Prom Night

Last night was prom night, and I can't believe my little girl attended her first prom - with another girl mind you - but I was AOK with that.  I managed to get a picture of Karine and Jesse just before I drove them down to the venue for the prom - the Red Rocks amphitheater.  Well, not IN the amphitheater, since it had been snowing all day yesterday, but in the restaurant.  Due to the layout of Red Rocks I could only maneuver the car up to within 200 yards of the entrance, and they had to walk the rest of the way in the drizzle and their high heels.  Thankfully Jesse's Dad offered to pick them up around midnight
because I nearly fell asleep on the way home.  But it took me quite
a bit longer than normal to get home, because this enormous boulder had fallen onto the Southbound lane (heading back up the mountain) and completely blocked the traffic.  As we drove by on the opposite side I couldn't believe how huge it was (the news report estimated that the boulder weighs 60 tons), and what a miracle that it didn't crush any vehicles as it came down.  They'll probably have to blast it apart to remove it from the road.  I suddenly have a great deal more respect for those signs on the side of the road that say "Falling Rocks"!
     You can see how beautiful Karine and Jesse looked as we got ready to drive down for the prom.  The prom ended at 11pm, then they all came back to the school for the "after prom" party that was due to last until around 3 am this morning - then off to a friend's house for pancakes.  I wouldn't have lasted even through the prom, let alone all the other festivities.  Karine called around 12:30 this morning to say that she'd forgotten to bring her jeans... and could Papa just run them down to the school for her??  That didn't happen.  She found another solution in the end.

I heard an interesting sermon a couple of days ago. The pastor was making the point that worship is - in essence - love expressed, and that God created us to worship Him.  I'd never thought about this, but he spoke about the three original Arc Angels and their different roles:  Lucifer, who was responsible for worship; Michael, who is the warrior and comes in response to prayer, and Gabriel who brings messages from the Lord.  And every encounter we have with God includes the same three elements:  worship, prayer and truth.  Interesting, isn't it?  Three Arc Angels, so assumedly one third of all angels followed each of the three.  This would mean that when Lucifer sinned and was cast down to earth, he took with him the third of all angels who were responsible for worship... and his place was left vacant.  Now, God could have appointed another angel to that role, but He chose instead to give the responsibility for worship to us!  This would explain why worship is so meaningful to us, and why music has such a powerful effect in our lives.  It gives a whole new meaning to the idea of worshipping the Lord.

We're just on the tail end of yet another Spring snowstorm, and the snow is really wet.  Hopefully it will all melt very soon.

Journey Church

     Life can feel surreal at times.  Nine months ago, in August, Daphne and I were driving around Conifer and Evergreen - dreaming of what it could be like to live up here.  We didn't know a soul.  I remember the two of us sitting on a bench next to Evergreen lake, and we were discussing the idea of moving back to the States.  I had not yet resigned from my roles in the NAMESTAN team, so we were simply dreaming together.  We both loved the idea of living in the mountains, but would God approve?  I was so wrapped up in my own "issues" of what everyone's expectations were of me that I could hardly imagine feeling free to open the door of my heart and discover what dreams and desires were hidden there.

     I remember us driving past a Keller-Williams Realty agency, and just for the heck of it walking in to talk to a realtor.  We were only just at the beginning stages of allowing ourselves to imagine selling our house and leaving France.  The first person we met was Bob Krus, who became our realtor and who eventually sold us this home.  Bob has now become a dear friend - in fact Daphne and I are having lunch with he and his wife Diane today.  God seems to do that a lot in our lives:  the first person we meet, or the first church we visit ends up changing our lives.  We made an appointment one Sunday morning (wow, we didn't even go to church that Sunday!) to meet with Bob to look at a house;  we hadn't even started the process of putting our house on the market, and here we were looking at houses!  We must have been crazy... or God was guiding our hearts.  That day - nine months ago - we drove up to the High School just to see what it looked like, and we saw a sign saying, "The Journey Community Church meets here".  "Hmmm" I said, "We'll have to check this church out some Sunday."  The summer ended, and we went back to France to sell our home and say our goodbyes.  10+ years of life and ministry in the Muslim world had come to an end.  I could never have imagined even two months previously that we would be leaving France and the NAMESTAN region - nor how much pain and misunderstanding our departure would create.  Today, eight months later, some of those relationships are still broken, and God only knows if healing will ever come.  I've lived in four different countries in my lifetime, and traveled to some of the most dangerous places on the planet...  but I have never been as scared, nor felt as insecure as when we moved to Conifer, Colorado.  I was letting go of everything I knew - my life as a missionary, Campus Crusade, the team in France, my job, our church -  to move to a place where we were complete strangers, to start all over again.  The only people we knew were my sister Cathi and her family (50 minutes away in Westminster), our realtor Bob, and a guidance counselor at the High School.  Even as I write this, I'm wondering how in the world we ever did it.  We were either completely mad, or God was leading the way.  For some I know the jury is still out, but for Daphne and me, we are convinced it was the latter.

