Rural Living

While we know that the Lord brought us to the big city for a season and a purpose, we are thankful that He has provided an opportunity to study language with dedication and focus in a country town that we adore!

Sweet Tea is sold by the gallon.  Southern accents are lovingly drawn out, and make my daughters giggle.  This is the home of Cabbage Patch Dolls' Baby Land General Hospital-I still have mine, her name is Carmen Nadine)  The public librarians are sweet, kind, make eye contact and are glad you're there!

 

We are thrilled that the Lord has blessed us with this time of country living. 

Woods all around, a roaring fire to keep us warm and  10 laying hens clucking as we study French!

The downed trees make my boy sharpen his ax with intention and purpose. Squirrels are the size of cats!  There's a tractor parked on the high school office lawn. Scottish Highlanders.  A water wheel.  Chickens galore, dairy cows and so much more... The Lord has been so good, and it makes us smile ear-to-ear!!

Reflections on Secret Church 2013 (part 1)

Last night our family spent Good Friday participating in the Secret Church.  David Platt faithfully and passionately proclaimed the gospel while teaching for 7+ hours.  Starting at 7 pm going until just before 2 am!  Last year's topic was 'Suffering" and this year's subject was 'Heaven, Hell and The End Times.'  Secret Church is always focused on reaching the nations for Christ and supporting the persecuted church around the world.  If you haven't heard of Secret Church or you haven't participated in one, I urge you to get online and watch or listen.  Previous year's sessions are available online. (Link to Secret Church website.)

By the way this is Aaron writing.  It's my first trip into the blogosphere so bear with me as I attempt to share my heart and what the Holy Spirit has been showing me.  I think I'll break it into several blogs so I don't go so long.

As all 5 of us drove back to my sister and brother-in-law's house at about 2:30 am, all we could do was praise God for how He continues to confirm and seal in our hearts the fact that this world is not our home and that doing anything but living this life with reckless abandon for Jesus and the Kingdom of God is a waste of the short life He has blessed us with.  We marveled at how, as we continue to walk forward by faith and share with others the journey God is taking us on, God, in His sovereignty brings the same principles and scripture to our hearts and minds time and time again.

One of the areas of deep conviction in my life has been considering the billions of people destined for an eternity in hell apart from faith in Jesus Christ. Does my heart break for the lost?  Does yours?  If you answer yes, then let me ask you this.  What are you doing about it?

Even by the most liberal estimates well over 4.6 BILLION of the 7 billion people alive today are headed for hell.  What is even more troubling is that while we have constant access to Bibles, christian teaching and literature, blogs and podcast there are 2.8 BILLION people around the world today without witness or access to the gospel.

The bible is clear that apart from faith in Jesus Christ there is no salvation.(1 Timothy 2:5-6, John 14:6).  We are all guilty before a holy and just God (Romans 3:23), who has graciously provided for us a way out of our fallen state.  How is it that over my 32+ years of life as a Christian that my heart hasn't been continually ripped out of my chest and broken for the BILLIONS of people walking the wide path to eternal destruction.  I am ashamed to say that only recently have I allowed the truth of scripture and the prompting of the Holy Spirit to soften my rock hard heart and begin the process of giving me a heart of flesh that breaks for those who my savior lived a perfect life and died for. 

So now what?  Again I ask, do our hearts break for the lost?  Last night God used something David Platt said to rock my world.  He asked this question based on what we know the bible teaches about hell.

How much do you have to hate somebody, to not tell them about Jesus?

As one preacher says, if you can't say "Amen," then you have to say "Ouch!"  Well, I'm saying OUCH!!!!  My lifetime of inaction and all too typical lukewarmness is not okay.  How can I claim Christs shed blood unto salvation and then not proclaim the good news to everyone I meet? 

We must start with repentance to God for our hardness of heart and apathy based in comfort and laziness.  We must repent for our lackadaisical "personal" relationship that is self centered, self serving and seeks personal comfort at every turn.  It is never too late in this life to repent and turn to God, whether for salvation or for renewed mission.  Brothers and sisters,  we must make it our life's work to faithfully and urgently proclaim Christ's finished work.  Be it at home, in the office, at the market or around the world.  We should all be weary of hearing the excuses to which we so readily turn to make ourselves feel better.  I could list them, but I don't need to.  We all know them to well.

