KONOMALA

_GROW^TH as a church

As a church here in Konomala, we’ve spent the last couple of months together in the book of John. It’s been really encouraging and challenging to take the time to look deeply into how Jesus, the very Son of God, lived life here on earth.

Whether we recognize it or not, every day we are in a battle with the tendencies and defaults of our old, natural ways of living life. We “know” so much truth in our minds and we’re able to say a lot of the right stuff; but how often do we still wonder what it is that we’ve missed?

Why haven’t things turned out like I thought they would?
Why do I still struggle so much with “the reality” of my life and how I feel in the middle of it?
Where can I find real help, true peace and rest, deep joy?
How can I actually experience this “true” life that Jesus talks so much about?

Like Pilate asks Jesus, I think a lot of us are asking the question, “What is truth?”. I thought I knew what was true, but my experience is not lining up with what I expected.

Where can I find the answers?
Is there even any answers out there?

In the midst of a challenging season for us all here in Konomala, a lot of those questions have surfaced in our hearts individually and collectively as a church. Though it certainly is not comfortable by any means, it’s exactly what we’ve needed and God has met us in it as our good Father.

Through the life of Jesus, His Spirit has been convicting us in things we hadn’t recognized or grappled with before. And at the same time, He has been establishing and deepening things that we had only just begun to live within.

There IS an answer … to every need, every deep hope, every longing.
BUT those answers cannot be found in any earthly source or man centered intuition. Those attempts are temporary, deceptive, and grossly insufficient.

The answer … every answer … is found in Jesus.
True life is experienced in knowing Him and His Father.
Unexplainable peace is found in resting in Him alone.
Overflowing joy and love comes supernaturally from Him.
Real belonging and purpose is finally found within a new identification as a child of the Father and as a co-laborer with His Son.

Regardless of our earthly circumstances, the answers to experiencing true, eternal life are hidden with Jesus in our Father.

It’s been an important time for us as a church here in Konomala to recognize and grow within this entirely different way of seeing ourselves and evaluating life.

There IS an answer!

Pray for Ken, his family, & the church

Keep praying for Ken as he is suffering terribly. He is withering away on a wooden bed frame with an old piece of foam as a mattress. He is in constant pain as his body has deteriorated away to almost nothing.
Pray that in what seem to be his final days, he could remember the things that are true. He has no answers on this earth. But he has so much to look forward to in the hope of what is waiting for him in Jesus.

It’s a tough time right now. The entire extended family is being affected deeply as they are looking for answers too. It’s dramatic and emotional for everyone involved.
Pray for Ken’s wife, Ruth, as she is feeling the weight of it all … along with their kids who don’t even have a category for this kind of grief and anticipation.

Pray also for the church in this season. Every one of us are closely connected to Ken in some way. We’re slowly learning to abide in Jesus and follow Him regardless of the earthly circumstances of life. There are a lot of opportunities to love each other and speak the hopeful truth to others … but that is often within the context of fear, embarrassment, unknowns, and shaky faith.

Pray for us too

We are adjusting to life “alone” in Konomala, but we’re facing new challenges all the time. All the things that we’re growing in as a church are exactly what the Spirit is revealing and teaching our hearts during this time as well.

Pray that we keep loving Jesus and looking to Him while the many stressors push us way past the desirable and comfortable. This is a new level of testing our faith that can produce endurance and hope.

This is a practical / logistical one … Pray that a nearby bridge would be fixed. We are more isolated than ever before at the moment. As of a few weeks ago, a bridge has collapsed and is completely impassable. That means we are dependent on a distant boat to keep us connected to our food supplies etc.. In the case of an emergency, we would be dependent on a helicopter from another island.
It’s not ideal.
Yet in it, God is reminding us that the answer to our peace and joy does not lie in the freedom to leave whenever we want to … BUT there IS an answer =)