirit's wind, and go where He takes us...

(Update 3/27)
...I talked with Eric our Realtor yesterday and asked him if there had been any other inquiries on our home since it went on the market a week ago. We have not yet put the "sold" sign out...NOT ONE ADDITIONAL CALL. One call, one showing, one offer, one pending sale...one God.