Striving to be Faithful to the Call

June 16, 2017

Can you imagine being in one of Paul’s many tough situations? I am reading the book of Acts to capture the stories of the spread of the gospel and the early church planting movement. I am amazed at how many times Paul, during some extremely rough conditions, is afforded the opportunity to proclaim the gospel. Many times, he has a plan that he cannot follow through with or things don’t quite work out the way he wants them to. I encourage you to read Acts and imagine how frustrating it must have been for him. Despite things not going his way, Paul remains determined to obey the great commission by proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and making disciples. He never claims that he’s too busy to obey. It’s who he is and what he does. He scatters gospel seed and trains new believers to do the same anywhere and everywhere.

So, our prayer as a family is that we will be obedient and persevere to be faithful to the call wherever we are and in whatever circumstance we are in.  We pray the same for you all too.  As we are in this transition we do not want to miss opportunities to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. We don’t know how the many details are going to work out, but we know the Lord is faithful and He is our reward. We know our joy is found in Christ and glorifying Him above all else.

Speaking of details, here is a neat story you may want to hear. We had an issue with our garage door opener and were faced with the decision between the cheap short-cut fix or the long-term fix which was much more expensive. Christy and I agreed that we couldn’t cheat the new home owner and honor the Lord at the same time. So, we selected the more expensive option. A few days later, Sunday June 11^th, we visited Malachi Chapel in Columbia, NC. We had a great time of fellowship with them and we were encouraged by them. They were so kind to take a love offering for us at the end of the service.  The amount of the offering was the exact amount we spent on the garage door repair!  The Lord used this to remind us that He's going to provide for our every need and He is able to handle every detail! As a family, we praise the Lord for showing Himself to be faithful as always!

An update on our financial support: Currently we are at 83% of our monthly support goal for two year financial commitments.  We are still seeking more prayer and financial partners through churches and individuals. If you would like to partner with us please see the partnership letter and support form to the right of your screen. We are also still raising support through one time gifts for our moving costs, purchase of a vehicle in Guatemala, and language school tuition.

Please join us in praying:

• For the sale of our home. We are praying for a departure date of July 17^th or that week which is only 4 weeks away!

• For all the details and moving parts involved with preparing to move.

• For the Lord to continue preparing our hearts and the hearts of men and women at VNG to be ready and willing to share the gospel.

• For fruit as we seek to faithfully point others to King Jesus.

• For our family to learn the language.

• That we will be wise in each step and decision we make along the way. We want to be faithful to follow the Lord’s direction one step at a time.

• That we would handle and budget wisely all the financial support we receive.

Thank you all for your prayers and support!