Heard of God

     We give praise to God for the life He gives us.  We really wanted to avoid a C-section for this baby.  We prayed for a safe and healthy delivery.  I must admit that as much as I don't like all the unnecessary medical intervention in labor, I am extremely thankful for the necessary medical intervention in labor.  If there were no such thing as C-sections, it is very likely that I would not have a family today.  I give praise to God for being in a place where it is a routine procedure and everything went smooth.  I am very glad we decided to name our son Samuel since God has shown us time and time again how he hears us and answers our prayers.  Often the answers are not exactly what we want but it is obvious that He hears us and is good.

     I have been encouraged lately in reading through the Scriptures.  In attempting to keep up with a daily reading schedule, I am in 2 Chronicles, Daniel and John.  In reading through 2 Chronicles I came across the history of Jehoshaphat.  There came a time when a great army was making their way to attack Judah and Jehoshaphat sought the Lord in prayer for deliverance. In his crying out he said, we are weak and powerless against this great multitude and we do not know what to do but our eyes are on you.  Then God responded by telling him to go out but that God would fight them himself. Before Judah got to them, God had caused them to wipe themselves out.  This reminds me of another rare king in the midst of  2 Chronicles, Asa.  Most of the kings during this time did not seek God but sought other idols and God allowed them to be destroyed.  These two kings were among the few who sought to follow God and honor him.  God blessed them for it.  It wasn't that these men were really great or awesome men. It was just that they sought to follow God and worship Him alone.

  There was another very similar message in reading Daniel chapter 2.  Daniel didn't learn the interpretation of the dream because he was so smart or wise.  He didn't know what it was when the king demanded the wise men to tell him what his dream was.  Daniel decided to ask the one who did know and asked his friends to pray with him and fast.  God revealed the dream to Daniel so he could tell it to the king.  Again, God tells us in Scripture that he answers prayer.

     Again in reading in John there is a very encouraging message about prayer.  Jesus himself is praying to the Father. He just finished telling the disciples that it was necessary for him to leave so he could send the Helper who would convict the world and guide us into all truth.  Then he prays to the Father that those whom He has given Him would be united with Him with the Father in heaven.  How much more if God answered the prayers of Jeshoshaphat or Daniel will he answer his own prayers in Jesus?  We can be certain that though, God may not answer all our prayers as we want Him to, He will answer them. We can also be certain that He will answer the prayers of Jesus in uniting believers with himself and guiding us by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said to ask in His name and we will receive.

     We are at a point where we are asking a lot.  We have a large amount of money to raise before we can go to Peru.  We believe that it is necessary to leave for Peru in January.  This is not something that we can do on our own. So we cast our eyes on Him and ask you our friends to seek Him for us to move in mighty ways.  While the money is a very tangible thing that we need to get there, we realize that in our need for prayer money is only a small amount of what we need from God.  Much more than money, we need God's Spirit to empower us and help us serve Him and obey Him. We need the Spirit to help us love Him and love our neighbors.

     The most important thing we need from God is His equipping us to serve and His continued grace and lovingkindness.  The most important thing in going to serve Christ is faith and repentance. That is what we ask for.  Without His spirit working through us, we will simply be going to live in another country.  There is nothing special about us that will fix anybody.  Jesus is the one who will fix us and the people we go to serve.  We are only going to Peru because we are certain God wants us to go there, not because we think we are needed there.  I truly believe this, but I realize I need the Spirit to remind me of this every day.  It is something I often forget.

Last month's update

I finally figured out how to post it.:) More to come about our new son born!

Overflowing Joy!

I made a little table for our little daughter to play at.  It was a lot of fun.  I kind of experimented with the joinery and got a little creative.  It may be a little fancy for a toddler but it was worth it.

Make known His deeds among the peoples!

This morning I was reminded of the power of God's Word to encourage. I was discouraged because I was being forgetful. By God's grace, I was working through 1 Chronicles and came across the description of David and his mighty men.  Some of them came to him when he was in Ziklag and he came out to meet them and said, ““If you come peacefully to me to help me, my heart shall be united with you; but if to betray me to my adversaries, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers look on it and decide.”” (1 Chronicles 12:17 NAS95)  I was impressed with David’s confidence in God as well as his awareness of the evils of man.  He was not afraid of the possibility of deception though he was aware of it because he knew that God was in control and would protect him. I keep forgetting that it is not about me but it is about God.  I spiral down and look at my sin because I am not looking at Him but at myself.  He is righteous, not me.  I trust in Him, not in myself.  I was also very encouraged by this speech of David after they finally brought the ark to the place he prepared for it according to God’s ordinance. It is also found in Psalm 105, 96 and a couple others.

