February has been an interesting month and lots of things have happened. Where to begin? I’ll start chronologically.
We’re building a workshop to use as a staging area to build our future home. It’s almost finished, and we’ve begun digging trenches for the foundation of the house. Running around buying construction materials and supervising the progress have unfortunately required a lot of our attention lately, and it’s made us feel off balance. We look forward to the day that we can move in to a finished house, unpack our moving boxes, and settle in to a daily routine. There are a lot of opportunities for us to get stressed out and lose focus, but God has been with us every step of the way. We often have to remind ourselves that this is actually His construction project, and He’ll continue taking care of us to the extent that we let Him.
I won’t go into details here, but there were some local protests. In the picture above, a group of police officers were firing tear gas canisters in our direction in response to someone throwing a rock at them. We were in a car and were already on our way out of the area (we had decided to leave the minute we realized a protest was happening). Thank the Lord we were able to roll up the windows and turn the corner before we felt any effects of the tear gas. Many people in the area who were not even part of the protest were not as fortunate, and we saw people rubbing their eyes as we left.
We’re so excited to see more children attending our church lately. Many come unaccompanied by their parents. We realize that these kids are the future of the Church, and that something will captivate their hearts – either a cell phone or the Gospel. In order to address the needs of these young churchgoers, we’ve started taking them aside and giving them a separate class during the sermon. In this picture, they stood at the front and recited a verse they’d memorized in their class. Please join us in prayer for this next generation of the Body of Christ.
This cross marks the scene of a past fatal collision. While we were turning onto this same road, two young men on a motorcycle ran into our vehicle and ended up in a ditch. Miraculously, neither of them was seriously hurt, and both walked away from the scene. We are so grateful to God that there isn’t a second cross at the site today, and we pray that He help these young men realize the purpose for which He spared them.
As I reflect over the events of the past month, I am so grateful that we can depend on God rather than attempting to rely on our own abilities. As David said so long ago:
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
Psalm 20:7
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