So many things in the works....
Daniel is set for three upcoming trips. Lots-o-logistics going on right now. Details coming in the near future.
You can start praying for the medical student team heading to Asia. Also, for the works going on in Africa. [so many events happening there that affect so many aspects of life]
We will be keeping you posted as news can "officially" be released.
We are slowly working on cleaning out the house and "de-junking" for the impending move. Continue to pray for timing and the right living quarters.
Hugs and prayers to all!
P.S. Pray for Teri as she starts taking some classes to work towards a possible nursing or PA license.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Races and Rain Dancing
(I've had this on my mind for a while, but taking the time to stop and put it down seems to allude me lately. I hope it blesses you as much as it blessed me.)
RACES:
I have a friend who is the same age as I [we shall not disclose that one]. She and I both had this crazy desire to run in a marathon of some sort. (Well I'd be happy to crawl across the finish line of a 5K... she is so much more focused and ambitious.) She told me she had signed up for a half-marathon a few months back! I thought that she must have been in a lot better shape than myself! She just said, "You had better pray!"
A couple of weeks ago she called to remind me that she was running/walking the half-marathon that weekend "do or die trying." She also told me she was calling friends to get their favorite number and scripture to pray for them on that specific mile. [can you say "wow!" I'd be thinking about praying for breathing... and she wants to pray for me!] I, of course, told her that whatever number was that last mile... 'cuz I wanted to be with her crossing that finished line! Then I asked her if she was ready. She said, "No, but my goal is just to finish... and do it in 3 hours."
That Saturday after enough time had passed that I was sure the race was over [and I couldn't stand waiting any longer], I phoned her to see how it went. What she told me had me in tears....
You see this had been a journey for her. I can't share here what has been going on in her life... but let's just say that I admire more every day her courage and trust in God and hope I could be so steadfast facing some of what she has faced. She described to me that she had picked this race because it was "coming home" for her. It was where she had grown up and lived through many great memories in her life. But it was also bittersweet for her... she was coming home, but running a race with not a soul or friend she knew there to run with her and cheer her on. [well except one... that comes later in the story] It was a race she had to run one step at a time... one foot right in front of the other... one breath after another... sometimes running, sometimes barely walking up the hills.... but completely by herself. She said every turn and mile marker was a reminder of some part of her life; and another opportunity for the satan to "mess with her mind".
She said that so many thoughts went through her head: quitting, how silly it was to be there, all of her friends were elsewhere, she was tired, she was too weak and out of shape to do this... She pulled out her MP3 player to listen to songs of overcoming and victory that some friends had put there for her. She listened to sermons. She pulled out her little scraps of paper each mile to pray for friends and read the scripture they had given to her. [almost in tears at how appropriate the scriptures were at each part of the race]
Somewhere around the middle of the race she text messaged her Dad to tell him that it was just too hard and she really wanted to quit and go home. Her dad texted her back to encourage her to keep going. He told her he knew she could do it and to look how far she had come. She kept going. She even had to slowly walk up a "very curvy up-hill path" past a chapel on the trail. By then, she knew that she would be a part of the last group of folks to finish the race. [Winners had certainly finished an hour plus before.] She was just ready to get to the end. The funny thing was that myself and one of her other friends had requested she pray for us on "mile 13" because we both wanted to "be there" crossing the finish line with her. I had given her a scripture about God directing ours paths, but her other friend had jokingly given her the scripture John 11:35.
And then there it was... she could see the finish line ahead... not much cheering going on for the end of the pack of runners. She actually was feeling quite down that there she was and no one she knew was even there to see it.... well, that was until she saw him....
...her Dad. He doesn't walk too fast these days, but somehow he had managed to hike the distance from the parking area way across the campus and and work his way through a packed crowd to stand at the finish line and cheer his daughter home. He yelled out for her, "You've done it!!! You made it!!! Come on and finish it!!!" She cried.... nope, more like....she bawled her eye-balls out [you know, those honkin'- snotty-nosed-from-the-heart cries]. She said all she could think of is, "That's my Daddy and he's waving me home!"
[O.K. So at this point of the phone conversation I'm crying with her. How precious can you get.] She went on to tell me that after she got over bawling her eyes out at the finish line she asked him how in the world he was able to find her in the humongous crowd of people. He said that he had done "recon" in the military and certainly knew he could find her. Then she asked him about the walk. His response... "I was one determined man!" [yea... smile all you daddies and daughters out there... I know you're sniffling too.] Then he went on to tell her that not only had she made the finish line but she had finished in exactly 3 hours!
All I could say to her at this point was.... do you know what a picture you have painted??? It is like the whole race was one big "object lesson" of your life! I can just see Christ standing at the finish line screaming at the top of his lungs in sheer joy at his children [worn out and wondering if we would ever make it... fighting all the negative lies from satan that the race wasn't worth it] ... "You did it!!! You made it!!! Come on home!!!"
Yes, she got it. On so many levels.
God is so into the little details of our lives. Sometimes it is hard to remember that. Sometimes we just want to think that everything we do is not important or worth the effort or "why try?". God has a funny way of reminding us that everything is important.
Oh... the scripture verse from her other friend for "mile 13"/the finish line.... the one that was supposed to be a "funny".... John 11:35 "Jesus wept." [yea and God has a sense of humor too!]
RAIN DANCING:
From the email of yet another friend...
*Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain.*
My addition: just put on your goulashes when it gets deep...
Addendum:
Of course, I sit down to type this blog entry and the classic Phillips, Craig and Dean song on the CD playing blared away....
"Sometimes I still feel so lost
So far from where I should be
He gently calls to my heart
Just to remind me....