    Today, eight months later, we are living in a beautiful home in the mountains, not far from family.  We are surrounded by more new, wonderful friends than I can honestly count.  Our girls are settled in school with new friends.  My new company "Storm Guides" is off and running, and my list of prospective clients is growing daily.  And this Sunday, April 18th, I will be named as Executive Pastor of Journey Community Church of Conifer, Colorado.

     Someone once said, "Attempt something so great for God, that it's doomed for failure unless God is in it."  Almost one year ago the Lord communicated with us in a dramatic, supernatural way that we were approaching the key turning point of our lives. At that time we could not have even imagined any of what has since transpired.  A few days ago our Pastor Michael asked me to sit in on a couple of counseling appointments with him, and as I sat there I thought how much I love being a part of his team and this church.  As I drove away, I had a "defining moment" with God.  I sensed Him saying to me, "Do you remember the dream I gave you 18 months ago?"  "Yes, how could I ever forget it?" I replied.  The Lord continued, "And do you remember my promise about a whole new life, and a key turning point for your family?"  "Yes," I replied again.  Then He said, "This is what I was talking about."

     "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

The Journey Church

     It's snowing again.  They predicted 1-4 inches total.  At 3 am this morning there was no snow (guess who was up?); now there's more than 4 inches outside.  I think someone underestimated this storm.   I'm quickly learning just when you need to plow the driveway, and when to leave it ... there will be no plowing today.  Our vehicles can make it through quite a few inches of snow, so I'm not going out in the cold!

     When you look at the picture of our home above, you would think we were living in the wilderness:  It's actually just some clever framing on my part :)   We do have neighbors, but every home is built on at least 2 acres of land, so no one is on top of each other.  I finished the last touches on the rock fireplace, and I need to figure out is why it doesn't draw the smoke.  We've been smoked-out both times we've used it... and yes, I did open the flue.  I've run a chimney brush has high up as I can reach, but there's not much accumulation of soot.  If anyone has an idea, let me know.  The tops of the chimneys have caps and grills that are riveted into place, so it is impossible to run a chimney brush down from the top.

     Last night Daphne and I enjoyed a long, laughter-filled evening with Mike our pastor and his wife Amy.    We had dinner at a local Middle-Eastern cuisine restaurant called the "Damascus Grill" and it was actually pretty good.  I'm extremely partial to good Jordanian or Lebanese cooking, so I'm sure we'll be back to visit in the future.  We spent most of the evening laughing about the strange/funny things that happen to you when you're in full-time ministry... and after all these years we had plenty of examples.  Mike has asked us to coordinate the small group ministry of the church, and he's going to announce it this coming Sunday.  Daphne and I are excited to be more intimately involved in others' lives again.  We've tried to wait patiently for the Lord to show us when it is time to step out of this time of waiting and listening into any kind of ministry leadership.  We have not sought any roles in the church, and Mike asked us several times before we finally accepted.  I'm not sure why we accepted this last time;  I guess we just sense the Lord giving us the green light.  I will say that we're approaching any kind of "ministry" activity with many more personal boundaries and limitations that we have in the past.  Mike promised that he has no intention of "burning us out", and my reply to him was "And we have no intention of letting ourselves get to that place again."   The church is about to open the diner called "The Angry Llama"; don't ask me where Mike came up with the name, as I have no idea.  In the same building we'll have a coffee bar with a big screen TV for watching sports etc, pool tables etc to draw in the high-school kids, several offices, a small gym... and I don't even know what else.  This is a faith-venture from beginning to end, as we don't even have the money to cover the rent each month.  If it works, it will be of the Lord (and lots of sweat and tears from the church team). 

