Received this prayer from a friend today:

God, I offer myself to Thee-

To build with me

and to do with me as Thou wilt.

Relieve me of the bondage of self,

that I may better do Thy will.

Take away my difficulties,

that victory over them may bear witness

to those I would help of Thy Power,

Thy Love, and Thy Way of life.

May I do Thy will always!

Reminded me of this song:

Life breeds life...

"Isn't the point of life to make more life" Quote from TV show.

And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds" Gen 1:24

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply..."
Gen 1:27,28

Jesus said, "I am the LIFE...Go therefore and make disciples..." Jn 14:6/Matt 28:19

Life breeds life...

New Wine

A friend suggested I listen to a sermon today from Luke 5:27-39. I have read this passage many times, but one phrase struck me. I don't recall seeing it, or at least understanding, as I did today.

And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, 'The old is good.'

"The old is good"? Really? I am not a wine drinker, but I know the old should taste better than the new. And the listeners of this statement were wine drinkers so they knew that this was true.

It struck me though that Christ would make a statement that he knew would be accepted as truth, and yet... in context, it should not be so. The new gospel he was preaching was WAY better than the old. However those to whom he spoke enjoyed their old ways TOO much. Their laws and traditions kept the people in line. Their rules made them superior/elite/pious. However, they couldn't rely on themselves any longer. Their perfect righteousness wasn't good enough.

This new wine could only be stored in new wineskins. The new truth could only be accepted by new believers, by babes, by those with child-like faith.

Just now had a thought. In John 2, Jesus turned the water to wine and the master of the feast thought it was the best wine of the evening. Hmmm... Jesus makes new wine taste better than old wine.

If we'll let him, I'm pretty sure he take old wineskins and make them new as well.

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away...

So today I got confirmation that we have our first monthly donor to our account. Well at least one that has setup automatic donations. It was such a blessing to get that email and see that someone is investing in our journey. Others have given lump sums and we have received about $1000 dollars over the last month or so. However seeing their willingness to say they'll give for the next 12 months was a great lift to our spirits.

For the past couple of months, my boss has really been working to see if I would be able to work part-time while in Iraq. He's contacted IT, HR and a few managers. All seemed to be moving along and we were getting nods from everyone. THEN... today at about 3:30p, he called to say he heard from our Immigration & Legal/Global Trade Compliance Group. Apparently there's some concern about employees working from Iraq - something to do with software security and feds thinking we are now doing business in Iraq. I may call the guy tomorrow to get the scoop firsthand. But for now it appears that will not be an option. The continued employment, plus the income, would have been a great help.

So we continue to trust in the Lord to provide for this mission that we feel He has called us to. Please pray with us as we make decisions over the next few weeks - housing, pet care, fund raising, etc.

New update email regarding our return trip to Iraq.


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Our journey continues...

So... I haven't posted in an entire year! I've been thinking about it lately as God has been moving in our family and calling us again to Iraq. I finally decided to login today and post the news to this blog. Amazingly, my last post was in April 2010.

Just quick thoughts with more detail later.

Our currently plan has us going to Union Mills, NC in July for 4 weeks of training - 2 weeks will be language acquisition (not language learning, but tools to acquire any language) and then 2 weeks of team training to be more effective within a team cross-culturally. More info here.

We will then return to Nashville for about 2 weeks and fly out for Iraq late August so we can arrive a couple of weeks for school starts.

We are returning with Servant Group International (SGI) and will be teaching at the Classical Schools of the Medes in Erbil Iraq. This is same city and school we taught at last year.

We are really looking forward to see the students, teachers, market owners and neighbors with whom we stated building relationships.

Thanks for following along with us in this journey.

Stir things up

So I have been spending the last four months in Iraq and drinking tea is a big past-time here. And it's becoming a big one for me as well.

In this area they put a lot of sugar in the tea. The bottom half inch of the glass is usually white when it is served to you. The problem I had when I first arrived was forgetting to stir the tea before drinking. Sometimes I would take several sips and then realize it had a much stronger/bitter taste. Then I would notice I forgot to stir the sugar into the tea.

I got to thinking this is like our walk with God. Many times we choose not to stir him into our lives completely. We like to keep him separate, just on Sundays or when things really get to tasting bitter. Yet I think we would find our whole life would be much sweeter, if we allowed him to penetrate every part just like the sugar is dissolved completely in the cup of tea.