I Am Going Stop Being a Grief Forecaster…

I Am Going Stop Being a Grief Forecaster…

As we traveled ALL around the states I have had a very hidden fear. This is a fear that only my husband and God have known about…until now. I have a, sometimes paralyzing, fear of my family being killed in a car crash. I am ashamed to admit how much this fear has consumed my mind.

I sit in the passengers seat and watch each semi-truck and think “at any moment this truck could come over and crush us.” I even play out in my mind what the chain reaction of that blow from the semi would be…”would we swerve into the other lane and be struck by the Suburban behind us?” “If we go into the ditch…would our car flip?” “If the car catches fire…could we get all of our girls out in time?” The list goes on and on. I know…I’m a morbid thinker! I never realized how much I had been dwelling on and consumed by this fear until last week.

We were driving from a church on Sunday afternoon. Our speedometer and gages have been messed up for about a month or so now. It pretty much says we are always going 10 mph. (Don’t worry, we have our gps that gages our actual speed limit). Anyway, we didn’t realize that this was affecting another part of our dash…the gas gage. Needless to say, we ran out of gas. On a busy highway. My biggest fear was unveiling itself. I thought…”this is it…we are about to get slammed into by one of these semi-trucks zooming by us at 70 mph.” I would be ashamed if anyone had a window into how I reacted! It was appalling…just ask my husband. On second thought, don’t ask him.

As God’s extraordinary grace works…he exposed my heart right then and there. The very same God that I have surrendered my life to, my time to, my family to, I wasn’t trusting. I’m an African missionary for crying out loud…where is my faith???

“If my life is once surrendered, all is well. Let me not grab it back, as though it were in peril in His hand but would be safer in mine” Ellizabeth Elliot

Why do I think it is my business to pry into what God has for tomorrow…or even in the next moments. It is not. My future, the safety of my family, my health, my time on earth is all in the hands of our sovereign and loving God. I will choose to stop my attempt to grab a hold of what never belonged to me…tomorrow.

READ Matthew 6:25-34 and think about what you are trying to grab back from God. Repent. Receive Grace. Choose radical reliance on God.

From Ricky Martin (3rd grade)

The Call to Ministry

Charles Spurgeon wrote in "Lectures to My Students"

"Do not enter the ministry if you can help it...If any student in this room could be content to be a newspaper editor or a grocer or a farmer or a doctor or a lawyer or a senator or a king, in the name of heaven and earth, let him go his way; he is not the man in whom dwells the Spirit of God in its fullness, for man so filled with God would utterly weary of any pursuit but that for which his inmost soul pants. If on the other hand, you can say that for all the wealth of both the Indies you could not and dare not espouse any other calling so as to be put aside from preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, then, depend upon it, if other things be equally satisfactory, you have the signs of this apostleship. We must feel that woe is unto us if we preach not the gospel; the Word of God must be unto us as fire in our bones, otherwise, if we undertake the ministry, we shall be unhappy in it, shall be unable to bear the self-denials incident to it, and shall be of little service to those among whom we minister..."
As Aaron and I were driving home from a church visit a few weeks ago, we discussed this very thing. Would we abandoned our calling if we were offered immeasurable wealth, assurance of health and safety, and guarantee of a life of ease and comfort. We both sat quietly for a few moments and then simultaneously blurted out, "absolutely not!" The deepest of desires has been placed in our hearts, one that can only be placed by our loving God, to minister and share His gospel message. No other life would touch the one we know He has called us to. Nothing would satisfy the longing that God has placed in our heart, short of accomplishing His call to ministry in Kenya. We echo the words of Paul to the Thessalonian believers... Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. (I Thess. 2:8)
On all of this we know that our God is Sovereignly in control of our lives and our calling. This is why we press on into the life that God has called us, but with open hands. He has the right, at any moment to end our journey, call us elsewhere or even call us home to heaven. What great peace and comfort there is knowing that the same God that created Heaven and Earth, extends His grace and mercy to sinful humans, and then allows us to be used as His instruments in sharing His love! Wow...that is a life worth living or dying for!

50%

We are so blessed to have family, friends and churches that are partnering with us to get us to 50% of our support needed to get to Kenya. This may not seem huge for some, but it means SO much to us. We are now in the LAST half of our support raising and that much closer to our ministry in Kenya. It is extra motivation knowing that we could be in Kenya by next year. We are praying that God continues to bring in supporters so we can move to Mombasa by fall of 2011.
Our family has had a wonderful time traveling together this fall! Elliot has been such a great traveler and her older sisters help out so much. We have gotten to experience a lot of great things and have met some incredible people. We feel blessed and humbled to share God's call in our life with so many churches. Our prayer during this time is that God would use us to encourage other believers to pursue His will on their life.
Highlights:
Elliot is 6 months old
Claire turns 4 this month
The girls got to swim in Lake Cumberland and ride on Sea-do's
Kennedy and Claire loved going to Incredible Pizza in Iowa
Aaron and I celebrated 7 years of marriage at the end of September
We are over 50% of our support needed
Got to meet some incredible people from several great churches

Books we are reading (and recommend)
-Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands
-The Unlikely Disciple
-Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ
-"The Lamb" We are reading through this with our girls-It is the redemptive story from the Genesis-Revelation!

Elliot Charlyse

On April 17th, 2010 at 1:36 am, we welcomed our baby girl, Elliot Charlyse, into the world. Elliot was 6 lbs. and 13 ounces. She was 19 1/2 inches long with very chubby cheeks and lots of brown hair! Stephanie's sister, Tiffani, was scheduled to have her baby via c-section that two days after. They ended up both going into the hospital on Friday night and having their babies 3 hours apart. It was an incredible experience for the sisters to do this together. Our family had an exciting and pretty overwhelming night with both babies being born. Tiff and Cal named their baby boy, Winston Blaise. Everything went well with both deliveries and the hospital staff was so great. They even wheeled Tiffani and Winston in to see Steph after he was born...while she was still in labor.
Kennedy and Claire love Elliot and are wonderful big sisters already. We are really enjoying this precious time with our baby girl! Aaron is officially part-time at the bank now and will be completely done on July 1st. It will be wonderful for him to be able to focus completely on pre-field and not have to juggle another job. He will be making a lot of phone calls over the next couple of months and setting up lots of appointments. We will start traveling quite a bit starting in the fall and will hopefully continue to travel full-time until we leave for Kenya. It is an exciting and new time for our family. We are so thankful that God has blessed us in such incredible ways and look forward to a busy and exciting year of traveling!

This New Year is bringing with it many new and exciting times. We will be traveling quite a bit, enjoying our new baby girl, and continuing to prepare for our move to Kenya.

Kennedy will be 5 in June and is so excited for the new baby to arrive. She greets my belly every morning and talks to "her baby" throughout the day. Kennedy is very smart and acts like a child twice her age! She has a crazy imagination, but keeps her things very organized and neat.

Claire-bear is growing up so fast, but still our little baby. She turned 3 in October and is still the smallest one of all her friends, weighing just 26 pounds. She loved helping put together the baby crib, but prefers to sleep in it herself. Claire loves to be (and dress) like daddy and is definitely our little comedian and tom-boy. They are both going to be great big sisters, possibly a bit overwhelming, but they will give lots of love!

Now introducing ::TEAM 200:: Check out the video and go to www.team-kenya.com/boons-team200 for more information.