      In our last email newsletter we asked our friends and supporters to help us with our marketing strategy for Storm Guides, and we've already had one very encouraging contact with a missions agency based in Georgia.  This is how I expect things to develop - by word of mouth more than other marketing strategies.  We're hoping to finish a brochure very soon.   All the ground-work of setting up a new company, getting registered, maintaining the website etc still feels very daunting, and I can already see that I'll need to bring someone on to help me administratively in the not-too-distant future.  I simply cannot handle all the details on my own.  Hopefully we'll begin to have income through Storm Guides and we can hire someone part-time.

     My brother John and I have been talking about the issue of listening to God lately.  This is particularly interesting when you think about Peter, James and John.  They hung around Jesus more than the others (I sometimes wonder how the others felt about that), so they had more opportunity to hear Him.  But they weren't always listening.  When Jesus took them up on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter started babbling as usual about how they should make that place a permanent retreat center, with a gymnasium, and cafeteria, and statues of Jesus, Elijah and Moses...  and then God interrupted him and said, "This is my Son.  LISTEN TO HIM!"   It seems pretty clear from the context that God was telling Peter, and the others, to shut up and pay more attention to Jesus.  It seems like John, at least, started to understand because a little while later He told Jesus how he'd rebuked a man for casting out demons because he wasn't "one of the team".  I always read this as though John were proud of what he'd said, but my brother John pointed out that  - in all likelihood - John actually felt bad about it, and was making a confession.  If so, then he had started listening more to Jesus' heart, and arguing less about who was the greatest.  I really want to learn to listen more attentively, more actively and more often.

Life's choices

I have my first appointment today with a local church to discuss how Storm Guides can help them - I'm nervous, excited, and scared to death.  It is one of the largest churches in Denver, and I'll be meeting with the Missions Pastor.  I've felt for some time that I just need to get a foot in the door somewhere, and get some training seminars under my belt before word of mouth will begin working for me.  It's not what you know, but who you know - boy, have I found that to be the case.

We're getting more and more settled in our new home every day.  I spent the whole morning on Saturday installing a new garage door opener, as the two existing openers are ancient and worn out.  Now that I've done it the hard way on the first installation, I'm hoping the second one will be easier.  Kind of like most lessons in life - you have to learn something the hard way at least once before you gain some wisdom from the experience.  I remember a story someone once told me: 

      "After a long hard climb up the mountain, the spiritual seekers finally found themselves in front of the great teacher.  Bowing deeply, they asked the question burning inside them for so long: How do we become wise?  There was a long pause until the teacher emerged from meditation.  Finally the reply came, “Good choices.”  “But teacher, how do we make good choices?”  “From experience,” responded the wise one.“And how do we get experience?”  “Bad choices,” smiled the teacher."

Life is full of choices, and full of risks.  Some people are more willing to take risks than others, which sets some leaders apart.  Leadership is risky, and failure is part of life.  Our church here in Conifer is trying to start a new restaurant and youth center, and we're struggling almost daily with issues related to inspections, funding, interpersonal strife, etc.  I love Mike's attitude that failure is a great teacher, and if we're afraid to fail we'll never attempt anything in life.  This move to Conifer and our attempt to start a new company are the most frightening decisions we've ever made, and yet as I look back on the past five months since we moved back to the States, I am amazed by all that has transpired.  We sold our home in France and we're now settled in our own home on 6.5 acres of land; our girls are happy in their new schools with a whole group of new friends; we have a new church and a whole new "family" who've been instrumental in our adjustment here, and we're in the final stages of establishing a new company.  All in five months.  Sometimes when I'm feeling particularly overwhelmed or uncertain for the future, it's good to pause and take a look back to see how far we've come.  It puts everything into perspective.

God has a way of changing our plans

     The last few days have been interesting.  We worked hard to finish painting and furnishing our new guest room for our first "official" guest - Eliane, who we worked with for all ten years we were in France.  This was to be Eliane's first trip to America as an adult, and we were so much looking forward to her spending 8 days with us in our "mountain hideaway".  The day before she was to come we got the most snow yet - about 15 inches in one night.  The roads in our neighborhood are always cleared, but the problem is our 200 yard driveway.  We can usually push through the thick snow in the truck, if it's too deep for me to plow with the four-wheeler.  Anyway, we couldn't wait for her to come.

