How blessed we have been lately, but also how challenged we have been to continue following the call and trusting that God will bring it to completion!
- We are now at 58% on our monthly support pledges, with steady progress each week. While things have slowed down due to the busy-ness of the holiday season, we hope to re-establish some momentum in the new year and get back to meeting with people to share our vision.
- It was a blessing to share at New Summit Presbyterian in Lee's Summit yesterday. If your pastor or missions board might be open to having us share with the congregation or make an appeal for church support, please reach out and let us know.
- We have arranged with CFCI headquarters for our new departure goal to be April, in time for Seth to start a trimester of language school that starts on April 29. Our estimated departure from the States will be April 20. This allows us to finish fundraising, take care of logistics of selling property, nearly finish the homeschooling year for the kids at HCA, and enjoy this last holiday season for a while with our families (without the added chaos of impending departure!). Andrea will begin language school in August when we have settled in and the kids can begin with the private school there. As usual, God has arranged a plan in His timing that is even better than what we thought we wanted at the beginning...
- We have signed a contract to sell our house with a closing date of April 15, 2009. It's a blessing to anticipate release from the "liability" of remotely owning property, but also a sad thing to let go of a place that we love and one that has created so many ministry memories for us. Please ask God to keep our faith strong while we feel vulnerable and continue to let things go that were once valuable to us. We know that He is teaching us to "count as rubbish" the things of the world in comparison to the riches of knowing and serving Him. What great preparation for the mission field!
- Just when things were starting to look pretty lean for us, Seth has rustled up some remodeling work that should take us into January. If you or anyone you know has work to be done around the house, please let him know! We know that God will continue to show up and provide for us, but it can get nerve-wracking when you're waiting and thinking about the next month's bills! I'm seeing a trend here that we are having to take one step at a time and trust God to show us later where the next one is...Gee, think it might be more training for what's next? ;-)
A passage that has been the subject of conversation around our house lately is from Matthew 25. Jesus is telling his followers about the final judgment, and how he will separate the "sheep from the goats," those who are saved and those who are not. This is important stuff! What is the chief criteria that he gives for this decision? The answer: how we treated the poor and downtrodden in our world.
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."
Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink ..." The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."
Jesus takes personally how we treat those around us who are in need! He goes so far as to say that we treat Him however we treat them, and that in this way, He will distinguish whether our faith is real. Now don't misunderstand and think that I'm proposing a works-based salvation; that's not my point and is not the truth. The sheep didn't receive salvation because of what they DID for people, they received it because of their FAITH, out of which sprung how they loved and treated other people (and Jesus).
I'd like to challange each of you this Christmas season to think about how to put your faith into practice and do these things that Jesus mentioned. Not just by giving to an organization that does these things on your behalf, but actually getting into the dirt and the grime with needy people. For it is in the personal contact with them that we experience how to show grace, see our own depravity and need reflected, and come to a truer appreciation of our blessings and the grace shown to us. Something radical has begun to happen in our hearts as a result of relationships like these, and we pray that you'll experience the same blessing.
Thanks for the encouraging words, friendship, and financial support that so many of you give us! Together, God will use us as a team to show His compassion and mercy to those around the world who desperately need to see it.
Andrea (&Seth)
