God is SO FAITHFUL as He provides for our EVERY need! All of you who’ve walked any stretch of life by faith have seen Him do the impossible and reveal His faithfulness again and again. We have seen it again and again. And how He loves to lead us into what only He can accomplish.

We are clinging to God and His direction and faithfulness. He has built you and us up together as His Body to do this work of reaching many through sports and medicine, literally touching and transforming lives by introducing Jesus Messiah.

We ask you to PRAY with us for the completion of our support teams. Many of you are already invested in this work, and we are SO THANKFUL for you! We still have a long way to go, and we ask you to KEEP ASKING with us for God’s perfect provision.

You remember the stories of the fish and loaves? I think of it often, whenever the needs seem to outweigh all perceivable supply. We give all we DO have to Jesus, allow Him to bless and break, and He makes it abundant beyond the need. Only GOD can do that.

So will you carry on with us? Your faithful prayer moves mountains. If you feel moved to invest more in prayer for our family and ministry, let us know. We have a core prayer team whose members have committed to praying for us consistently at least one day a week. If you’re not receiving those separate emails of requests and feel God would have you to commit to it, please let us know which day you would like to pray for us on, and we can add you to that email list.

For this moment, let’s thank the Father together:

Father, You are so kind and generous. You cause the sun to shine and the rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous. You ARE love at very core, and all You do is loving, right, and good. We praise You for your given-ness to us, that You are love extended and forgiveness completed, and all we have to do is draw near to You to find everything we need. More than everything we need. You are abundance and beauty and joy and peace. You are rest and belonging and strength and steadfastness. You are wisdom and understanding and delight and absolute. You are before us, among us, and beyond us, but nothing is beyond You. We lose ourselves to You and are found in You, and would You have our full allegiance? Have the whole of our hearts, whatever shape we may be in.
 
Thank You for making Yourself known to us. Thank You for giving Your life for us, and to us. We thank You that You supply every.single.need. according to Your riches in glory in Christ. (Phil 4:19) That You are able to make all grace abound to us so that always having all sufficiency in everything, we may have an abundance for every good work. (2 Cor 9:8) God, You are lacking in nothing, and neither do You leave Your children lacking in anything. Let us understand what You have given, and receive it with great gratitude and rejoicing. And we entrust ourselves to Your provision for all we will encounter. You are wholly worthy, and our whole hope is in You.

 

Paul told the Philippian church in his letter, “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is not trouble to me and is safe for you.” (3:1). Don’t we all need repetition? What does He tell me, again, again, again:

“Rejoice in the Lord.”

Then come his reminders about the insufficiency of the flesh. You and I could likely list a long string of ways our flesh is insufficient (strength and mobility, mental and emotional capacity, changes brought by age/stress/injury). But Paul isn’t talking about perceived weaknesses in this segment (see 2 Corinthians 12, where he teaches how our weakness showcases the strength of God). He’s talking about the seeming-strengths. Even the religious-looking ones. How about this for a modern-day “Paul” background:

-born to believing parents, and prayed over in-utero
-raised in the church, part of a generations-faithful family
-memorized hundreds of Scripture verses and participated in all the children’s programs
-graduated Bible school and seminary
-zealous missionary work, taking on evil in every corner of the world
-strictly adherent to all the rules of society and of the church

It all looked really good. Certainly carried an air of respect among the high-rollers of Jewish society.

Until Jesus closed Saul’s eyes to all he knew himself to be, and opened his eyes to the LIVING GOD: who finds no merit in sin-saturated, breath-brief flesh.

Then, years later, this same Paul reminds the others he has led after Christ: “put no confidence in the flesh… whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ…. for His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” (Phil 3:3b, 7-9)

So He reminds us: rejoice in the Lord. All of those things that marked his life began as really good. Gifts from God, to have heritage, instruction, zeal. But our self-reliant pride ever so subtly reshapes our motives. Then we find that every effort we could put forth to please God or win His affection… is rubbish. Every identity we cling to that makes us proud of ourselves or gain the approval of others is rubbish. The only thing we really have, that is not passing in the fires, is what we are given in Christ. In Him we have the pleasure and perfect approval of the Father. In Christ we are righteous (can we even understand what that means?).