     The day before her flight, her eldest son Sebastien had surgery and everything seemed to go well.  Eliane left as planned, but after she was already in the air we got a call from France to tell us that
there had been some complications; Sebastien had been put into a medically induced coma to help his

 body to fight off a very serious lung infection.  The doctors were encouraging the family to prepare themselves for the worst.  You can imagine having to break this news to Eliane as soon as she arrived!  We ended up spending only one day together, before we put her on another flight back home to be with her son and daughter-in-law.  When we asked her what she would like to do in the short time she had, her reply was, "Go to a shopping mall, a supermarket and shoot Jim's gun!"  Well, we hit (no pun intended) two out of three, which ain't bad.  She doesn't think she'll be "shooting" for a new job as Calamity Jane, but she enjoyed the experience nonetheless.  We're praying for a miracle healing for Sebastien.
__________________________

 Saturday morning.  It snowed again all night last night.  We still enjoy it!  Everyone predicts that we'll start to moan every time it snows; maybe, but for now we're enjoying the novelty, and I still have fun driving the four-wheeler.  Karine went to watch a movie at a friend's house last night with a group of friends, and when the parents saw how much it was snowing they decided to keep them all overnight, rather than have them drive in the snow.  Of course, Karine wasn't complaining!

I spoke to Eliane this morning and she arrived home safely and was about to go visit Sebastien.  He is still in the coma, although the doctors have identified the specific bacteria that is causing the infection.  The problem is that he still can't breath on his own, so they have to keep him on a respirator in a state of coma.  What an ordeal for Eliane and the whole family.

Daphne and I spent some time praying this morning, because we both identified that we've been under spiritual attack lately.  I do not use that term lightly, because the enemy gets blamed for a lot that has nothing to do with him (and everything to do with our own heart condition).  However, Daphne has felt like she's under oppression a great deal, and I am continually feeling blocked in my efforts to make any progress on preparing the documents I'll need to register as a non-profit corporation.  I know I have the training and experience to be of significant help to churches and mission groups, but I've never felt as fearful or incompetent as I do now.  Daph and I agreed with each other that fear, oppression and discouragement are not the tools the Lord uses to communicate His heart - so it's coming from down below.  Strange how long it takes us to finally identify the source of our feelings: I guess that's part of the enemy's plan, to keep us looking in the wrong places.

Mike, the Pastor of The Journey Church we're attending, continues to challenge me to take on leadership in the church.  He doesn't want to push me, and he's very aware of the burnout we've come through in the past year - so he just keeps gently stating his desires.  I guess our 20+ years of experience in ministry (in the good and the bad) makes us a safe source of help and encouragement for him.  He's looking for a friend he can turn to, lean on, and be "real" with - and that is something that draws my heart towards him.  Don't know how this is all going to work out (between the church and building Storm Guides) - I guess we'll just have to rest in God's leadership day by day. 

I've finally settled on a logo design for Storm Guides.  I wanted it to be something simple, that can be applied equally to business cards and stationary, as well as on a hat or T-shirt.  Here it is:

Here we go again

We're bracing for the second winter storm warning in the past week.  Between today and tomorrow, we should get another 12-16 inches of snow. This picture is of our driveway the morning after the last snow; I ended up plowing the driveway three times just to stay ahead of the snowfall - complete in my red ski suit, goggles and a cowboy hat.  I wish I had a picture of myself!  Our friend Eliane is due to arrive from France tomorrow night, just after the storm warning is lifted.  I hope the airport will remain open here in Denver.

The work on the house is slowing down now; I could easily spend 10 hours a day for another week working on renovations, but life must go on.  From this point on we'll have to work on the rest over the weekends.  I am trying hard to get my business website up and running this week, as well as finishing all the paperwork to set up Storm Guides as a non-profit organization.  I made several phone calls to local churches and mission agencies yesterday, just trying to get my foot in the door.  I'm learning that just because you leave a phone message doesn't mean you'll ever get a return call.  I find this to be a strange part of American culture, that we don't reply to phone calls or emails.  How does anyone do business here?

