Our Current Needs and Prayer
Before I share with you what is on my heart at this time for us I would be remiss to overlook the present situation that we are in and how you can be praying and continuing to support us. We are completely back in the US, not a lease or piece of luggage was left to later retrieve or fulfill.
I am currently applying for work as I continue to work as a car, home, and day-to-day expenses in the US as you all know is more. Thankfully we have a temporary roof over our heads with my family in Blue Springs, Missouri. It is our prayer that we would find a place (apt, home, townhome, duplex, etc.) by August. So please keep these things in prayer for us as you would think of us. Also, regarding leads or possibilities, I am open to receiving housing leads and helps which you can message me here.
Transportation will be the most immediate need for us as we are no longer in the confines of a European city where everything is accessible on foot. Any leads or possibilities for those local and near us in Missouri feel free to message me here.
Future Plans for the Year
Although nothing is concrete, especially at this point in our lives, I do have the intent to visit dear friends and students in Vietnam who have been faithfully learning the Bible for 3 years with us via Zoom. We will be joining the local church here and would gladly welcome any who have followed us in our journey to meet up and join us any Sunday at Harvest Baptist Church of Blue Springs. We are also open and available to any who would like to have us share what God has done and is doing abroad and within our lives.
Back in the USA
As things end in our life and times of transition give way there are many details that can be called into question. Questions of quality, efficiency, integrity, and direction all come to the surface as one chapter closes and another opens. We are now back in the United States with no measures or means of return to Serbia and our lives for the fifth time have found ground zero or base camp to ascend once again. The situation in Serbia by no means was dire, but the indications of change not only incited movement but also required movement as basic day-to-day needs were not being met. It is a great disappointment to us to have to leave a place where we planned to have a lasting presence but with provisional difficulties in political changes, there was truly little recourse. Overall, we are where God has us to be and the passage from Peter’s epistle rings true here as it did in the Balkans as we are called to:
“1 Peter 3:15 -17 sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. “
It is only within the confines of a set-apart (Sanctified) faith in Christ that we can find the reason for the hope that is within a born-again believer. Whether we are abroad or local on our own home soil. We have a beautiful answer to give to any who asks us about these past few years of faith. I can say with complete integrity that the Word of God has been tried in our lives and by it alone we have been able to die many times over only to be alive again and anew. It feels as if we have lived lifetimes within these years of pursuing God’s way. With each new chapter, we find we are looking back at both a death and a new life. It is a privilege to see God’s words come alive this way within your life and stand witness to many deaths of the past. God is making a new creation of all of us who believe, and it is only by sanctifying that we find God does not just have a new life for us but an eternal life of manifold (varied and many) Grace. The greatest struggle though in this is holding sound perception regarding the past as events or even situations can be misunderstood and misrepresented to cast a shadow over what God is doing in the world.
A Good Conscience before God
It is vital in our walk with God to keep it relational and very personal. If our walk with God is corporate, organizational, or even ritualistic it runs a great risk of being led astray by the ways of men. What I mean by that is our walk with God must be appropriated according to Biblical wisdom, which by the admonition of James the Bible says: “the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.”
God’s way is Pure.
God’s way is pure. Nothing within His realm of knowledge and understanding would lead us to act impurely. A born-again believer has a pure life that is purified more with each passing day according to Christ’s work within. I always think of gems when I hear purity whereas some may imagine the color white. Considering a gem, one is deemed pure by careful and meticulous inspection. No one disdains this judgment as a gem is being tested, tried, and proved, yet when it comes to our lives it seems any qualitative test is discouraged or dismissed as unwarranted inquiry. The Word of God not only takes us through this thorough process, it also informs us how to lead others! It is a joy in the end to receive news that a discovered gem is genuine and flawless. Likewise, it is a joy to live in the purity of God’s way.
God’s way is Peaceable.
