Journal

Sing for joy in the Lord, o you righteous ones, for praise is becoming to the upright. – Psalm 33:1

I find it best to share updates in a voice of praise. Like each of you, our days are filled with challenges and pains of many different kinds, but they are so filled with the goodness of YAHWEH and His presence among us (in us!) that praising Him before you is the very most appropriate thing. And while gratitude is our abundance, and joy is our strength, and trust-filled thanksgiving brings our peace, praise is lovely.

Ever wanted to dress up beautiful for your beloved?
Ever wanted to impress someone not in pride, but in given-ness to them?
Ever wanted to make GOD smile, not in fear or earned security, but because you adore your Abba and see the worthiness of your Almighty?
Here’s the key, folks.
Praise befits the upright.
It is lovely.
It’s like receiving the gown, the jersey, the crown- as much as you can comprehend of the every-good-thing He’s given to you in Himself, and putting it on. It bears His name, and you identify Him as the One ultimate thing, the One it is all from and for.
Joy in Him. He loves it even more than you do.
Who couldn’t use a bit of daily celebration on top of your freedom?

 

In May my mother had a major abdominal surgery followed by a very difficult, months-long course of recovery. The Father faithfully carried and is gently healing her. She faithfully clings to Him and finds her help as He restores her strength.

In May I took my ten-year Physician Assistant national re-certification exam. Having been out of full-time practice for a couple of years it was more of a challenge this time, but the Lord honored our investment of heavy study and I was grateful for the refresher.

In May we grieved the tragic death of one of Bob’s longest and dearest friends. His rapid decline was so painful to watch, and again we felt the helplessness of not being able to fix anything as we waited, prayed, loved. Seeing death come to peers always speaks loudly and calls us to greater urgency in making known the God of eternity and hope.

The school year ended, and with thanks to God for big goals to reach and great summer job opportunities, we had our best-yet season of unstructured family time. The boys completed their goal to run 100 miles, though they didn’t all quite read 100 hours (unless you count all our read-alouds at night – we’re working our way through the Little House series and loving it!). We celebrated at Holiday World, and they have a huge milestone of accomplishment in their books. Running and reading are not always easy, but are very easily taken for granted. We are thankful for all the physical and mental pieces that are working together to make these two activities possible for us.

In June, Anna had surgery on her hand to remove two benign tumors that were rapidly growing on her fingers. It’s always hard to see your baby in pain and tied up in protective devices, but God gave her so much grace, patience, and happiness amidst it all. Her skin grafts struggled to heal, but by end of July she was able to enjoy some water play. There is so much to be thankful for surrounding her procedure.

My sister got married in Hong Kong, where she lives, on June 30, then they came to the States for a July 4 reception & celebration. We are thrilled to welcome Nathan, the new Aussie uncle, to our family!

In July four of the kids went to Shakamak Bible Camp. It was Abe’s first year (he had a BLAST), and they all heard from the Lord and made new friends, as well as refreshing relationships from past years. What a joy to have this opportunity.

August is now over. I am so thankful for your prayer as I prepared for the home school year with the boys (5th, 4th, 3rd grades). We have a new and much more involved curriculum, but we have felt so much grace over our first four weeks. We are learning so much together, and most of all learning together. Our theme verse is, of course, Matthew 6:33. We seek to know GOD, to learn love, humility, unity, peace, kindness; to grow in understanding the Words that endure forever, to pray for many we’ll never see this side of Heaven, many who are suffering. We seek to anchor ourselves in the eternal, then move into our day trusting Him to add all the rest to us: we discover Him in all the places and stories of this earth, the workings of ecosystems and languages and art forms, the mathematical systems and earth-absolutes. It is so much work and the kids know all my buttons, but God is knitting together our family unit in a new way and gifting these three boys with a unity that is changing us all. He only knows what all He is preparing them for as He works, growing them in a thousand ways every day.

The girls are both in public high school, senior and freshman years. One is really enjoying her last year in this chapter of life, and by the power of the Holy Spirit is spending her days choosing gratitude, humility, and kindness. The joy and peace that our good Father pours into her as she seeks His ways have been a profound gift for her mother to observe and enjoy. Pray for her as she walks out her last year and sorts out what comes next. Our precious freshman has entered the chaos of hundreds of adolescent peers that live in a deeply deceived world. She’s faced daily with countless challenges, temptations, obstacles, decisions; for all the grief they can bring, I’m thankful that God gave her a bold spirit and a hard head. Pray for her as she navigates these difficult waters, and continues to grow in understanding of who God is and what is true about her.

Thank you for sharing life with us and praising our great God with us. What a priceless gift, to rejoice with each other and grieve with each other. In all things we give thanks. Take a breath and a break. Grab some coffee and come back for a more external ministry update!

 

When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends of your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.  — Luke 14:12-13

IN TYPICAL MALAWIAN CULTURE, one of the last places you would expect to find a person with a disability is on the soccer field. Usually those with disabilities are mocked ruthlessly and prohibited from participating in even the most common daily activities. But when the Spirit of God moves through a coach and a team, the culture adapts to what God’s Word teaches. Sports Friends Malawi places a high value on inclusion, so we invite the “crippled, lame, and blind” to our teams, just as Jesus would have it.

