Today Audra, Todd and I had a chance to go back to Fairyland Elementary School (the school where I taught from 1994-1999) to talk about Peru–the girls are on a girl scout field trip. Knowing it is a public school, we were very careful about not proselytizing or talking a lot about our faith. It was a lot of fun and very exhausting, talking to five classes total about the country and culture of Peru. In the presentations we asked the kids what they knew about the country, then (spelling out the name of the country) talked about the People, Environment, Religion, and What U can do to help the people of Peru. The students seemed to be receptive (at least as much as could be expected the last Tuesday of the school year).

Kia, Aylis’ and Todd finished up school last Friday. They are glad to be out of school, but not as glad to be saying good-bye to their friends. They got a lot of addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses to keep in touch. I asked Aylis’ if she wanted to write an MK (Missionary Kids) Newsletter. She said (and I quote), “hmmm…maybe.” I think it’d be cool, but what do I know…I’m just a dad!

It’s getting closer and closer to the time we have to say goodbye to the church that has been so much a part of our lives for the past six years. Sunday, June 10, is the final Sunday I will be leading worship at the church. I’ve been thinking about the service a lot lately, trying to figure out what to say. I don’t know, but I might post my final message to this blog… “hmmm…maybe!”

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers. To God be the glory.

Grace and peace to you, my brothers and sisters in Christ.

I often start letters, e-mails, and worship services with those words. I like them. Paul wrote them a lot. I don’t always agree with Paul, but on this thing, he had it right. That’s a great way to start…asking God to give one another grace and peace. I didn’t really think about the impact of those words until I hear back from someone who says, “Thank you so much for such encouraging words…” What words? I think. Oh, yeah…grace and peace.

I like to say those words. I need to hear them right now. Let me be honest. I’m a bit stressed right now. There is a lot going on in our lives. The kids are finishing up school over the next few weeks, the girls have a dance recital. On top of the busyness of being a family, we are also selling our houses and our stuff getting ready to move. We are tying up loose ends here at the church, and–perhaps hardest of all–getting ready to say goodbye to the people I’ve served as pastor and as a member of the community over the past six years. It has been a blessing being here, but–as someone told me yesterday after church–change is good. Yeah, but it’s not always easy, is it? On top of all that we are scheduling speaking engagements around the state and country. We can’t go to the mission field until we raise our support. We are getting a lot of attaboys and attagirls, but those alone don’t get us there. We need financial backing. It’ll happen. I know it will.

These few weeks are teaching us to trust in God more and more. We are learning to take things out of our hands and place them in God’s…not so we can sit back and wait…but so God can have room to work. God is still expecting us to do our part. We still need to call and e-mail and all those things. We still need to get out there and talk about the great things God wants to do through us with the people in Peru. It’s not going to happen all by itself, but God needs to have a little more rein. We need to get out of the way.

Hey, Ash, God is saying to me now, Grace and peace to you. Stop trying to do it all by yourself. You can’t. You need me to help you.

Thanks, God. I need to be reminded of that every once in a while.

To God be the glory.

Happy Easter! The traditional way of calling our attention to this is: He is risen! And the response is: He is risen indeed! It is good to know this. I am still pastoring a church and so this has been a very busy time of year for me. At about 3.00 yesterday afternoon I finished leading the final of six different worship services which began Thursday night with a Messianic Seder Supper, Friday night service of light and dark, Saturday Easter Vigil at 11 PM, Sunday Sunrise Service at 7 AM, our regular worship service and then our monthly service at a local assisted living facility. I’m exhaused, but blessed at the same time.

While all this has been happening, Audra and the kids have been going through the house and having a yard sale. Our goal is to get rid of at least 75% of our stuff–it’s amazing how quickly the most important things we’ve held on to for years suddenly becomes…what’s the word…oh, yeah…junk. It is a good thing that one persons junk is another person’s treasure. The weather didn’t cooperate a whole lot (we’ve been having record low temps here in Georgia), but they still did fine and made a lot of contacts.

Because we are cross cultural workers with The Mission Society we are not affiliated with any one denomination. We are Wesleyan in our theology, but are not United Methodist or Baptist or Presbyterian or non-denominational or any other thing. We are a mulit-denominational sending agency. I like that becuase God is bigger than any one denomination. Not going with a single denomination has it’s difficulties, though, top among them is the reality that in order to go and work with the people of Peru, we need to raise 100% of our own support. That takes a lot of people who generously love God and want to spread the Kingdom of God to the corners of the earth. We have a lot of people praying for us and have had a number of people giving us financial support. We appreciate them all. We still have a long way to go, though. I haven’t looked at the numbers lately, but I think we are somewhere between 10 and 15% of the goal.

Let me be honest, this is a source of stress for me. I know God will provide and that faithful men and women and children (friend and stranger alike) will be there and we will get to Peru. I believe this. The waiting, though, is hard for me. It is not a part of my personality. Every week we have been sharing the vision God has for us with various groups, the response that night is positive, but the response of making a commitment to support us through the Mission Society has been slower. Please pray for us. We need your prayers and we value them.

On the desktop of my computer I have been alternating pictures we took on our recent trip to Huancayo. Every time I see them, my heart is drawn there to the place and to the people. As a family, we all feel an urgency to return and work for the kingdom. It will happen. The task ahead of us is pretty daunting, but all things are possible with God. After all, Jesus was in the tomb with a huge stone rolled across the entrance. Today that tomb is empty! He is risen. He is risen indeed!

Thanks be to God!