Review

I sat down today and began to review the pages of our blog. What our 2-5 year plan says, what we are currently doing, all that. When I got to our page laying out our Mission, I was amazed.

Lately we have been feeling God “redirecting us”  towards the unreached, the truly lost. What we didn’t realize is we weren’t being redirected we had begun to wander. We, in our lack of language ability had been spending the bulk of our time helping with things at church and getting to know people there. Not bad, it is good to help at church and encourage believers. The last month we have been hearing God speak to us to be more involved with our neighborhood, the tribal people, perhaps get to know the Arab community. This seemed like a redirection from what we were beginning to do, serve the church. Again that is a good thing. The problem is that isn’t who God has asked or gifted us to be. When I looked at our mission it was clear. God has asked us before we came to work with the unreached not the reached.

I changed a few things on the other pages, but found I couldn’t change one thing under our mission. It is so good to know God keeps it simple. I need to review this more often, as we schedule our time this needs to be at the forefront. What has God asked us to do. We have been studying Abraham as a family. Reading a little bit every day. Daniel always asks for more, though that may be to avoid school. God asked Abraham to leave his home and go wherever God led. When I tried to review the 2-5 year plan I wanted to delete everything and say “see Genesis”.

God has given us a simple vision that can be acted on anywhere He wants. For now that is Brazil and it probably will be for some time. We cannot assume that is the end. We can’t let our desire to have roots push us into creating a ministry here in this city. God has called us to learn, language, culture, how to live as missionaries. He has called us to love hurting, broken people, the poor, the condemned, we can do this without language, without a car, without knowing if we will live here in a year.

I wonder if Abraham thought he would live everywhere he stopped for the rest of his life. If God had to take that security away from him every time or if he just accepted God may never say stay. God asked him to hold onto promises that wouldn’t be fulfilled for generations. What if God is using us to prepare our kids for something great and we remain simple our whole lives? Are God’s promises enough for me? Is His glory the reason we are here or is it for mine?

We appreciate you all so much, your prayers, your love, your support. Keep praying for us. We are learning this is a very formative time. We are learning what it means to be missionaries. We are learning skills that will help us wherever we go. We are learning God’s heart is for those who have not heard. I don’t know where this will end but I know if we hadn’t came to Brazil we wouldn’t be as close to each other, wouldn’t be as willing to do anything, wouldn’t be content just obeying God.

Love you,

 

Ben and Family