And there are stretches along this journey where He presses us hard, and calls into question all the things we’ve named ourselves by and held to as dear. He challenges our perspectives, exhausts our stores, calls our gaze up, and so gently leads us through even the darkest places: to gain Him. To find Him there.

We walk many roads deep in the valley of brokenness. This is where we press in to the gentle Shepherd, for where else can we go? There is death all around, terror and despair and stark vulnerability. And He brings to life what David experientially knew: I will fear no evil, for You are with me. (Psalm 23:4) We have spent anywhere between minutes and years afraid, wavering between our run-and-hide, and desperately searching for the Presence of our Shepherd. So He leads us to the places of such deep dependency on His righteousness, His strength, His protection, His provision, His hope, His steadfast love that extends them all.

By His mercy He removes the non-essential, purges the excesses, cuts the fat, sobers the mind, introduces us to the end, and greets us with tenderness. To such extreme measure that Paul told the Colossians, “you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Col 3:1) United with Him, knit into Him, absorbed and consumed by Love, hope, peace. Why do we feel the “consumed” part so painfully? Because we put so much confidence in the flesh. I put so much confidence in the flesh. But the patient One sits with me, sometimes encouraging me through my fears, sometimes prying my fingers off of what emptiness I cling to, and sometimes simply removing the deceptive item of desire altogether. Then I grieve… until I realize my hands are full of Him. And He holds me.

But these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is Love. (1 Cor 13:13). Not my love that motivates my passion for Jesus and for the world… but the truest love. So we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  (1 John 4:16).

 

Oh, that He would root us deeply in His love. This is my prayer for you, in the valley. For me, on the long stretches of faithfulness-called-forth. Only let us hold true to what we have attained (Phil 3:16)

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith — that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly more than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
-Ephesians 3:14-21

Our pastor is walking us through the Gospel of Mark lately. Last week we were in chapter 7, looking at Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman of Tyre.

And from there He arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet He could not be hidden. But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of Him and came and fell down at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered Him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” And He said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. (Mark 7:24-30)

 

The woman’s story struck me afresh through this particular teaching. Consider the context: Jesus has retreated with His disciples for time away from the crowds. They’ve gone away, way up into Gentile country, and are trying to go unnoticed (7:24). This isn’t public ministry time. This isn’t Gentile time (cross reference Matthew 8:24, and Acts 9:15). While Jesus was absolutely here for her (Luke 19:10), in the specific context of the moment He wasn’t here for her.

In fact, the next segment is rather shocking, because He tells her that. Matthew’s account (15:21-28) reveals how He even ignored her pleas for some time. If you have ever been a human present as a source of help in an overwhelming and desperate situation, you know a bit of the intense focus this takes. Needs are innumerable, and specific, strategic tasks must be attended to even at felt cost of other needs. The purpose of being here is to be alone with His disciples, whom He will establish the future Church through. They know this is supposed to be their time, because then they start complaining to Him about the annoyance of her begging. She is interfering with His purpose for this moment. He cares about her (the word for “dog” used here is as for a house pet or lap dog – not a worthless street dog), but she is not the priority here. “The children” are: His disciples, and Israel, whom God promised the Messiah to from ancient past (Gen 11:3). For everything there is a season and a time. Right now, it’s not her time.

AND YET.

She is desperate. She has heard who He is, and has put her trust in Him (Mt 15:22). She acknowledges that she doesn’t deserve Him, and that yes, she’s scrounging where she doesn’t belong (v 28). But here she has access to “her master’s table”, and all she needs is a crumb. Against shame and even relative rejection, she calls on the character of God and His identity as Savior because Who He IS doesn’t change. And He said, “Whoever comes to Me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). And all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13). Her understanding of her need for Him endures all hindrances and overcomes all barriers to the Messiah. Her humility drives her, her awareness of His power redefines her life in a moment, her persistence wins His heart and grants her request (Mt 15:28).

