Fighting!

As we sit here on January 30, 2008 we are fighting many feelings. We are having to fight against the feelings of anger towards the situation we now find ourselves in. Just last week at this time, we were finalizing the date of closing for our home and less than 48 hours later the buyer reneged on the contract. We were shocked and overwhelmed with the fact he has done this and it was not until a few days later that some aftershock of his decisions came to pass.

So here we are (for a lack of better words) back at point A again. Though we know God was not caught off guard or surprised, we were. This being the case, we are the ones walking through waiting and praying for God to show His provision once again. We are fighting the anger because, though we know the buyer chose to break the contract and in breaking it, also chose to make a few other decisions which highly effected us and the agreement we both signed; God is in control. We are not sure what He may be doing right now and what was started before the news was broken to us. One thing which makes it even harder, is having no one to walk with us through this time. We have a few friends at a distance but no real community here. This is one reason we are so encouraged and ready to move back to Denver, and yet we also know God has been teaching us things as well.

The tension and stress gets higher on some days, as we are both having to walk through our own personal feelings of what has and is taking place. These days are hard and though we know God never promised obedience would be easy, we have to be real with what we are going through; not only with Him but with others.

So we are fighting! Not only the feelings; we are fighting for the passion we have in our hearts and not willing to let it die. Not willing to allow circumstances to overcome the very desire we believe God Himself put into us. We believe He is our provider, not was sometime in the past, or for someone else; HE IS OUR PROVIDER and He is trustworthy!

Though we feel as if we were punched in the stomach, we have not and will not stay doubled over. We are pressing on and praying for blessings on this city as we prepare to leave.

We will keep fighting and if you are ready to fight alongside of us; we welcome you to the battle!

Shooting at YWAM Denver !

Since returning from Denver back in late December, we have spoken with many of you concerning the shooting which took place at the YWAM Denver base where we had spent many years and are now preparing to return to. After getting to Dublin where we currently live, we realized hardly anyone seemed to even know the shooting took place. This being the case, we wanted to post the press release which YWAM international sent out after the tragedy. As we are close with the leaders and many staff at the base, we ask for you continued prayers for God's healing and restoration here. Not only were we there for many years, we were also visiting the base during the time of the shooting and had the opportunity to watch God start the healing process for many. They have just started new schools at the beginning of this week (1/7/08) and have been trying to move along in the things of God. Thanks for your support for us and our YWAM family

Official Press Release from Youth With A Mission concerning the YWAM Denver shooting December 9th, 2007

A lone gunman entered a Youth With A Mission training center in the Denver, Colorado suburb of Arvada early Sunday morning, opening fire and hitting four members of the staff. All were taken to local hospitals and two later died of their injuries.

The two wounded remain in serious condition. The gunman has not yet been apprehended, and police are continuing their search for him.

The deceased have been identified as Tiffany Johnson, 26, from Minnesota, and Philip Crouse, 24, from Alaska. Both served as staff members at the Youth With A Mission Arvada campus. The third victim, Dan Griebenow, 24, has a bullet in his neck and is listed in critical but stable condition. The fourth victim Charlie Blanch, 22, suffered gunshot wounds to his legs.

Peter Warren, the Director of Youth with a Mission Denver says they had just finished a Christmas banquet when the suspect arrived and asked a 22-year-old woman from Minnesota if he could be housed for the evening. When she told him they could not house him, that's when, Warren says, the suspect opened fired with an automatic handgun, hitting four people. Police say they do not know whether the shooting was random or if there was a motive.

Warren says, "The young man – I don't know who he is; I don't think [the victims] knew him – but he must be going through a lot personally in his own life to do something like this. Our belief is that only God is the judge and our place is to forgive and that's a difficult thing to do, but really, I think it's the right thing to do," said Warren.

There are about 80 people living on the Arvada campus and they have been transported to the group's mountain campus near Golden, Colorado where they will stay while the murder investigation is processed at their residence. Warren says they are trying to deal with this situation as best as they can.

"There's no blueprint for this," said Warren. "You know, we're just going to be honest, we're going to pray with one another and cry with one another. These kids were like our kids, you know. It's just such a tragedy, but who knows what's going on in this young man's life."

Youth With A Mission (YWAM) is an international and interdenominational Christian movement with operating locations in 171 nations. Launched in 1960 as a means for young people to get involved in short-term missionary service, it now has over 16 000 staff working in 1180 centers and trains over 25 000 people each year to be involved in the organization’s primary goal – to know God and make Him known. YWAM is hugely varied in its approach, operating such ministries as drop-in centers for street children in South America; hospice care for AIDs victims in Africa; literacy and job creation programs throughout Asia; and is well known for its quick response and long-term commitment to global disasters, such as the 2006 tsunami.

YWAM International Chairman Lynn Green released this statement: "We feel a deep sense of loss today and we grieve with the families and those who were very close friends of the victims. Our surviving students and staff are being well cared for and we have total confidence in those who are responsible for the training program in Arvada to care for those who have been subjected to this assault.

