Time for a swim.

When you have three kids and a pool the same thing happens each year. The weather starts to warm up and they want to go swimming. This is what inevitably happens.
One kid jumps straight in, pops his head up and yells "whoa that's cold."
The second one wants to just sit near the pool minding her own business. Choosing to not even go in.
The third one puts her feet in and says it's too cold. So she says she will get in eventually, "I'm trying to get used to it first." This only serves to frustrate the dad. I say...err I mean he says, "Just go all in. You'll get used to it faster that way." "NO! It's too cold." The first kid says, "I'm fine, I'm already feeling warmer." She says, "You're lying you just want me to be cold." The dad says, "Either get in or get out." She says, "What about her? You aren't making her get in?" "That's because she never said she wanted to go swimming. Besides this is about you. You are making me cold just looking at you stand there. Seriously are you going all the way in or not?" "Yes, but not yet." "Fine." "Fine."
This goes on every year. Every stinking year. I'm getting frustrated even now. I wish she would just jump in with both feet or just sit on the side and not put me..err her dad through this.

Makes me stop and think though.
"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth." Revelation 3: 15&16
I think it's time we all "Jumped in with both feet." Don't you?

In Him,
Robert

Our son is engaged!!

check out Wayne and Jamie's engagement pictures from an amazing photographer! Eyefull Photography and our friend Dawniele Castellanos.

When did this become ok?

After returning from a short visit to Arizona, my head spins as I try and catch up with what we experienced. I struggle with taking it from my head and heart and putting it into words...
After arriving at 2:00am we got up later that morning so Robert could go out to the Reservation with our good friend Tory and help prep a house for a ministry team coming next week. This house, maybe 20 x 30, has 2 rooms and a tiny bathroom. It is Mary’s house, an 84 year old Apache woman living in 2 small rooms and a bathroom. But she was not living alone, no the house was also occupied by roaches. More roaches than I think you can imagine (it was more than my brain could wrap around). They had literally taken over her house, walls, floors, ceiling, etc…. along with the scorpions. This 84 year old woman had nowhere else to go, because when this is your reality, it just seems normal. It was her home, so why would she leave? Instead she slept with cotton in her ears every night so they would not crawl in. While this is graphic for some, it was her certainty, her actuality every day. Where were her family, friends? I am not sure. When did this become ok?
She was finally forced to move into a tribal run Shelter care facility, where she is clean and fed and sleeping without cotton in her ears. However, she wants to go home, it is her home. It is in the middle of a gang infested street, shoes strung over power lines, 2 doors away from a house that sells alcohol and who knows what, but it is her home. Almost all of the income she has now goes to the shelter care to provide for her, leaving her not much every month; she wants to go home. So we tore down walls, dug up floor tiles amongst the thousands (literally) of dead roaches and various “substances” they and the scorpions left behind. The smell was appalling, the dust covered us (by the way it was not “normal” dust). Yet the 7 of us worked in conditions most would consider inhumane. We had masks on and work clothing and protective eyewear, in the same place she lived and ate and watched TV in. When did this become ok? It never did! I know I do not have the answers, and perhaps it is not for me to know. What I do know is what my response should, no will be. So 2 guys and 5 girls, did things we never thought we could. Some of us terrified of a small spider or tiny fly at home, worked among bugs I cannot begin to describe and conditions that were heart-wrenching, and did so without grumbling, whining or one complaint. We did what God enabled us to do, no doubt. We never could have done this on our own. Isaiah 41:10 says: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”So my response today was to do whatever God asked of me, and tomorrow will hopefully be the same. I asked God to break my heart for what breaks His…and He did.
Liz

Thoughts

The Perspectives class Robert and I have been taking has allowed me to step back and look at what God has called us, well me to do. We (my husband and I) have been called to work with the San Carlos Apache Indian Nation in Arizona. Throughout this class I have struggled with the idea that perhaps we were to go to a far off land, another country or into the jungles where they have not heard yet. Is that the only task left? I have learned the difference between a regular mission and a frontier mission, defining people groups and what the task at hand is. We read how there is a large imbalance in the work to be done and where missionaries currently are; we need workers in the fields! Yet I can clearly see that the people close by, in our own backyard do not have a viable, indigenous church planting movement. Do they have the bible in their heart language? Is it truly about the geographical distance? Would God lay such a burden on my heart if there wasn’t anything more to do here or there? Questions I struggle with and pray about. Liz

Getting Perspective

Robert and I have been taking a class together for the past 6 weeks entitled Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. We have been listening to some amazing speaker's share of their experiences in the field and here at home. We have been challenged with homework (it has been a long time!) reading assignments, study guides, and a midterm coming up. Yet, no matter how tired I am, I love going to this class! The living God is a missionary God, from the beginning of time, His desire is for the nations, all nations to come to Him in worship. We are blessed to be a blessing. "Let the peoples praise You, O God, Let all the peoples praise You." Psalm 67:3. Missions exists because worship doesn't. My heart and mind are overflowing with the things I have been learning. For us, it all leads back to the Apache people, how much they need Christ and how much He longs for them. I am so excited to see what is coming next...