I've been reading an interesting book called "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality".  The main idea of the book is that it is impossible to be truly mature spiritually, while at the same time remaining emotionally immature.  The two go hand-in-hand.  As we "grow up" spiritually we have to experience a corresponding emotional development.  Many Christians consider themselves to be deeply spiritual, while at the same time being full of bitterness, unforgiveness and anger.  It just doesn't make sense.  One of the principles that I really appreciate in the book is that of "Contemplative Spirituality" - meaning that we learn the blessings of slowing down enough in life to hear the Lord, and to enjoy Him in the midst of life's busyness.  Here is what he says about our pace of life:
     "Another way to discover how much we need to slow down relates to how attentive we are to God during our activity.  God speaks to each one of us every day - through Scripture, creation, dreams, silence, traffic jams, boring workdays, interruptions, conflicts, job losses, relationship breakdowns, successes, failures, and betrayals.  Jesus described this as his "sowing of seeds." Our problem is that many of these seeds are "snatched away immediately" or die prematurely due to external pressures or our absorption with other interests and concerns.  Most of these seeds are lost because we do not pay attention.  When I have sufficient "slowing-down time" alone, I find that my activity is marked by a deep, loving communion with God.  Then Christ's life, more often than not, flows through me to others."

     I believe that one of my greatest challenges, and weaknesses, is the lack of this "slowing-down time" during the week - time to rest, to listen, to reflect on the challenges that life is throwing my way.  This was a huge part of my own burnout, and one of the issues I continually tried to bring to the leadership table while I was in NAMESTAN.  And yet I can be so obsessive-compulsive about getting stuff done that I lose all perspective on life and the value of contemplation.  Maybe that's why I don't sleep well at night...??  There must be a way to accomplish all the necessary details of life, while still maintaining a healthy dose of rest, joy and contemplation. 

Too sore to move

It started snowing at around 2 am this morning; it is now 5:30 in the afternoon and it hasn't stopped - I guess there's about a foot of snow out there right now.  My brother John and his family stopped by for lunch on their way home from a ski trip... our first out of town guests!  Sure is nice to look out of the window at all that snow, and be in a nice, warm house.  This picture is the view outside of our basement door.


I am worn out!  We've been working almost non-stop for the past 9 days to get our house "in order", and we're almost there.  My nephew William Myers flew over from Birmingham, Alabama the day before we closed on the sale to help us with the renovations - and it's hard to believe what we've been able to accomplish in such a short time.  We've also had a bunch of guys from our church who gave a huge amount of time over three or four days to help us move, and one of them (who has experience in construction) told me that he's never seen anyone change so much on a home before they actually moved in - or right after they move in.  Just to give you an idea, in the past week we have:
1. Converted the laundry room into a new guest room
2. Built a new laundry room where the wet bar used to be
3. Carpeted the entire downstairs - a living room, and two bedrooms.
4. Removed the fake wood siding downstairs and replaced it with real aspen-wood paneling
5. Painted the kitchen, dining room, living room and Nicole's bedroom upstairs
6. Covered the red brick fireplace in the upstairs living room with new stone

All this probably doesn't seem like much unless you can see it for yourself - so here are some pictures: The picture to the right is how the bar and paneling used to look, and the picture below it is how it looks now.  The next picture is what the fireplace used to look like, and then how it looks now with the new stone facing. The last picture is how the basement looks with the new aspen paneling.  We are soooo grateful for the incredible church and friends God has given us since we moved here to Conifer.  It's hard to imagine what we felt like back in August as we were driving around this area, contemplating this move - and we didn't know a soul up here.  And now we're surrounded by friends who are willing to jump in and get their hands dirty (and their muscles tired) helping us to move into a new home.  God is so good to us.

"Talk to Me"

I'm in Norman, Oklahoma where I just finished the first two (of three) phases of training to become certified as a Hostage Negotiator with the International Association of Hostage Negotiators.  Our trainer was a retired NYPD cop and hostage negotiator named Dominick;  If I had a dollar for every time he used the word F____ or Sh___, I could retire now and live my life out on some island in the Bahamas.  At the end of the class this morning Dom asked me if I'd been offended by his language (he knew I work with churches and missionaries).  My answer was, "Dom, you are who you are.  It's no big deal".  The woman sitting next to me said, "Oo, way to answer without answering!" -- maybe I learned something this week after all!