 

I am so encouraged. This woman lived in a land of spiritual darkness where God’s ways were unwanted. She is broken: overwhelmed by her helplessness, her daughter’s oppression, the ineptitude of all other options, the suffocating nature of her situation.  The enemy’s thrashing about in my everyday life gets very preoccupying sometimes, but there is still the realization that as loud and overwhelming as these battles can be, they are comparatively small battles that don’t deserve God’s attention. God loves and cares for individuals down to numbering the hairs on our heads, but He sees our lives from a dramatically different perspective, and He does not fail to stay on task. This woman and her little girl ultimately had nothing to do with saving mankind and breaking the power of sin and death, and the perceived victories and defeats in my personal life (or those of my children) ultimately have nothing to do with God accomplishing His purposes on earth. He IS glorified regardless of what we choose to do with His presence and promises (wisdom and folly will all be revealed in truth).

But He is so given to the humble, so drawn to the needy, so promised to the dependent, so moved by faith, so steadfast in love, so rich in mercy, so wise in healing, when we see God-with-us we can fling ourselves and our overwhelming-miniscule needs recklessly upon His grace.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confessions.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace,
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16

February has come and gone, and we are richer for it. The month held its challenges and joys, and we are grateful for the days full of life that make up the months and years. We all know life isn’t easy, but when we walk in the grace God gives us, it is so beautiful.

The month began filled with pain for me (Mary). It was a severe joint pain, swelling, and stiffness that affected all of my joints except my back and hips. The rapid onset suggested a viral source, but the distribution was so unusual for a typical viral arthritis (and I had no other symptoms). It certainly could have been a spiritual attack as well. Either way, I spent a full week relatively debilitated. It was difficult to walk, at times I couldn’t hold my baby, and I struggled to even type or brush my teeth. Many of you prayed for my recovery, and God quickly answered with total resolution of symptoms.

It was a painful week, but instructional. God had been guiding me in gentleness and quietness, and nothing can quiet me down quite like prescribed dependency. By grace I was quick to trust Him and seek wisdom for the situation. My inabilities were dramatically highlighted, and that strips away the greatest hindrance to God’s work: independence. So He covered me with grace as I gained a new understanding and compassion for what people with chronic inflammatory joint disease face on a long-term scale. Because I didn’t know if this would be acute or chronic, I had to consider potential shifts in how I did daily life with work and children. I remembered the graces of not only a provided meal, helpful medications, and understanding colleagues, but also the graces of acceptance, creativity, adaptation, endurance, and reliance on others. Productivity, efficiency, and service are gifts God gives and applies to the needs of others around us. But they are so deceptive in declaring themselves an end or accomplishment. The Lord wants our walk. Our ways. Our hearts, our trust, our “yes”. Not our things or our productions or our reputations. He’s the one who speaks things into existence, parts waters, and moves mountains to bring about His purposes. I pray we all increasingly embrace our smallness and ineptitude in order to see Him as GOD.

Bob has enjoyed teaching in children’s church the last couple of months. He has the 1st-3rd grade class, and they have been studying Old Testament characters like Gideon, Sampson, David, and Solomon. In a culture where church is so easy-access and children are often poorly valued or directed, we thank God for safe places for our children to gather without fear to learn who He is. We’re so thankful that God has given His stories and instruction to children, so that they can walk in His ways from early in life. The kids in these classes are incredible, and we love getting to watch them grow in many ways.