I believe the Holy Spirit is stirring among believers, calling the western church out of comfort, atrophy and apathy into the joy of serving the King of Kings by seeing lives transformed by the gospel and not the latest church program.  Will you join us as we seek to lose our lives for the sake of the gospel?  God is calling us all to radical devotion, complete surrender and action! 

Blessed

 We are so thankful for the time we had on the west coast- reconnecting with friends and family, saying goodbye and being encouraged for service by loved ones...and new friends.

 A dear cousin who works at 'the happiest place on earth' blessed us with a great day- in both parks!

 Jesse was very thankful that Uncle Ron and Aunt Donna didn't let us leave without a trip to In-N-Out

 Sweet girl, born under 2 pounds and a perfect toddler, by God's grace and protective Hand!

 Great time with cousins... memories that will last a lifetime!

 

 Our first meeting with this sweet guy- He was encouraging his sister and making a perfect heart!

“God doesn't bless us just to make us happy; He blesses us to make us a blessing.
-Warren Wiersbe

We were overwhelmed with the love and support we received on our trip.  We are without a home in this world, but open doors and hearts allowed us to feel 'at home' and soak in relationships.   5 weeks on the road came to an end, and we have settled into French lessons in a small country town!   We are truly blessed, and savoring each day of learning and final preparations!

A Smiley Sabbath!

We are enjoying a restful day and wanted to share something that made us smile this week...

 Bessie Dearest from the miniseries Cranford...Megan wanted to watch it on her birthday, and we highly recommend it!

 

Just a rebel

The most rebellious thing I've done in my life is get one of my ears double pierced during my senior year of high school- and I had my parents' permission to do it! 

Yet here we are in our late thirties, sowing our wild, Jesus-loving, God-fearing, Holy Spirit empowered oats! 

Touchdown!

We are 'home' in Atlanta for about 6 weeks before we travel to the west coast to share what God has done in calling us to minister in Burkina Faso, and also to tell our family and friends goodbye.  We are still developing our support team for financial provision and prayerful partners in life overseas.  We are blessed by the opportunity to tell the story of how God took a taxidermist and a housewife and made us into tools in His hands.  We long to share this story and praise Him for the mighty things that He does.  We are ready to share with individual families, youth groups, home groups or churches to inform about Unreached People Groups, the plight of West Africa and how we all can play a part.  It has been a blessing to reconnect with old friends and to make new ones. 

The Depth of Christmas

Since this year is our last year to celebrate Christmas in the U.S for a while, I spent a lot more time thinking about the depth of what we celebrate.  We had thought that 2011 would be our last U.S Christmas, but as with most things we are learning, the Lord orders our steps, not us!

This is my first Christmas without a tree.  And I am ok!  We wondered if we would make it through without our traditions and expectations being met, and Praise God, we made it!

We baked cookies with a friend from Burkina Faso.
We listened to the Country Christmas station on Pandora Radio.
We savored cousins and family and hugging children and delighting in the people around us.
We drew near to the presence of God, even though we didn't have our Christmas socks on our toes.  The fullness of the season has nothing to do with trees or ribbons or our traditions, even the traditions that we love. 

Without the Truth of the Gospel in Christmas, none of my traditions have any meaning.  My love for all things Christmas, (bows in our hair, garland on my mantle, and white twinkle lights that delight me to the core) is rooted in  my love for Jesus.  At this time of year I tend to smile more, sing aloud and indulge in treats-  I make exceptions to my rules and have an attitude of celebration in every corner of life.

My real complaint isn't that I didn't get to celebrate in the ways that I'm used to.  I am challenged by the need that I feel to carry on the spirit of Christmas throughout the year.  I should have a loving attitude full of excitement and celebration of my Savior,  Always.
I want to show my love and gratitude for salvation and the path that's been laid out before me.  Even on the days when it requires effort to show my grateful heart.  I have a relationship with Jesus Christ!  How can I not celebrate all the days of my life! I know the God who created all of this wonderment around me.  I am a child of one who loved me enough to die for me.

So, late as it is, I will say Merry January!  Peace on Earth!  God's richest blessings to you!