“Then on that day David first assigned Asaph and his relatives to give thanks to the LORD. Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad. Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually. Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth, O seed of Israel His servant, Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth. Remember His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac. He also confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan, As the portion of your inheritance.” When they were only a few in number, Very few, and strangers in it, And they wandered about from nation to nation, And from one kingdom to another people, He permitted no man to oppress them, And He reproved kings for their sakes, saying,“Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.” Sing to the LORD, all the earth; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; He also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and joy are in His place. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him; Worship the LORD in holy array. Tremble before Him, all the earth; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; And let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.” Let the sea roar, and all it contains; Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the LORD; For He is coming to judge the earth. O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Then say, “Save us, O God of our salvation, And gather us and deliver us from the nations, To give thanks to Your holy name, And glory in Your praise.” Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. Then all the people said, “Amen,” and praised the LORD.” (1 Chronicles 16:7–36 NAS95)

This is our reason to go out.  What confirmation that we kill sin by the Spirit through the Word. Speak the promises of God to ourselves and drive away our doubts and fears.

Time keeps on slipping away.  Before I know it, January will be upon us. Will we be ready to move to Peru? I don’t know. I hope so. I am plagued with doubts and fears of failing. I must remember that God is sovereign and that He has called me.  I keep wanting to make everything about myself. Life is about God, not me.  I keep forgetting that. I look at my weakness and shortcomings and start to spiral down.  I must look to God and His greatness and remember that if He has called me, He will equip me.  I must remember that if He has called me, He will provide. He has always provided all our needs just in time in the past. Why should I doubt that He will do it now?  I shouldn’t.  I struggle with this doubting in everyday life dealing with our second baby coming, work and support raising as well as in seeking Holiness and being faced with sinfulness. I so badly want to be Holy because He is Holy and has called us to be Holy. I am torn in this desire because it is mingled with a desire for sin. I am full of it. The more I try to be free from sin the more I realize how deep it is in me.  It is not that I commit a few sinful deeds but that my very core is sinful and wicked.  It is true. I tend to ignore it or try to cover it.  Only the blood of Jesus can cover it.  When I start talking about sin, I keep hearing people or my own heart say that I should not be so hard on myself and that I should be more confident.  I agree and I disagree.  I should be honest and admit the wickedness within.  I would be a liar if I were to be confident in myself and say that I am not that bad.  But, I should also look to my reality in Christ. I have been called by Him in his death and resurrection and am now raised up with Him and seated with Him in the heavenly places.  I should be confident in what Christ is doing in me. I should stop looking down at myself, not because I am not that bad, but because Christ has redeemed me.  This is such a hard thing to accept.  I do accept it and glory in it, but at the same time I find it hard to live out.  I read God’s command for obedience and am floored by my disobedience. I wish that I were not plagued with desires that offend Him.  I want to be free from sin. I hate it. But I love it at the same time. Paul tells us about this war with my old man and the new man in Christ. I feel it. Romans 8 tells us to kill sin by the Spirit. John Piper makes the point that this means by hearing God’s word and believing it in faith since the sword of the Spirit is God’s Word.  So, though I see a sinful man I must look to the Word that tells me Jesus has redeemed me and made me righteous. I can also look to the Word and see how it points to glorify Jesus and God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Instead of wanting to glorify myself and trying to make life all about me, I must repent and glorify God and make life all about Him.  Because it is.  This is why I want to serve Him. It is not because I am so good or so brave but it is because I am so bad and weak, yet He is so good and powerful. I want to tell the world about this good and powerful God. I also can trust Him to provide for us and pave the way for us in His timing.

Changed Times?

Ten years ago when I lived in Cusco for 7 & 1/2 months as a soltero (bachelor) it was very easy to get by on $1,000 a month. Actually that was more than enough. Most Peruvians get by on $200 a month or less.

Now as we are preparing to move to Trujillo with a family and working out our budget, it doesn’t seem so easy. We had a budget for 50K a year and thought it was plenty. Now after looking over it with our team, it seems it should be more like 75K a year. With all the one-time costs such as 4 airplane tickets and house furnishings and language school it really works out to our living expenses being only 39K a year. I still have a hard time adjusting to things costing so much in Peru. I suppose there is a big difference from living in Cusco with (in 2002) around 300,000 people and living in Trujillo (in 2010) with over 1,000,000 people and growing tremendously. The cost of living has definitely gone up.

All that to say that we are now around 60% of our support. Not far below but we do have more to raise. I trust that God will raise it up if it is necessary to get us there and if He wants us to go. He has raised up so much so far, I am confident He will raise up the rest and even more if it is needed. I do ask you to keep praying for us whether we have all the money needed or not. One thing we need is more people, families, and churches to commit to lift us up in prayer.

Our plan is still to leave for Peru in January, if our son is born in good health and the financial support is sufficient. We are now planning to move to Arequipa to start language school for three months and then move to Trujillo and start our two years of work with the ministry.

Fun work

I had fun working on this project. I was reminded while doing it how much fun woodwork can be.

It has been a blessing to have work lately. On the other hand, having work has slowed down my progress on getting support raising work done.

The most exciting thing lately is seeing that God is raising our support without us. It looks like we are already above 80% of our two-year support! While we have been busy trying to keep up with work and Satomi, God has been gracious. I hope to be able to get back to taking care of support raising work more this fall. Please be in prayer for that.
I should have a new update soon on how things are going with Parish and Peru Mission.