We have also had opportunity recently to share at Somerville Community Church and Northside Baptist Church. The connections that God has given us in these churches are such gifts! The first is pastored by a young man Mary had in children’s church 16 years ago, when we studied God’s work in the world through missions. His lovely wife has been shadowing me in the ER also, and was just accepted into PA school in the same city where her husband is in seminary. They deeply love the Lord, and the story God is writing in this young couple’s lives is such a joy to observe and encourage! The second church has been home to some of our dearest family. What a joy to meet more of this particular body of believers, share our story and hearts with them, and receive their welcome and encouragement! God leads and shapes His Church through so many avenues, and we are ever amazed as we continue to encounter His unique yet unchanging presence in His people in every corner of the world. We are also shown yet again how constantly He is at work all around us, as we move right by, through our everyday lives. May our eyes be open today to His Spirit’s move, and our faith be strengthened to know He is working even as we are unaware.

The girls playing with nieces and nephews at a birthday party.

The boys put on a magic show for Superbowl Halftime!

Anna enjoying her favorite book.

 

The first week of the year, Bob asked the Lord for a word. Asked for instruction, for discernment, anticipation of what God was saying and intending to do in this immediate season.

The Holy Spirit directed him to Psalm 20:5, a blessing prayer and celebration of the victory of God. He was so encouraged, as we remain in the high-pressure place of need for multiple types of victories, accomplishments only God can give. For all earthly purposes, there are some major challenges we still must overcome in preparation for our launch with SIM and Sports Friends. We feel ready to get started in this particular service, but there is an un-readiness God is yet addressing through this process of defined preparation. An un-readiness measurable in our outstanding requirements, an un-readiness as He continues specific works in our hearts, and an un-readiness of His to reveal the fullness of His plan prematurely.

A few days later, the Lord started speaking to me out of Psalm 20:1-3, His promise for help, sustenance, and remembrance of our offerings. I was encouraged, and it wasn’t lost on me that the immediately following verses were what He’d just given Bob.

The boys and I have been reading I Dared to Call Him Father, the testimony of a woman whom Jesus met with in her dreams. The boys began reading their Bibles more independently and asking God to speak to them more. The Sunday morning after our local snowstorm, one of the boys came to my prayer corner and asked by reference if I knew what a certain Bible verse said. Curiosity piqued, I gave him a Bible to look it up and asked him why that particular segment. “I had a dream last night that I was reading it. I couldn’t see the words, just which verses it was.” The reference? Psalm 20:1-5.

Now, Bob had shared his verse with me the day he got it. Otherwise, Psalm 20 had just been personal gifts to him and me. Clearly God intended to say something to and over our whole family with this (so clearly it became the Scripture for home-church that morning, in our snowbound community).

We’d like to share this amazing gift of His Word with you. First, I pray that it strengthens and encourages you, and leads you to celebrate the mighty presence and goodness of GOD. I invite you to begin praying this blessing over your own family/life/service as you seek the Lord with all your heart, delight yourself in Him, and make His praise glorious. (Jer 29:13, Ps 37:4-5, Ps 66:2). And finally, I ask you to join us in praying it boldly over our family, according to God’s call and purposes. Believe Him with us, and we will with you, that He will fulfill His purposes for us all.

 

Psalm 20

May Yahweh answer you in a day of trouble;
may the name of Jacob’s God protect you.

May He send you help from the sanctuary
and sustain you from Zion.

May He remember all your offerings
and accept your burnt offering.

Selah

May He give you what your heart desires
and fulfill your whole purpose.

Let us shout for joy at your victory
and lift the banner in the name of our God.
May Yahweh fulfill all your requests.

Now I know that the Lord gives victory to His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven,
with mighty victories from His right hand.

Some take pride in chariots, and others in horses,
but we take pride in the name of Yahweh our God.

They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand firm.

Lord, give victory to the king!
May He answer us on the day that we call.

Welcome to the team! God has been writing the type of story only He can come up with, and we are honored to share the journey with you.

For those of you who are new to our list or who have missed a beat or two (so easy to do in this fast-paced and information-overloaded world), here’s the quick recap:

Relocation: to greater Charlotte, NC, area to serve at SIM International Office

Assignment: Bob: full-time media/communications for International Support Services for phenomenal outreach Sports Friends, even now continuing expansion into new nations as the support team grows. Mary: support of medical workers overseas long-term, then healthcare education trips  & disaster response team (not before Anna is weaned). Kids: pursuit of God’s vision for them and development of their gifts, including participation in sport or medical trips over time!

