This is it for those of us flying out of Madison:
Please be at Grace Bible Church no later than 5:00PM
The bus rolls at 5:30
Thanks to our Grace family who have lifted this mission up in prayer. Things may seem out of control but God is absolutely in control.
Just got a text from Jerry Spears showing his negative covid test!!
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
The shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary
Isaiah 40:31
Please lift up our nurse, Laurie, who is joining us from Ohio. She is facing the decision of whether to fly to the DR or not. Her father is very ill.
Team Meeting
We will gather at Grace Bible Church after the worship service to meet, eat and pack.
Please bring any spare suitcases, your team shirts and questions.
Mucho Importante: (Very Important)
If you have not gotten some medicine for malaria prophylaxis please let me know Sunday. While we have never had a problem among team members, malaria is a nasty disease and it is endemic to the area where we’ll be working.
I just got an email late last night that American Airlines has cancelled the flights we were booked on.
Please pray that Katrina (Mission Nation Travel) will be able to make similar arrangements.
We love because God first loved us.
1 John 4:19
After much prayer we have decided to cancel the mission to Ukraine. Many of the original volunteers have had to step back and new travel restrictions have caused concern.
Please keep the Christmas program for the orphans and underprivileged children in your prayers. And consider a financial gift to the Open Door Foundation (Vitaliy’s mission organization) for the program. The donations may be made through Grace Bible Church with a note on the memo line “Ukraine”
The Mission Retreat was a great success, with plenty of food left over :-}
The mission to the Dominican is still on. In fact I have several thousand dollars worth of medicines from Blessings International sitting in our family room waiting to be packed :-}
Unfortunately due to new customs regulations we are unable to count and individually pack the meds before we arrive in country. Please pray that the team is able to complete this once we are there (and still have time to participate in evening activities).
As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
1 Peter 4:10 (NASB)
From “The Green Letters” by Miles Stanford,
“(A) common error is that of praying for forgiveness, instead of heeding the Word, confessing the sins, and receiving the assurance of forgiveness.” (P131, emphasis added)
At first glance this may seem to be nit-picky. Is there really a difference between “forgiveness” and “confession”? Stanford goes on to elaborate that, as believers, we already have forgiveness. Christ said, “It is finished.”
We are not to abide (continue living) in our present condition (the way we feel) counting on help from God for our walk and service, but to realize our position (the fact of who we are) in order to become involved in the needs of this world.
Scripture urges us to agree with God and walk with Him, not pleading for something we already have.
Corrie ten Boom and her family were incarcerated by the Nazis in a concentration camp because they had helped Jews. In “The Hiding Place”, Corrie relates that the guards relocated some of the prisoners into a filthy barracks crawling with vermin. Corrie’s sister had the faith to say, “thank You for the fleas.”
It turned out that the Nazi guards would not enter the barracks because of the fleas so the prisoners were able to have Bible study there.
How remarkable that her sister had the faith to say “thank You for the fleas” before she knew this.
In the Green Letters Miles Stanford states, “Life is meant to bring a succession of discoveries (fleas?) of our need of Christ, and with every such discovery the way is open for a new inflow of the supply.” (Page 28.)
I yearn to have the faith to say, “Lord, thank You for COVID-19” and wait to see the miracles that only He can do.
