KONOMALA

Ken

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for Ken.

A few weeks ago, we had another episode where he started going down hill pretty quickly. We decided that we needed to get him out of Konomala again. In the middle of the 8 hour drive to get him to a New Ireland hospital, his initial test results finally came back. Unfortunately, it was bad news.
It was confirmed that he does have cancer. After multiple days and roadblock after roadblock, it came to a point where we had to come back home because there was no way for him to be treated.

So without any real options, he has been back in Konomala with his family. There are all kinds of complicated facets to the situation. It’s only by God’s grace and wisdom that we will be able to walk through this well as a church.
Apart from God doing a miracle, we don’t really know how long he has.

Up until yesterday he had been relatively stable, but again, he took a turn for the worse. A car came to take him to a small local clinic, and as he was taken away, things seemed pretty grim.

Keep praying for Ken, his wife Ruth, and their 8 kids. It’s rough.
Pray that God would give unexplainable peace of heart and mind as it seems that Ken’s time here with us is nearing an end.

In spending time with him every day, he has needed constant encouragement. It’s so easy to become completely consumed with the immediate and miserable circumstances of life. We are all searching for peace, happiness, and a good life. We “know” that apart from the life that Jesus offers, there is no way to truly find those things. But sometimes we don’t really understand that until things get stripped away.

“If only this problem would go away, then I could have peace and be happy.”

How often have we all felt that!?! For Ken, the only true hope that he has will be found in the promises of God. Really, that’s true for all of us … suffering has a way of making that abundantly clear.

Thankfully, Ken has recognized and put his trust in Jesus’ eternal and saving work. Now in his daily suffering, he has to keep putting his mind on the things that are true. Bad circumstances don’t change the hope that we have in the person and promises of Jesus. Right now, not much can change the circumstances themselves, but that eternal hope can dramatically change the experience of life within the suffering. Not easy, but true.

the church

I secretly wish there were a few promises in scripture that said something like:
“As long as you do this certain thing really well, everything will turn out exactly as you want … guaranteed!”
But alas, there are no such verses. (I’ve checked)

Instead there are promises like these:
“I will build my church”
“My Spirit will guide into all truth”
“I will give you rest”
“My Spirit will testify to what is true”
“I will never abandon you”
“My Spirit will convict and teach”
“You’re not alone”
“I will come back”
“I see you”
“It will all be worth it”

– Jesus –

When the truth starts affecting real life, things get complex and messy. There are constant challenges and drama, and there are always countless things pulling on hearts and minds.

There isn’t anything glamorous or flashy happening in the church in Konomala these days. Day by day we are plodding … continually needing to humble ourselves and submit to the leading of God’s Spirit; struggling and learning to die to our own desires and look to Jesus.

God is faithfully working in each of us within the church as we submit ourselves to what is true and available in Jesus. We are so thankful for His grace, and we are more aware than ever of our needs and shortcomings. He is showing us all that His new life is so much better than our old, natural ways. He is bringing us together more and more as His family. And He is using suffering to reveal where our hope truly lies: in Himself, in His Son, and in His promises.

The enemy is also faithfully working to take advantage of the natural desires in us all. He’s using social pressures to imprison people in shame as they fear the opinions and words of others. He is using suffering to make people question the goodness of God and run back to old ways of thinking. The battle is very real.

So, as is always true, whether things feel good or not, we all have to continually remember and choose to believe the promises given by the good God that we know and trust.

the family

This last week marked the beginning of a different kind of season for us in Konomala. Our teammates, the Hodgdons, are on their way to the U.S.!
So that means we will be “alone” for the next 6 months. It’s a lot less fun being out here without our best friends to share the load and laugh at the usual ridiculousness of life.

This time is profoundly different than in times past though … in the truly important things of life, we aren’t alone at all. We have brothers and sisters who are also striving and struggling as they look to Jesus amidst the challenges of life. Before, we were only ever able to have the life-sustaining conversations with Luke & Ellenie. But now we have some amazing friends who we can lean into. Jesus’ Spirit is and will continue to faithfully encourage and sustain us through His body.

Don’t get me wrong, we are very much looking forward to the days when we will be in Konomala with Luke and Ellenie again. And we are definitely looking forward to the day that we get to go home too.
But in the meantime, we get the chance to grow alongside the church here as we all need to remember the same things. Do we need to be in a more comfortable situation or place in order to find peace, joy, and true life? Of course not.

We want to move deeper into Jesus’ way of life: setting our minds on the true and eternal things; perceiving all of life through the eyes of faith and resting in our good Father; recognizing all the messy stuff as opportunities to let His love compel us.

Keep Praying

Pray that Ken, his family, and us in the church would REST in the hope giving promises of God. And that through all of this we would KNOW GOD MORE and experience His peace, joy, and rest.

Pray for the church to GROW closer to Jesus and closer to each other.
Pray that this next 6 months would be a healthy time of stretching the church to lean more into their need of Jesus, His Spirit, His word, and His family. That is where true help and life will be found … not in the many empty ways of the world around them.

Pray that we WALK WELL through this season as a family. We want to be present and live with eternal perspectives … it’s easy to daydream about not being here.
Pray that we LOVE each other well and live in a healthy way together … it’s easy to be overwhelmed and pulled around by the busyness and demands of everything going on outside our home.