Dear Friends, August 22, 2026
It has been a while since our last email and update. To say much has happened would be an understatement. If you have a few minutes, I’d like to tell you of the marvelous Lord working in the lives of a few of his children. God is in the details. His goodness is truly overwhelming. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. Most days are ordinary, and then there are those kairos days, (an unusually opportune time that is life changing). Such is the case for the Sharp’s.
The cliff notes version: we sold our house in Florida after 13 years, moved back to the farms in Congerville, Illinois, and bought a house in Bloomington, Illinois. Andrew moved as well and is living in mom’s house on the farm and got a job working for Honda. My second devotional book, Ashes to Fire, Vol.2, as part of the four-book series, Uncommon Devotions, is being printed at the publisher. I’m a third of the way into writing Fire to Glory, Vol.3. The Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies has been embraced by and moved to Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California. I have decided to retire from teaching after 26 years and have been awarded Professor Emeritus along with my teaching partner, Dr. Jack VanMarion. Other than that, it’s been a peaceful six weeks!
A brief word about the Uncommon Devotions series of books. They are meant to be read and re-read every year. There are good reasons: the Scripture speaks anew each time we read it, we are prone to forget which is why the word “remember” occurs so often in the Bible, and the world and our lives are in a very different place each year so our context is continually changing making each day’s reading unique, and depending on the year, there are entries you will skip and new entries you’ve not read previously. For example, this year, 2026, the first Sunday in Advent begins on Nov. 29th so you’ll skip the last two devotionals in Advent to Ashes. Ash Wednesday begins on February 18th next year, so you’ll skip the readings from February 19th through March 9th, and begin reading Ashes to Fire, Vol.2 on February 19th! You’ll need to buy the book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or get it from any bookstore. If you’d like a signed copy, email me your mailing address. These books make wonderful Christmas gifts!
Now for the wonder of our Lord guiding his children. In a total surprise to Nancy, Andrew, and me, we sold our house in Florida and moved back to the farms in Illinois! The following is a summary of our last several weeks. The singular point in sharing this is to point to the wonder and grace of God in leading his children. God is astounding! All glory to him.
I’m telling this story solely to point to the greatness and glory of our God. He is involved in details!
The starting place was this: None of us, Nancy, Andrew, and or me were contemplating moving at all. Nancy did not want to live in the cold…ever, Andrew was a committed Floridian hating the cold having experienced it while driving semi-trucks up north, and I couldn’t conceive of moving a 5-bedroom house and a baby grand piano anywhere. We had already done that several times. No thanks! Moving was not on anyone’s mind. Surprise! God was thinking otherwise! His ways are not our ways!!?
Nancy and I drive to the home farm in the summer every year and always stop at Yoder’s Kitchen in Amish country in Arthur, Illinois for lunch. We did it again this year. As we sat down to eat, Nancy said to me, “Dan, I want you just to listen. Don’t interrupt me and don’t ask any questions until I’m done.” She told me her idea was that we should move to the farm and I immediately said to her shock and mine, “That’s a good idea!” We then called Andrew and told him of the idea and that he could live in grandma’s house in Congerville, the little town of 500 people where I grew up and where the farms are. He said, “Let’s do it! Florida is so hot, the traffic is awful, and it’s getting more and more crowded. All three of our attitudes were changed 180 degrees to all of our amazements.
What triggered Nancy’s thought about moving? …the Lord. We knew of a good church in Washington, Illinois we had visited in a past summer. She was tired of months of heat and no seasons and looked up a house in Washington on a whim and found one she thought she could live in. It turned out not to be that house, but God’s plan was underway! Moving ahead…
So now we are in Illinois looking for houses and Andrew is lining up things in Florida to sell our house (early July). With our Illinois realtor, we arrive to see our then “current favorite” house in Bloomington (after about 10 other “not this one”)! But the lock box is unavailable for her to open, so we had to call the broker, Zach, who is listing the house. He says he’ll be over in twenty minutes. He arrives and in the chit chat he asks where we are moving from. We tell him Orlando but that we’re here because of our farms in Congerville.
To shorten the story, he lives in Congerville and we continue on with all the people we know in common while our realtor stands there with her mouth open! Not only that, the people selling the house are moving to Congerville as she is a teacher at the Congerville elementary school. The broker, Zach, is a pastor in the *Apostolic Christian church, a half mile from our house. Another pastor in that same church lives across the street from our farmhouse. Zach asks me my name, and I tell him and he says, “Are you Mary Sharp’s son?” Me, “Yes, she was my mother.” The father of the wife who’s selling the house with her husband was one of David, my brother’s best friends in grade school, and my sister, Martha, worked for her grandpa’s grocery store when she was in high school! Zack’s son mows the yard for us at our farmhouse! When Andrew, who was now living in mom’s house, was checking on the new house we bought, the lady cleaning it had taken piano lessons from my mom!
An example of God’s timing. Had we been able to unlock the box on the house we would have missed all of these connections, but God knew that! He was giving us a “smile.” By the way, they did accept our offer to buy the house in Bloomington which is about 35 minutes from the farmhouse. There is a story with that as well. As I was praying and writing it down in my prayer book regarding their acceptance of our offer, the phone rang a literal minute later letting us know they had accepted our offer without any adjustments.
(Isaiah 65:24)
I will answer them before they even call to me.
While they are still talking about their needs,
I will go ahead and answer their prayers!
Reasons for the move: 1) we want to be closer to Jonathan’s family and our grandkids (5,9,18), 2) nearer to Nancy’s declining sister, Joanne, 3) a niece and two nephews and their families, and all are within driving distance, 4) with the Institute for Worship Studies moving to Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California and the decision to stop teaching there after 26 years frees us from traveling to Jacksonville every year, 5) we’re ready to experience the four seasons again, 6) ready for the peaceful uncrowded more rural life, and 7) while we have second cousins in Florida which we will miss, we have no immediate family in Florida. Most of all, we want to be near family as we conclude the remaining years before our departure from this earth. We hear birds and the rustle of corn leaves in our backyard with a cornfield immediately behind our back yard fence. Peaceful! Best of all, a new chapter of ministry lies ahead.
We are all curious as to what the Lord has in store. Another book and a half to write for sure. We’d appreciate your prayers as we all settle in and look for a body of Christ to become a part of. I will miss the Bach Choir greatly but hope to find a place to sing here. Watch for the Winter Park Bach Festival Choir on PBS this Christmas either right before or right after the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I’m in the back row on the left side!
*The Apostolic Christian church is a small conservative Anabaptist denomination. Usually there are four pastors chosen from among the congregation. The pastors are not paid a salary but have other occupations (like the Apostle Paul). All the music is a cappella.
I’m reminded again of William Cowper’s…
God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform,
He plants his foot in the sea and rides upon the storm.
His purposes will ripen fast unfolding every hour
The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flow’r.
Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain,
God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain.
Our new address is:
1304 Staghorne Way, Bloomington, Illinois 61705
Blessings on you all as always,
Dan
drdanielsharp.com website