Mission InProgress #4- Immutable God.

Jeremiah 5:22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?

I loves this- I always thought the sea had crushed up so many rocks that it had created the sand borders. God makes it clear in this verse that He made the sand as the bound of the sea. So much force to be contained by such small grains of sand. Oh that I would fear Him more!

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God is such a person of order and pattern. His character is immutable, and because of this trait I can rest fully on who I know Him to be from the Bible. He will never change- and I find great comfort in this!

One way I know God works is in His way of "frame work then fill in". It is a "pattern of process" He uses to make things, to do things, and there are many examples of it.

One example is in the six days of creation. Days 1, 2, and 3 were the frame work and were "filled up" in days 4, 5, and 6.

Day 1-created Light and dark ... Day 4- created sun moon and stars

Day 2- created Heavens and waters... Day 5- created birds and fish

Day 3- created Earth and herbs and grasses... Day 6- created living creatures and man

Another example is the Bible itself. The first books are an over view-the frame work- of such a huge span of time, and the ones following are many of details. The minor prophets fill in the events and stories of the books of history and so on.

So how does this apply to me and my family's mission?

God has given us the framework- our Salvation, the Bible, gifts and talents- and He is teaching us and guiding our steps to places and experiences that will equip us for the accomplishing of the vision he has given to my husband. We are by no means even a little ready for it! This journey wasn't even in the back of our minds, let alone something we discussed as a course for our family. We are learning God's plans and putting feet to them. "Plodding the Course" is what this blog is named for this very reason! We are not the plotters of this path- God is! We are the walkers of it.

(I know if you look up the exact definition of "plod", it seems a little depressing, and not quite an accurate depiction of how we are actually making this journey. It just was a good word twist. Instead of "Plotting the Course" implying we are setting the course, we are walking a course the God is setting. Get it?!)


We are continually learning more of God, His word, His character, and love for us. It strengthens our faith, encourages our spirit, and emboldens us for the proclaiming of the Gospel. We are being given opportunities to practice what we preach! This weekend our family will be going to Naples and helping a the Street's evangelize this little town. They are long time mentors in the faith, and we are so blessed to have this opportunity. Potentially 100,000 people will be there for the annual Grape Festival. Perhaps even one will be reached for the Glory of God! Our children will be side by side with us, working in the fields, tilling, watering and maybe even sharing in the harvest!

This is some of our "filling in" process. It is all part of preparing our family for the mission field of Zambia. We are so excited for the journey, and are enjoying the process. I know we can only become prepared as we allow God to move in our lives, to conform us and make of us vessels fit for His purpose. It is also true that until we are ready, God will not relocate our family! We won't do out of Jerusalem what we don't do in!

Some prayer requests!
~ The trip in Naples to be profitable, that God would go before and prepare the hearts of the people
~ This week as ERM is here ministering to our teens at FBBC. Revival!
~ For the Tsoukalas' as they continue their BIG MOVE PREP!
~ For Dan as institute is in full swing! What a huge course load!

Home again...

This is so packed a statement in my life, I can hardly begin to tell it all!

The immediate meaning is clear- we just got home from a week of Family Camping. I capitalize it appropriately because it is such an amazing week for our family. Our camp is "Camp Salt & Light" themed after Matthew5:17. We camp with 7 or 8 like minded families, and thoroughly enjoy the time away from home. We have devotions every night, campfires, daily trips to the beach (which can get a little dicey, truth be told!) and an annual "teams divvied up" full competition game. The prizes for first place are $5. McDonalds gift cards, so you can tell competition is fierce! This year it was "the Amazing Race" complete with clues, five teams scrambling madly to complete all the tasks. It is completely home made, but I must say we do a great job! There is always great enjoyment had by all from the youngest six year old to the oldest parent... not saying the age!

The extended meaning of "Home again" is a little more hazy... or should I say long a drawn out!

I am sure I will have to continue this another day, ( I did tell you I just got home from camping, right? ... just imagine the laundry my family of 7 has now!)

