How do I Get Home?
As I prepared to leave for the Warrior Getaway, I wrote "Obscured." It covered my thoughts on the fact that just because things are not always clearly seen does not mean they are not there (referring to Mt. Kilimanjaro as well as God's direction for our lives).
For the last five days tens of thousands of travelers across Europe have been stranded due to volcanic ash from Iceland spewing into the atmosphere. They are all asking the same question, "How do I get home?"
I have been watching the BBC News each morning for updates on air travel and wondering how this will impact my trip to Russia (May 4-17). Having been stranded at various airports across the world for a variety of reasons (ranging from snow storms and 9-11, to just plain somebody forgot to pick me up) I am empathetic to the realities faced by the weary, just wanting to be on their way.
It is interesting to hear about ferries across the English Channel, rental cars, trains and hitchhiking, all undertaken in the effort to reach their destination. It isn't that they are lost - they are stranded.
Life leaves us stranded and asking questions about our circumstances, in suffering and sadness. Where is the goodness of God who loves us beyond measure?
"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth... God is not ashamed to be their God, for He has prepared a city for them." Hebrews 11: 13-16
Life may leave us stranded but we are not without direction or destination. My heart as a sojourner in this world is to show others the Way.
My first visit to Voronezh, Russia was in 1998. It is hard to believe many of the children I met that first trip are now grown men and women. The young man featured in the photos now lives at the Hope House with Ann and Robert Fuqua, along with several other young men who have graduated from orphanages in the area. It has been a great blessing to be a part of their lives for so many years. I have seen the promise of the Father fulfilled, "plans to prosper you... to give you hope and a future."
The only way these orphans would have heard about hope is that people were willing to go, and you were willing to send.
The young men and women who are being discipled through the ministry of the Fuqua's (see www.fuqua.eastwest.org for full information) and those living at Hope House, now have a ministry of their own. They return to the orphanages they grew up in and share the love of Christ with the next generation of children stranded in a system of institutional care.
Thank you for your years of faithfulness to the ministry of Sunshine After Rain! Thank you for providing funding and prayers to keep us going and sharing the Good News. I know times are tough, but there are countless souls asking, "How do I get home?"
God seeks the lost. He sends the willing to share with the weary the Direction - "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life..." (John 14:6) The Father tells us how to practice pure religion undefiled (and please Him) is to visit the orphans.
I am ready to make Him smile - will you join me?
For the last five days tens of thousands of travelers across Europe have been stranded due to volcanic ash from Iceland spewing into the atmosphere. They are all asking the same question, "How do I get home?"
I have been watching the BBC News each morning for updates on air travel and wondering how this will impact my trip to Russia (May 4-17). Having been stranded at various airports across the world for a variety of reasons (ranging from snow storms and 9-11, to just plain somebody forgot to pick me up) I am empathetic to the realities faced by the weary, just wanting to be on their way.
It is interesting to hear about ferries across the English Channel, rental cars, trains and hitchhiking, all undertaken in the effort to reach their destination. It isn't that they are lost - they are stranded.
Life leaves us stranded and asking questions about our circumstances, in suffering and sadness. Where is the goodness of God who loves us beyond measure?
"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth... God is not ashamed to be their God, for He has prepared a city for them." Hebrews 11: 13-16
Life may leave us stranded but we are not without direction or destination. My heart as a sojourner in this world is to show others the Way.
My first visit to Voronezh, Russia was in 1998. It is hard to believe many of the children I met that first trip are now grown men and women. The young man featured in the photos now lives at the Hope House with Ann and Robert Fuqua, along with several other young men who have graduated from orphanages in the area. It has been a great blessing to be a part of their lives for so many years. I have seen the promise of the Father fulfilled, "plans to prosper you... to give you hope and a future."
The only way these orphans would have heard about hope is that people were willing to go, and you were willing to send.
The young men and women who are being discipled through the ministry of the Fuqua's (see www.fuqua.eastwest.org for full information) and those living at Hope House, now have a ministry of their own. They return to the orphanages they grew up in and share the love of Christ with the next generation of children stranded in a system of institutional care.
Thank you for your years of faithfulness to the ministry of Sunshine After Rain! Thank you for providing funding and prayers to keep us going and sharing the Good News. I know times are tough, but there are countless souls asking, "How do I get home?"
God seeks the lost. He sends the willing to share with the weary the Direction - "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life..." (John 14:6) The Father tells us how to practice pure religion undefiled (and please Him) is to visit the orphans.
I am ready to make Him smile - will you join me?
