Today’s devotional reading: a conversation

Scripture: Hebrews 11, starting at v8- “It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance.”

Me: “Hey, I did that! The Philippines really will be a kind of inheritance for me and my family—a new place that will be our home, given to us by God. It is by faith, and some of it is hard!”

Scripture: “He went without knowing where he was going.”

Me: “Oh. Well, that was way harder than what I did. We knew where we were going—Manila, and Faith Academy. And I was definitely anxious about where we would stay until I knew about this apartment. We had it all worked out before we flew. Yeah, I guess my situation’s not so bad!”

Scripture: “And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner…”

Me: “Well, he WAS a foreigner! And that, again, I do relate to. Living as a foreigner in somebody else’s country is a different kind of thing, not always easy.”

Scripture: “…living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.”

Me: “Oh. Right. Again, I don’t have it so tough as that. There is something impermanent about our lives here, though. It is not guaranteed that we can stay, and we know already that we will be moving house at least one more time in the next year. Missionaries are rather nomadic. We’ll move, or the people around us will, many times in the next years.”

Scripture: “Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God… All these people… agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously, people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

Me: “This needs to be me too.”

I will be making my home in Manila for the foreseeable future, with the US as the place more of my history than of my present. One of my main jobs, as I see it, during the next year (and more), while I am teaching part-time and staying at home more, is to make a home for my family. We will be putting down roots here, and it’s essential that we do so—for the sake of our students and our ministry, for the sake of our daughter, and for our own sanity. However, because we are foreigners here, and because of the nomadic nature of missionary life, I think we will not lose our sense of being strangers. We will remember that this is not our ultimate home, and it will sometimes hurt. It will hurt to be away from the US; and when we are there, it will hurt to be away from Manila; and sometimes nothing will satisfy! When I feel that, or when Kaitlyn does, I need to remind myself and teach her that our true HOME, our city with foundations, is heaven. Our home here is where we are, as a family, but our real home is where God is. And in the midst of the chaos of home-making, stressful and sometimes unsuccessful as it can be, there is a precious promise here for me. God HAS prepared a city for us. And it is a BETTER place than anything here. I do have a heavenly homeland, and one day I will be there and be at rest.

The 10/20/30 Challenge

In just a few weeks, Seth is scheduled to be teaching four classes for the second semester at Faith Academy—which begins on January 7! We would like to fly out from Chicago on January 4 or 5, so that he will arrive on time to teach. However, in order for that to happen, our monthly financial partnership must be 100% complete, in time to buy those plane tickets. We know God may have His own, different timing for our return, but it is our prayer that we be able to serve the students and the school through a solid beginning to 2^nd semester—with their teacher ready to go on day 1!

This brings us to what we are calling our “10-20-30 Challenge”: 10 days, 20 new monthly partners at $30 per month. Can you help us get there? If there are 20 people who can begin or increase their partnership with us at an amount of $30 per month, we will be nearly finished and ready to go! God has continued to bring us new partners, and we know there are more yet to come. We are so close to being ready to leave. Would you consider joining the team to get us back to Manila in time for Seth to teach that first day of class?

In 10 days, it will be Christmas! Within days after that, we need to purchase our tickets, if we are to be in Manila by January 7. We would love to see God bring in the last of our monthly support in this next 10 days! We know that He can do it! We serve a mighty God, who delights in providing for His children. Will you pray about taking us up on this challenge, as God leads you? Will you pray for God to move in the right hearts, so that people will partner with us at the right amounts for them, so that we can return to Manila at just the right time, according to His plan?

Remember, we are looking for 10-20-30: 20 new partners at $30 per month, in the next 10 days. Will you be one of the ones who help us to finalize our team of financial partners? Let us know if you have any questions, or if you want to be one of those 20 partners! You can contact us on Facebook or by email (view our Complete Profile in the top right sidebar for a link to our email address).

Information about our sending mission organization, TEAM, is located in the sidebar of this blog, to the right. 

Update, as of 12/18: We are still looking for 15 new partners at $30 per month. God is moving! We are  excited to see who He brings alongside us in partnership to send us back again as teachers at Faith Academy in Manila.

Update, as of 12/24: We need enough partners to cover $345 in remaining monthly commitments. This boils down to basically 11-12 more new partners at $30 per month. We are getting very close to being able to leave!

Update as of 12/28: We now need only about $250 more in monthly commitments. That would be covered by 8 or 9 new partners at $30 per month (or only 5 more at $50 per month). God is working and we are excited to see him moving so clearly in our monthly financial partnership. Will you be one of the ones who help us complete the final remaining amount?

A couple months of Furlough ...

I recently realized that it felt like a long time since either Laura or I had posted on this blog, so I decided we needed to start posting on here again.

Laura and I have been back in the USA for a couple of months now, and we have had some great opportunities to spend time with family and friends, including several out-of-state trips. God has really blessed our interactions with those who are near and dear to our hearts over the summer months, and we are feeling refreshed from those times.

At this point, we are in the middle of an intense training process as we prepare for our return to the Philippines in early January. We have really been blessed by the class, and we have been learning some awesome tools that will help us to better share our ministry testimony and stories with people who are interested in and care about what we are doing. The training class ends on Thursday, August 30. If you feel God's leading, please feel free to pray for us as we continue this class, and finish it up in a little over a week.

So, that is a really small nutshell of what we have been up to recently. If you want to hear more details, feel free to email us (or call or facebook us). If you click on our picture up in the top corner of the blog page, you will see a link that allows you to email us.

I'm including a month-old photo of Laura, who is now into her 5th month of pregnancy.