We are finally settled into our home. It is such a blessing to be "moved in", you cannot even know! God is so amazing in the way He teaches us about Himself in real, fleshed out ways. After moving five times in just less than a year, there are so many things we have learned about his character, our weaknesses and strengths, and the Christian walk.

We have learned that to walk by faith is so very hard, but so very rewarding. That in and of itself is an amazing thing and if it was all we learned, that would be enough!

Add to that the testing our five children had in whittling down all of their earthly possessions and actually being OK with it!
I remember in April '06 when the journey began, the thought of packing up our household loomed on the not so distant horizon. I gave each child a fairly large box-bigger than a banana box-and said "put all that you must-have-cannot-live-without-stuff in here, and that is what you can keep in the move."
Some had harder choices to make than others! "Do I keep 74 little green army men?" compared with "OK, I have four cases of wires and motors that surely could change the future of electronics as we know it, so how much do I really need?!" Needless to say there were struggles for them all! By the time the actual move occurred in June, I had whittled them, box by smaller box, down to a shoe box. Every couple of weeks, I would dole out four more boxes, one to each, (S. was spared the process, I just tossed out all her stuff, no questions asked, none answered! The blessings of her being only three at the time!) and eventually they all were sufficiently pared down!

In the voice of fairness, I did the same thing for myself. Not a shoe box, mind you. But just let me say if you attended my wedding and gave me some really beautiful but not- so- functional piece of crystal or china, I don't have it anymore... I am sorry.

More lessons learned were that we have amazing children.

* We lived with friends in Hilton for three weeks because the two bedroom apartment that my husband was converting in a friends basement wasn't finished yet... another entry to be sure!
* We then lived for six months in the two bedroom basement apartment. We had several wanna-be boarders try to live with us, but we smashed them wolf spiders with every ounce of passion we could muster. (I think the Lord was preparing us little by little for Zambia... big spiders they were!)
*During our apartment days, we (Dad and Mom, O. & J.) traveled to Zambia for three weeks, while L., M, and S. stayed with great friends. All of our friends were so amazing to our kids!
* In January we moved into my former bosses house... definitely another entry here!
* In April, we went back to our friends in Hilton- only to be land squatters! We slept in our camper for around 7 weeks... it is a really nice camper, but, well, it is a camper! Their garage was converted into a furniture store featuring only dressers pre-filled with clothes! Ir resembled a very bad garage sale gone even worse~!
*Finally in June, on the 18th to be exact, we moved into our current home! Whew! Are we thrilled to be settled!

Through every move, packing up and lugging boxes, rain, snow, shine, vans, trailers, and things inevitably getting lost, broken, or accidentally thrown away (everyone uses garbage bags to pack up things, right?) our children did not complain. They didn't form coalitions to impeach their parents. They didn't cry and whine about having their questions answered numerous times with the same answer: "I'm not sure yet, honey". They still trusted that the Lord truly was orchestrating this in our lives. They still, honestly, and without reservation had great attitudes.

That is not to say they didn't have many times of wonder. Who wouldn't? I did!

Our youngest son, M. is still to this day terribly worried we might leave him again, even for a night. There was a period of several weeks he was physically sick every night. He still sleeps with a bucket for fear he will be sick.

Our oldest son, J. is now 13. There are normal teen age adjustments that were definitely magnified with all of the uncertainty this past year had.

O. and L. faced the year with the steady, rock solid character traits they exhibit in every situation... at least on the outside! I am sure little by little they will reveal their thoughts and feelings.

S. reacts to the whole thing by referring to our old house, our old-old house, our new-old-house, and Gramma Jane's house... as if every child has had so many!



All in all, to say "I am home" takes on a whole new feeling. I still feel like I don't want to get too comfortable, and Maybe that is the best thing. For truly I am still not home. I "desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: " I know much better this world is not my home, for The Lord has been my rock. When I felt very unsettled, He was my stay. I hold things "here" with not-so-tight an hold now, and it is good.

I will definitely come back to those things that I said will have to be future posts, but for now, this will have to do!