The time is finally here. After two months of living in a (spacious and comfy) basement, being nomads and saying goodbye to all of our church families in the southeast, we will be packing up our cars and driving out to Denver this week. What excitement, adventure and anticipation!
By God's grace, we'll make it to Denver just in time for Christmas eve, with a few stops at congregations along the way. This holiday will be busy, but special. We'll get to spend the last of my vacation meeting new friends, planning for school and trying to establish a routine, all while unpacking. Then I get to fly back and work my last few days in a corporate office, hopefully never to return!
We have an awesome schedule ahead of us for the first semester. I'll be digging in deep to Exodus, Deuteronomy, 1 Corinthians, Philippians and 1 & 2 Thessalonians. On top of those diverse books of the Bible, I'm looking forward to engaging classes in Teaching Strategies, Ministry Technologies and Church History. Our friends out east may be particularly familiar with one of my instructors - John Moore, who produced the excellent and highly effective Searching for Truth evangelism series. Alexis will have the added challenge of being a stay at home mom and a student for the first time in 13 years!. She'll be learning about The Life of Christ and Women of the Bible.
Planning for Persecution
While we're really looking forward to classes, another important part of our path is planning where we want to work after graduation. In this regard, I feel like I've had some very inspiring and informative conversations with missionaries lately. We'll share more of that once we're close to scheduling our summer campaign. But in the meantime, I'll share an interesting family discussion we had recently and the reflection of God's Word that ensued.
As we were discussing and dreaming about some of the countries we could potentially work in, one of the kids asked if they might get stoned in any of these countries. Being facetious, I said, "No, we'd be more likely to get beheaded than stoned." Alexis did not like that comment very much. But the kids did concede that it would be okay if they were thrown in prison, it would be tolerable but not preferred to be stoned, but they absolutely would not be okay getting beheaded!
In all seriousness, we've always talked to the children about how we need to be willing to suffer for the sake of Christ. We've shared with them stories of persecution happening to our brethren in India. We've honored these examples and prayed for the church there regularly. But what meant one thing to them in the context of their safe world in US public schools, could mean something completely different in a foreign land.
As for Alexis and I, we have the immediate concern of planning for our risk tolerance, so to speak. Living the missionary life means we've already decided to take the Gospel to more difficult and dangerous environments (compared to the comfort of the US, that is). That does not necessarily mean we will be going to the most dangerous places! We just have to find our middle ground. A place where help is needed, where missionaries are few, but still an environment where we feel the kids can thrive in their service to the Lord.
As a family, we've been discussing, praying and considering the Word of God on this topic. We know that, "whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it," (Luke 17:33) and that we must know the fellowship of Christ's sufferings (Philippians 3:10). These passages refer generally to the Christian walk and the sacrifice of bearing our cross daily (Luke 9:23), separating ourselves from the cares of the world. They do not necessarily imply that we need to seek out persecution intentionally! However, if on our path to bring more glory to the Lord, we're confronted "with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake", then hopefully, like Paul, we can be content in our weakness and rejoice in the strength of our Lord! (2 Corinthians 12:10).
Fundraising Status - We've Raised 50%!
Thank God, we have raised 50% of our budget so far. We have had the privilege of being blessed by many congregations and individuals, and we are humbled.
While we are grateful, we still have a long way to go to get us through the year. With the monthly commitments we have so far, and the one time contributions, we have enough to get started and to go on faith that we'll raise the remainder. So please be praying for us that we receive the necessary support to stay committed to the training and to eventually go with confidence out into the mission field!
Love,
-The Ihle Crew
Comments