There were 23 trainees, and I was the only one who was not a police detective or with military intelligence.  Several of the guys work here in Oklahoma with Native American Tribal Police forces (something I'd never heard of); apparently, each tribe has their own, internal police force that handles security within the tribal area.  The place where we met all week is called the Absentee Shawnee Tribe Resource Center... absentee Shawnee tribe??  Turns out that there are three or four different clans of the Shawnee tribe that split up, and each became their own "tribe".  Huh, sounds kind of like Muslims.  I will finish the certification process next month in Indianapolis, IN.  There are several more certifications I intend to do over the next few months - in Emergency Management, Risk Assessment etc.  I have quite a bit of experience - but it would help me to have some official certifications to back up the experience.

It has become clear that the original plan that I would work with Crisis Consulting International will not be possible - for a number of reasons.  I'm still hoping that I can partner with CCI down the road, as they have a great deal of experience in this field and I would love to learn from them.  In the meantime, I've begun working with my board members on setting up our own non-profit crisis management consulting organization.  I've mentioned before that I've chosen the name Storm Guides, and now begins the work of setting up a business plan and then registering the new organization.  The greatest challenge I face right now is just getting my foot in the door with a large church; once I can actually start doing training and consulting, I know that things will grow by word of mouth.  I'm hoping to have a rudimentary website up and running soon as a means of marketing Storm Guides and what I can offer.

Dying Well

     I just heard the news that our dear friend Lynn Chynoweth has stepped across the threshold between the last chapter in the book of her life here on earth with her husband John, and into a whole new book called Heaven.  And unlike the book of her life here which had a very specific number of pages that were determined long before she was born, the pages and chapters of this new book will continue to be written forever.  What is Lynn experiencing right now?  Is she talking to Jesus? What is He saying to her?  Is she running to meet the very first person she's always imagined talking to -- maybe Moses, or Paul?  I can't imagine what it must feel like for Lynn to realize that she's really free from pain - and she can talk, and sing, and do all the things her tortured body couldn't do for such a long time.  What is she thinking about John and her boys?  Can she see them right now?  Can she feel their pain and grief?

Heaven is a real place; Jesus is a real person;  and Lynn is really THERE.  Wow - it's hard to imagine.

Lynn has been in incredible, intense pain due to the rapid spread of the cancer throughout her body.  Only a week or so ago the doctors informed she and John that Lynn had 3-6 months to live - and today she's already gone.  It almost seems like Lynn was in a hurry to go - not to leave her family, but just to hit fast forward and skip the nightmare of pain she was facing.

     I knew that Lynn was suffering greatly, and John & their two boys with her.  Because I don't sleep much at night, I often found myself awake in the wee hours of the morning, praying for John and Lynn.  When I heard the news of the last prognosis, I changed the way I was praying for them:  I started to pray that God would fill Lynn's heart with an incredible excitement and anticipation about getting to Heaven, so much so that all fear would be banished from her mind.  I also started to pray that God would fill John, Jim and Mike's hearts with an incredible, unexplainable peace to let her go.  I just read the last two entries that John wrote in their "Caring Bridge" journal, and I trust he won't mind me quoting him here:

Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon:

"Lynn is resting more comfortably.  She's quiet, no longer speaking. The finish line is in sight and she's fading from this life, preparing for the next.  Her heavenly Father is standing at the finish line with open arms, the Holy Spirit is filling her with courage and the heart to complete the race well, Jesus is holding her hand leading her on cheering, "I am with you always."  He's looking over His shoulder and has assured me that "I am with you always too!"  There's a comfort in my soul knowing He alone can heal my wounded heart and be the joy, love and courage I need for this last season of the race.  The world feels like it is shaking and shifting.  Be still my soul, take courage - your heart is anchored in the holy of holies in the presence of the Father, held safe and sure by Jesus.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!"

And early this morning:

"About 9:45 Saturday night, Lynn leapt across the finish line into the arms of her Heavenly Father.  No more pain, no more sorrow  - finally whole, radiant and joyous.  Her family and friends were around her, singing, "Be thou my vision..."  as she completed the race.