Meet Vinny. Vinny lives in Malawi and is a joyful, enthusiastic kid. He has cerebral palsy and struggles to walk at times, but you would never know how difficult his life is when he comes to soccer practice. His radiant personality adds so much to the sports ministry team that he is a part of in the city of Blantyre!

Having Vinny as part of our team has taught us so much about God and His Kingdom. I will never forget a time when our U-16 boys were competing in a match and 9-year-old Vinny wanted nothing more in the world than to join them. Our best player was named Jonto and, at the top of his lungs, Vinny shouted, “Jonto looks tired, let me in for Jonto! I can do it. I will score. Come on, coach?”

Our coaching staff didn’t consider substituting our best player for Vinny – we wanted to win, and Vinny often struggled just to get his foot on the ball. But Jonto had a different perspective.

Jonto heard Vinny chirping from the sidelines and saw it as a moment to bless Vinny and to show him how valuable he is in the eyes of his teammates and in the eyes of God. In a moment, Jonto ran off the field and said, “Vinny, you’re in! It’s your turn to go for it!”

Vinny’s mouth literally hung open in disbelief. Then, that disbelief turned into the most beautiful smile that you’ve ever seen. Vinny dashed onto the field and hugged Jonto. He wrapped his legs around Jonto and asked, “Can you stay with me to help?”

Jonto agreed, and the other team, impacted by Jonto’s Kingdom decision, allowed the ball to get to Vinny’s feet. He dribbled up the field towards the goal. Everybody was chanting his name, “Vinny, Vinny, Vinny…”

Vinny’s joy overflowed as he softly kicked the ball into the goal and dove in the dirt. He ran over to the coaching staff and gave us the biggest hugs ever, shouting over and over again, “This is the best day of my life!”

This is why we do sports ministry. It’s not about winning games; rather, it’s about winning young people like Vinny into the Kingdom of God. And in doing so, we are learning so much about how God uses people like Vinny to broaden our views of the greatness of Christ and how how each person is “fearfully and wonderfully made.”

KAKUMA REFUGEE CAMP, KENYA

It’s often in the hardest and darkest places of our world that we see the gospel flourishing, When civil war broke out in South Sudan, many were forced to flee their homes to the refugee camp of Kakuma in neighboring Kenya. It’s in this place of more than 50,000 displaced people that William (above) is using a soccer ball to share the gospel message of hope.

William’s testimony is remarkable in that he himself came to know Christ through a soccer ball and a Sports Friends-trained coach called Wanyama. Wanyama had been struggling to plant churches for many years, until he discovered sports as a way to connect with the community. With just ten soccer balls and a great faith, he was able to plant five new churches in South Sudan. During the unrest, these churches were relocated to the refugee camp in Kakuma (along with Wanyama and William) where Sunday services now take place under the shade of a large tree, and Wanyama and William disciple members using the platform of soccer.

 

 

It’s uncertain whether William will ever be able to go back to his home in South Sudan, but he dreams of one day returning as a sports minister: using a ball to take hope to those who are living and dying without a gospel witness. For now at least, his ministry “field” is the refugee camp of Kakuma.

 

We recently held a Sports Friends training inside the refugee camp to equip 70 new coaches from the five church plants. Pray that these new coaches would be salt and light in the refugee camp and back in South Sudan if and when the Lord allows them to return home.

We’ve been praying for years for unity within our home, and we continue to (and shamelessly call on you over and over to present this request to God with us). Unity in love and holiness is the heart of Jesus (John 17). Even the Psalms talk about about how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity…. for there the Lord commands His blessing. (Ps 133). Unity is what we are called to. In the image of the Trinity God, we are distinct individuals, but fashioned to be one in love and purpose.

But as you well know, getting people really united can be a challenge. Especially we living in an individualistic society know that our flesh’s default tends to be grossly self-serving. I do mean gross. It’s hard to bring together adults with the same goal but personal differences; uniting a large and diverse family in an age- and racially-divided, morally-relative, entitled and independent culture is hard. It is a slow work of growth, and one that God does in hearts.

Common goals build unity, and challenging goals make it stronger. This summer our family’s goal is to accomplish 100 hours read, and 100 miles run. (Here’s hoping we keep fit in mind and body!) We’ve signed up for reading programs through the local library and Barnes & Noble. Half of their hours come from a recommended reading list and biographies, and half can be whatever they choose (i.e. Peanuts comics, superheros, Legos, and the Warriors series). The boys are logging 2-3 miles together most days, and look forward to the junior cross country team conditioning that begins next month. We see them sharing the camaraderie of pushing through side-stitch, splashing through every puddle on rainy days, dodging geese when we run near lakes, and finishing the course in the 90-something heat of the day. (They begged me one afternoon around 2:00 to take them right then… and learned for themselves that running in the morning was definitely a better idea).  We are still early in the process, but they are already growing in the character that hard team sport develops, and we’re doing it together. It’s a big goal for 10-, 9-, and 7-year-olds, but they are excited to accomplish it (and obviously feel really good after a long run and a chocolate milk recovery drink)!  The big prize at the end is a trip to Holiday World, and we’re definitely looking forward to that!

Do you have goals for the summer? How do you incorporate rest, motivation, accomplishment, and celebration in this season?

 

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