Timeframe: begin remote work as soon as support level is sufficient, physical move to Charlotte as soon as family needs permit.

Vision:  To meet critical needs for youth mentorship, family preservation, and life-saving access to healthcare in Jesus’ Name. To encourage and equip believers worldwide to effectively reach their own communities and gospel-resistant areas through sport programs and medical services, that many will experience the presence and love of God.

Outstanding Requirements:

Completion of online training through Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

50 more people committed to praying for our newsletter requests

30% remaining in monthly financial commitments

0% remaining in one-time financial needs

 

Please PRAY with us through the fulfillment of all these things in the next few months. We love to celebrate with you as we see God provide in many ways. He is so creative and diverse in His provisions, and cannot fail!

PRAISE GOD with us for:

• His strength to be faithful.
• His joy in mobilizing many to what matters most: extending His Kingdom to people.
• His perfect kindness in giving us not just the material things we need, but the character and faith He wants us to walk in.
• Physical health thus far.

PRAY with us for:

• Growth in the fear of the Lord, that our family would honor God in all we do.
• Speech “as if speaking the very words of God” (1 Peter 4:11) in all our appointments and speaking engagements.
• Eagerness of the Church to sacrificially serve, and reach out to the world.
• Faithfulness in the large and the small.

Happy New Year!

It’s 2018. For us, this year will mark: 18 years of discipleship. 12 years of marriage. 10 years of parenthood (age range spanning 7 months – 17 years!). 6 years of family-via-adoption. 2 years full-time mission work (including training/prep as well as outreaches).

It will mark our launch into a new position in ministry and geographical location. New home, new church, new schools, new colleagues, new friends. Please pray for our family now, regarding these transitions!

 

Have you ever felt like an old-timer, dried up by life’s incessant demands, being asked to do something new? Like an “old wineskin” when Jesus is pouring in “new wine”, and you just might burst? (Mark 2:22) Thought you had your shape, and were able to contain and maintain what you needed to, only to have the shape of everything change, with a requirement of increased capacity? Yes?

My soul is refreshed and my hope rises in the twilight: I am making all things new. That means you, too.

He happily does away with the “old wineskin” bits of me, in order to bring in something new, with a capacity He designs and prescribes.

I have anticipation, that still, things that are utterly beyond us, He will do. Because He is inherently unhindered by the things He spoke into being, He loves to be known for who He is, and He is in passionate pursuit of His children. Myself included. Yourself included. Every broken one of us included. We are a mess, and He is glorious, and He calls us, further up, further in.

But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18). So long as our faces are set on Him, we’re being made more like Him. It’s cause-and-effect. May He have our eyes, our hearts. I pray that for you as I pray it for me this year:

Fix your eyes on JESUS, the Author and Finisher of your faith. (Heb 12:2)

Let your eyes look directly ahead; let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. (Proverbs 4:25)

Seek the LORD and His strength. Seek His face continually. (Psalm 105:4)

One thing I ask of the LORD, and this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek Him in His temple. (Psalm 27:4)

Maybe you get a “word” for the year, a focus or expectation for what God wants to do in your life. Such an exciting thing, to have Him speaking into our lives and cultivating anticipation. Teaching us, shepherding us, loving us in such unique ways. Thank You, Father!

But our first word, our first pursuit, our one thing even after all other expectations fade: let it be Jesus Himself. He is guaranteed: Seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

So this year, whether you’re joy-ing, celebrate-ing, pause-ing, adventure-ing, purify-ing, love-ing, trust-ing, rest–ing, learn-ing, discipline–ing, or whatever other amazing growth and gift you’re receiving, let it come through the perfectly designing hands of Jesus, with the reward of knowing Him better, and how lavishly He loves you.

What is He speaking to you this New Year? What’s your word?