2009 Update #12

Reflections of Praise

It’s actually been a pretty quiet month…and I’m grateful for that! Quiet, but busy doing a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff. We’ve gotten a few requests for trips shorter than two weeks, but given the cost and the goal of building relationships that point people to Christ, going overseas for anything less than two weeks (with additional days for training and re-entry to make a total of a three-week minimum commitment) doesn’t really make sense or good stewardship of time and resources. While it’s been difficult to not be able to make everyone happy, God has been quietly giving His affirmation about this and encouraging me to explore other options for U.S. based missions as a complement to international efforts. As much as I love being involved in God’s global purposes, developing home-based opportunities actually falls in line with my understanding of our Great Commission strategy.

Please pray…

• for a bold peace and clear thinking as I move forward with the strategic and operational development of a U.S.-based option
• for God to raise and encourage the ones He has chosen to send through WFI to the locations He has prepared
• for a sensitivity and obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit to make shifts or changes in what I think are my wonderful plans , especially when it would be more comfortable to stick with what I know or have already experienced

Looking Ahead

It’s crazy to think I’ve been at this for almost a year. It’s been such fluid process so far, lots of changes and learning as we go along. While it’s exciting to be in on the ground-breaking stage, it has also been more challenging than I expected. Or maybe it has been challenging in ways I have never experienced before. And given my attraction to a good challenge, you can imagine how much I’ve been enjoying it.

When I think about what I really want out of all of this, I know my goal is partly shaped by what I’ve been studying this past year in the Gospel of John. Within the first 6 chapters, I’ve been struck in new ways by how powerful Jesus really is and how much He must have held back in order to not obliterate the people hanging out with Him. Just a fraction of the fullness of His deity was enough to change the properties of water and heal life-long infirmities. More powerful (but probably less appreciated) than the physical miracles were the spiritual ones: people believing in Jesus, sins being forgiven, and eternal lives beginning.

We’re about to get into the “I am” statements Jesus makes, and the Lord reminded me of something He told me the last time I studied those statements with a group. While it is great Jesus can say, “I am the door” or “I am the bread of life,” His most powerful “I am” statement wasn’t spoken; it was His incarnational life with us: “I am here.”

That’s what I want out of all of this. For people to know in their spirits and in their experience the presence of God in growing measure among us in WFI, in our communities and churches, and in our cultures. I know we can’t know the fullness of that until we get to Heaven, but I want to taste more of that with each passing year, each passing event, and each passing moment.

“Immanuel” is such a great name of Jesus. I need to remember to use it more often than one month a year. I hope you have a Merry Christmas! As we look back at His coming, let’s look forward to His return and enjoy the presence of God among us now.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1.14