A somewhat strange word, peaceable. I immediately associate it with peace, given the word is within its construct, but with more study I found peaceable is more than just a sense of peace. God’s way is kind, tranquil, healthy, every kind of good, and restful. Peaceable is a joining, reconciling way. So in context, it is a great way that joins us with God and with others. The wisdom of God’s word joins us with Him and has great potential to join us with others who desire to seek Him also! As I think about it more it truly shines a light on how God’s words cultivate the strongest communities, families, and nations. When I was abroad, the need for such wisdom was dire as so much of what is done is in the name of a conflict or war. There is an aspect of the Christian life that is offensive and conquering, but when you consider the greatest generals and leaders in war, they were peaceable men who sought to spare not only their own men’s lives but their enemies’ lives where they could. We have a great battle cry for absolute righteousness, but we must keep in mind the wisdom of God that can cut a soul asunder and remove sin from one’s life thus sparing them in mercy.
God’s way is Whole
The remainder of James’s passage regarding God’s way highlights the integrity of it beginning with its ability to be communicated to others. Easy to be intreated, implored, or asked; When something is whole it is easily given unto others and can be readily offered. We live in such an age where we get parts of the whole and must continue buying to complete the product. When God gave Christ, He gave Him wholly to us once and for all, complete, and full. There is no level of subscription with God apart from ALL. When we go to approach God for salvation, we seek it wholly and receive it too. The message of Christ. The gospel is not a “DIY” or a “some assembly required” ordeal. The gospel is full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy! When we adhere to God’s way in our lives, we find this great integrity that can not only safeguard our heart but can establish it to yield good things in our lives, our families, and our communities.
“I am accountable to what I know and as I have the opportunity I should always grow!”
Transformed to His Way
When I know the scope of God’s way, I can know just as well that obedience to His words will yield pure and peaceable fruits. The way of God is not a formula nor is it a compromising path, it is established and executed by God himself for “Faithful is He who calleth, who will also do it” (1 Thess 5:24). It is a great comfort to my heart that as incredibly prodigious decisions have been made, there has been a clear and good conscience before God and men. Within my ability, I have done my best to perform what I know to be true in God’s word and there is nothing more that I can do apart from that as a believer. I am accountable to what I know and as I have the opportunity I should always grow! When things get difficult in your walk with God or in your faith in Christ, know that the path to take is not one forged by compromise or fear of men. It is a path that has a definite answer of meekness and fear before God: having a good conscience; For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing than for evil doing.
I would rather my life be spent upon riches untold than in bondage to a life traded and sold. For the value of the treasure that heaven once gave, gives glory to the humble and life from the grave. I would rather my life be spent on dear souls that the world would rather abuse. For it is better to serve in this life than to rule or spitefully use. I would rather my life be spent on the unseen, for what is presently tangible cannot compare to the glory of the coming King. I would rather my life be spent according to what is true. For there is no other who is worthy that can perform what Christ can do. I would rather my life be spent for my Savior and Lord above. For there is not a thing on this earth that merits enduring faith and love.
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1:6 -9
Our Vision and Prayer according to The Great Commission:
“All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore(Reach), and teach(Teach) all nations, baptizing(Immerse Them in Christ’s Truth) them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all(Challenge their capacity) things whatsoever I have commanded you:(Engage their faith in Biblical Responsibility) and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world (See Them faithfully kept by God’s Grace). Amen.”
Matt 28:18-20
Please pray as we believe God to:
- Reach: Evangelism to the Lost
- Teach: Biblical Study and Training in the Word of God
- Immerse others in Christ’s Truth: Fitting into the fellowship of the Church, discovering their Identity in Christ, and Observing the Ordinances
- Challenge their capacity: Biblical Discipleship and Biblical Accountability
- Engage their faith in Biblical Responsibility through His Ability: Opportunity and Leadership Development in the Church
- See Them faithfully kept by His Grace: Faithful Feeding and Fruitfulness in their Lives
Transformed To His Way 