As I have been “home” for 3 weeks more or less I become more convinced we desperately need to understand we are part of His kingdom. Our role in that kingdom has very little to do with where we are or what task we are doing and much to do with who we are and our availability to the king. As we move about this world we are to be about the business of our true kingdom, affecting the things and people around us for the better.
We could not help but question the decisions we made to move on, to return to the US. Every time we became more assured it was right and right timing but as many of you we too questioned ourselves at the speed and timing of the decision. The thing I am learning through this is that if I want to be an emissary of my king and live by His word I have no choice but to be equally willing to obey regardless of what that is.
It was exciting to hear God saying to move our family to Brazil, it was easy to obey when there is a bit of fanfare around your decision, it appears heroic. No matter how much I wanted to be free from the pressure of what people think, no matter how much I wanted to live only to obey it was nice to have attention. Living the last four years I began more and more not only to want to be free from that but to see the necessity. Ultimately the Lord beginning to say go back was a completion of a lesson, I have much more to learn but something was completed. An understanding that what God does with me and my family is about His purposes and He has unlimited perspective compared to my very limited view point.
A great help in seeing this has been the act of obeying and “rushing” back. We see what God is doing in the kids as the reintegrate into US culture. There are still many challenges but they are really doing well, I see Daniel getting up and reading his bible for devotions, something I am struggling with at the moment. I had the chance to sit and talk with my sister in LA who is going through a few challenges, hopefully I was able to encourage her and in the very least I better understand how to pray for her.
I am able to both serve and help my grandmother in her life but also help an uncle battling addiction. Being used as a minister in his life. I see Melissa as always blessing everyone around her with compassion and love, especially in the situation I just stated. We were able to go together to the school of ministry in Corvallis and I was able to return once more. God has used us more in the last three weeks than in the previous. “Our ministry” has only expanded in our time here. I am so busy I am beginning to really question what God is going to do to provide for us here. Perhaps it will be very non traditional leaving me free to continue ministering nearly full time in this area.
The thing is we are members of a supernatural eternal kingdom and not an earthly one. We are sent out on mission all of us where ever we happen to be. This kingdom is more real than the one we more easily see, it existed before and will continue long after this world is done. How important is it for me to get better educated, make a bit of money and save up for retirement in this second half of my adult life? Only as important as that goal relates to my assignment in the eternal kingdom. Do we easily say store up for yourself treasures in heaven not earth than commit ourselves to the pursuit of this life or do we truly abandon ourselves to pursuit of eternal values. I am not saying those always must be mutually exclusive. I am believing more and more that I need a better education and a more professional job to carry more weight behind my witness but it is in His time and in His way in His place not mine.
As we are here we not settling in but going deeper into the things God has for us here. We are not readjusting but engaging new opportunities new people. God has plans for us here and plans for us somewhere else plans for us now and in the future. The purposes of an eternal kingdom are not location dependent but King dependent, Jesus must be more and more king of my and our lives. Pray for us as we continue to serve the Lord and attempt to teach our kids to be kingdom minded individuals.
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