"Those who lost their lives had dedicated themselves to serve and we feel the sorrow of their absence. Yet we take comfort from the assurance of everlasting life for those who follow Christ in loving service to others.

"It is a great tragedy that our culture seems to produce so many deeply troubled people who express their frustration in violence. We forgive the assailant and we rededicate ourselves to serving young people in the hope that we might bring healing to other needy youth."

House closing

Well hello once again. If you are reading this, you know we have been in much transition over the last several months; really the transition has been for a few years but who's counting.

Anyway with this current transition, we are waiting for a closing date to come in from the lawyer. We have been in contact with him, as well as the buyer and everything is being sent where it needs to go, but now we are waiting.

In order for all of this to go smoothly, the buyer has to get the inspections done and such and then everything has to be completed. It can go very quickly but we are asking mostly for all to go well with inspections. Please pray with us, nothing would hinder the purchase due to problems being found or nit picky items which inspectors sometimes come across. As far as we know, things are structurally sound and in order, however we would appreciate prayer.

Also as we look at the closing coming down the line, we are still unsure where we will be living after arriving in Colorado. With many friends in the area, we fell sure we will have a place to lay our heads, but we need a place for our dogs to lay theirs as well. (Insert picture Max and Maggie)

It has been our desire to take them along and we believe God brought them into our lives so He cares about them as well. Though it is harder to find a rental allowing dogs, it's not impossible; so we continue to pray. Not only are we praying for a rental, we have also been praying for God to provide some way for us to buy a home there as well. In no way do we wish to limit God; so we are believing Him for more than we can ask or even think; but we are also asking for things as well.

Please pray with us for God's provision and timing, as we expect and believe Him to do greater things than we can imagine. Lesa and I are excited to continue walking in the journey we are in and look forward to what God has in store.

We know where God leads, He will provide for our needs . It is not His promise to give us everything before we need it, but He does promise to take care of us as we walk. We will continue walking in obedience and His provision will come when we need it.

Thank you for joining with us and we pray God will direct you in your journey as well.

Until later

Another New Year

Here we are in 2008! Can you even believe how time seems to fly? Another year also brings many changes for us as we have said in the past muse and as of now we are in the middle of getting things together for the change.

As we look outside from our windows, we see dead grass and dying flowers; yet in the back of our minds we know it's only a matter of months when spring will come and life returns. In the same way, we feel life has returned to us; our hearts are filled with excitment as we prepare to take yet another step in our journey with God.

The places we have been, seen, served and followed so far, have not been our inheritance but only part of the inheritance. Together we have been in full-time ministry since 1995 and separately even longer. Those years have taught us much about God, others and especially ourselves; we have learned things within our hearts; likes/dislikes, gifts we have and some things we are just able to do which we don't neccessarily enjoy but have done for a season.

The question that many people like to have answered is "What is your dream/vision?" For us the dreams are many and cannot be taken down to simply one goal or 10 year plan; however, for right now our dream and vision is to discover community with others who love the nations and give of ourselves, in the experience we have to benefit the greater Body of Christ. We long to effect the nations of the world with the Love of Jesus and this can not be put into a 10 year plan. However this is a lifetime plan which we have been living and will continue to live.

For us, this means stepping back into a ministry where we live by support of friends and family who love and believe in us. For others it means flying planes, operating a business, caring for people as a medical professional or working in a factory. We believe God has a place for all of us in the fulfillment of His hearts desire; it is our desire that all of us find the part we play and it may be more than one. Whatever we are doing we should be doing unto the Lord and not just to get a paycheck or pay bills. These are things which have to be done, yet when our lives are consumed by the job only to make ends meet, life will seem much more meaningless. God's desire is to show us how we can bring glory to Him, as well as bringing heaven to earth with the way we live, even (if not especially) in the work place.

We are grateful for all the experience we have been able to gain, whether through being in a full-time ministry poistion or in the marketplace. God is still God and we depend upon Him in each thing, not just while we are in missions raising support. All of us have the opportunity to trust God more as we lay everything down to Him, realizing it's not the customers, business, or some other person who provides; it is God! God's call to us is total dependance upon Him, no matter the geographical or occupational setting we find ourselves in. Total dependance; with desire to answer, "yes Lord I will go!"

Missions and ministry are not just being done overseas or in established local churches; but in backyards, living rooms and around the tables of the world everyday. Our cry and desire (Vision if you will) is to see the "Body of Christ" be the Church God had in mind. Our longing is to see missions organizations working alongside of local churches (as we know it) as the Body of Chirst. It has been said "the local Church is the hope of the world", rather we believe "the Church is the hope of the world" when we are joining together to bring "heaven to earth rather than hell".

Another year and more changes, so many things have happened in our hearts and much more will be done in the future. This is the God we continue to serve with, a God who has so much in-store, we can't get it all at one time but He keeps showing us new things as we walk in obedience.

May this New Year be the starting of new things for you as well.

8 "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. 9 See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare;before they spring into being I announce them to you." Isaiah 42:8 & 9