Disciples who make disciples.
“J does not appear to have yellow fever, cholera, leprosy, or the plague,” my doctor chuckled as he wrote out the note for my university application. The Asian university where I want to study required that I be tested for all of these diseases, but the doctor wasn’t able to request any of these tests without notifying the provincial government that there was a potential outbreak. We settled for a doctor’s note.
After a completing a marathon of tests that my doctor could request–including an ECG for my heart and a chest X-ray to check for tuberculosis–I finally submitted my university application.
Just this week, my application was accepted, and our whole family will be travelling to Calgary next week to apply for our visas. After that, all that remains is: selling, storing, and giving away most of our things; packing what’s left; fundraising the last of our required financial support; and booking our flights.
Things are moving quickly! We move to Asia in a little over two months. Once we get there, we will have one month to settle in before J begins language study at a university and we start to build relationships with our T neighbours.
As the reality of our move to the other side of the world is sinking in, we are experiencing a strange blend of excitement and fear.
We know the father has opened every door so far, and that he will continue to do so. We know the father has and will continue to provide everything we need to go, stay, and bear fruit for him in Asia. We know that, as the psalmist says, “if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me.”
However, we also know that we “will have many trials and sorrows.” We know that it won’t be easy. And it’s especially hard not to worry about our children.
As we have been wrestling through these conflicting emotions, the father has brought to mind the story of three young men who were faced with the choice between faithfulness and their own safety. Their response?
“He will rescue us from your power… But even if he doesn’t… We will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”
When we visited the field last May, S had the opportunity to meet a brother who is sending his children to an unofficial school that teaches about the father and his truth. Every morning this brother says goodbye to his kids, he doesn’t know if he will see them again that evening. But, he says that it is “worth it” for the sake of his children knowing the father.
When we reflect on these stories–of three men choosing faith over their own lives, of a father deciding it is worth the risk of losing his children so they can gain a relationship with the father–we are sobered and convicted.
Of course the father is worth our obedience, no matter the cost. After all, he gave up his son for us. In the famous words of another brother, if he “died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him.” If we have confessed “with our mouths that he is lord,” how dare we pretend he isn’t.
And what a gracious lord he is. Even though we “will have many trials and sorrows,” our lord and father tells us to “take heart, because [he] has overcome the world.”
In addition to preparing to leave, we have also been adjusting to life as a family of four. It is chaotic, to say the least, but we wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Lift Us Up
Thank you for following our journey, lifting us up, partnering with us, and just being in our lives. We love you guys!
Love,