We're numb, shattered hearts and yet our soul is anchored by the firm foundation of Jesus, the author and completer of our faith.  I remember Lynn and celebrate a life well lived.

With hearts surrendered to His eternal purposes,

John" 

I wept as I read John's words, because I cannot imagine how I would feel having just lost Daphne.  But it seems like my prayers were answered.

 

I have watched John and Lynn walk this road of suffering with courage, faith and hope.  Yes, I know there were many dark and confusing times - how can there not be when you've gone through chemo and radiation for so long?  But even in the midst of life's most terrible trials, there is a deep, sweet aroma of Jesus that just "hangs" around people like John and Lynn.  

Storm Guide

     It's snowing outside.  It snowed last night, and it will snow for the next few days.  We haven't had a big snow dump yet since we moved here, but we're entering the time of year when the big snowfalls come.  I've got my Honda ATV all ready with the snowblade attached - which is a sure fire method to be sure it WON'T snow.

For the past couple of weeks I've been busy in the steep learning curve of trying to establish a new 501C3 non-profit organization that I've chosen to call "Storm Guide International".  I chose this name because it reflects my passion to help prepare churches and mission agencies for the inevitable crises they will face as they send short term missionaries overseas.  I hope to have a website up and functional in the next week or so. This doesn't mean that I won't be working in partnership with Crisis Consulting International in some fashion, but my desire has always been to launch out on my own.  Actually, that's a misnomer.   I don't want to launch on my own, but rather launch out into the risky realm of trusting the Lord to direct our path.  And He is.  And it's still scary.  I am excited about one thing:  I've signed up for a training course next month in Hostage Negotiation.  The realm of hostage negotiation has intrigued me for a long time, and I thought there's no better way to determine if I'm cut out to be a negotiator than to jump in with both feet.  It should be interesting!

     Good news on the house:  we've been approved for a loan by a local bank, and we will close the deal and take possession on March 10th.  The same house we thought we'd given up as lost only 10 days ago, the Lord has given back to us.  Whoever thinks the Lord doesn't have a sense of humor hasn't spent much time trying to follow Him.  He does this kind of thing to us all the time!  He just wanted to see if we were willing to let it go, so He could give it back to us in the end.  We can't wait to move in - and our first guest will be my nephew William who is coming to help me work on some of the renovations we want to do.  Our second guest will be our dear friend Eliane Bordreuil, who worked with me as office manager for the past 10 years - and she arrives on March 24th.  I hope we'll have the guestroom ready by then!  Daphne and I both want to build an entryway over our driveway using log poles, and hang a sign from them that will say: "The Juniper Tree: Come ye aside and rest awhile."  Our prayer is that this home will be a place of rest, warmth and safety for all who enter - and that each one will leave more encouraged than when they arrived.

     Daphne is applying for part-time jobs to help supplement our income.  We've asked our financial supporters to give us two years to become financially self-supporting, and many have responded.  We have lost quite a bit of support however, and Daphne working part-time will really help.  She's gone through a real range of emotions this past week:  from thinking that she has nothing to offer in the business world after 30 years in ministry - to being elated when she got two requests for interviews in the last two days!  We don't know if either position will work out, but it's exciting nonetheless for her to know that she has qualities and skills that are desirable to potential employers.

    We are really enjoying the church the Lord has led us to here.  It's a new church - about a 2 years old - and the staff are all young, but we love being a part of a movement of the Holy Spirit that is growing and reaching people.  I love Michael's (the Pastor) heart - he's a courageous leader who is willing to take bold, risky steps of faith (a man after my heart!).  He's also willing to stand up against sinful attitudes and behavior in the body, which is a quality I've rarely encountered in our years in the church.  The church just acquired a building to use for everything but Sunday worship - and again, it was a big, risky step to take.  We got the building for an incredible monthly rate - far below it's market value; but there is still the risk that we won't be able to cover the rent long-term.  I'm with Michael though:  nothing ventured, nothing gained... and a whole lot lost in the meantime.  When it seems as though the Spirit of the Lord is leading, then jump on board and hold on for the ride! 

I can't wait to see what God has up His sleeve next!!