Mercy came running
Like a prisoner set free
Passed all my failures to the point of my need
The sin that I carried was all I could see
And when I could not reach mercy
Mercy came a runnin' to me."
O.K. so maybe God is not just standing at the finish line... maybe He has already ran out there [doing "recon"] and is pushing you across that line.... whatever works! I'm o.k. with that!
RACES:
I have a friend who is the same age as I [we shall not disclose that one]. She and I both had this crazy desire to run in a marathon of some sort. (Well I'd be happy to crawl across the finish line of a 5K... she is so much more focused and ambitious.) She told me she had signed up for a half-marathon a few months back! I thought that she must have been in a lot better shape than myself! She just said, "You had better pray!"
A couple of weeks ago she called to remind me that she was running/walking the half-marathon that weekend "do or die trying." She also told me she was calling friends to get their favorite number and scripture to pray for them on that specific mile. [can you say "wow!" I'd be thinking about praying for breathing... and she wants to pray for me!] I, of course, told her that whatever number was that last mile... 'cuz I wanted to be with her crossing that finished line! Then I asked her if she was ready. She said, "No, but my goal is just to finish... and do it in 3 hours."
That Saturday after enough time had passed that I was sure the race was over [and I couldn't stand waiting any longer], I phoned her to see how it went. What she told me had me in tears....
You see this had been a journey for her. I can't share here what has been going on in her life... but let's just say that I admire more every day her courage and trust in God and hope I could be so steadfast facing some of what she has faced. She described to me that she had picked this race because it was "coming home" for her. It was where she had grown up and lived through many great memories in her life. But it was also bittersweet for her... she was coming home, but running a race with not a soul or friend she knew there to run with her and cheer her on. [well except one... that comes later in the story] It was a race she had to run one step at a time... one foot right in front of the other... one breath after another... sometimes running, sometimes barely walking up the hills.... but completely by herself. She said every turn and mile marker was a reminder of some part of her life; and another opportunity for the satan to "mess with her mind".
She said that so many thoughts went through her head: quitting, how silly it was to be there, all of her friends were elsewhere, she was tired, she was too weak and out of shape to do this... She pulled out her MP3 player to listen to songs of overcoming and victory that some friends had put there for her. She listened to sermons. She pulled out her little scraps of paper each mile to pray for friends and read the scripture they had given to her. [almost in tears at how appropriate the scriptures were at each part of the race]
Somewhere around the middle of the race she text messaged her Dad to tell him that it was just too hard and she really wanted to quit and go home. Her dad texted her back to encourage her to keep going. He told her he knew she could do it and to look how far she had come. She kept going. She even had to slowly walk up a "very curvy up-hill path" past a chapel on the trail. By then, she knew that she would be a part of the last group of folks to finish the race. [Winners had certainly finished an hour plus before.] She was just ready to get to the end. The funny thing was that myself and one of her other friends had requested she pray for us on "mile 13" because we both wanted to "be there" crossing the finish line with her. I had given her a scripture about God directing ours paths, but her other friend had jokingly given her the scripture John 11:35.
And then there it was... she could see the finish line ahead... not much cheering going on for the end of the pack of runners. She actually was feeling quite down that there she was and no one she knew was even there to see it.... well, that was until she saw him....
...her Dad. He doesn't walk too fast these days, but somehow he had managed to hike the distance from the parking area way across the campus and and work his way through a packed crowd to stand at the finish line and cheer his daughter home. He yelled out for her, "You've done it!!! You made it!!! Come on and finish it!!!" She cried.... nope, more like....she bawled her eye-balls out [you know, those honkin'- snotty-nosed-from-the-heart cries]. She said all she could think of is, "That's my Daddy and he's waving me home!"
[O.K. So at this point of the phone conversation I'm crying with her. How precious can you get.] She went on to tell me that after she got over bawling her eyes out at the finish line she asked him how in the world he was able to find her in the humongous crowd of people. He said that he had done "recon" in the military and certainly knew he could find her. Then she asked him about the walk. His response... "I was one determined man!" [yea... smile all you daddies and daughters out there... I know you're sniffling too.] Then he went on to tell her that not only had she made the finish line but she had finished in exactly 3 hours!
All I could say to her at this point was.... do you know what a picture you have painted??? It is like the whole race was one big "object lesson" of your life! I can just see Christ standing at the finish line screaming at the top of his lungs in sheer joy at his children [worn out and wondering if we would ever make it... fighting all the negative lies from satan that the race wasn't worth it] ... "You did it!!! You made it!!! Come on home!!!"
Yes, she got it. On so many levels.
God is so into the little details of our lives. Sometimes it is hard to remember that. Sometimes we just want to think that everything we do is not important or worth the effort or "why try?". God has a funny way of reminding us that everything is important.
Oh... the scripture verse from her other friend for "mile 13"/the finish line.... the one that was supposed to be a "funny".... John 11:35 "Jesus wept." [yea and God has a sense of humor too!]
RAIN DANCING:
From the email of yet another friend...
*Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain.*
My addition: just put on your goulashes when it gets deep...
Addendum:
Of course, I sit down to type this blog entry and the classic Phillips, Craig and Dean song on the CD playing blared away....
"Sometimes I still feel so lost
So far from where I should be
He gently calls to my heart
Just to remind me....
Mercy came running
Like a prisoner set free
Passed all my failures to the point of my need
The sin that I carried was all I could see
And when I could not reach mercy
Mercy came a runnin' to me."
O.K. so maybe God is not just standing at the finish line... maybe He has already ran out there [doing "recon"] and is pushing you across that line.... whatever works! I'm o.k. with that!
Galations 5: 6-8
6b The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
7You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? 8That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.
2 Timothy 4:6-8
7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Romans 8: 26-28
26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
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