KONOMALA

Often, when we read the Biblical accounts of people throughout history, it can be easy to imagine those peoples’ lives as a colorless, running list of bullet points and events. It can sometimes seem like the scriptures just jump from one big event to another … where people are constantly having life-defining and faith-filled moments where God shows something amazing about Himself.

The next time that you read one of those accounts, slow down and notice the little “filler” phrases that God uses. Little statements like:
“When some years had passed”
“After that time there was a famine”
“Now they settled in another land”
“Some time later”
“In those days”
“Now, as an old man”
“He fasted for 40 days” (Seriously! Just try it for 3.)

Instead of skipping quickly over those context-defining statements, take the time to feel the space in between those verses. God will often summarize (or not even mention) huge chunks of time gone by in those little phrases. But think about it. Those years that are lost to history were filled with long days, real life struggles, and countless little decisions to be faithful.
It sounds silly to say this, but the people we read about in scripture were REAL people! They struggled with the same things we struggle with; they had the same joys and worries; and they had the same decisions every day whether or not they would trust God as their Father or try to do things on their own.

Even though those “in between” years are not the focal point of their life stories, there is no doubt that they were no less important in those peoples’ experience of God and His faithfulness. As they chose to trust Him and faithfully walk with Him in all of those small moments (which turned into long years), their hearts were being cultivated for the “big” stuff that we get to read about in the Biblical accounts.

As I imagine it was for many of those men and women, it can be so easy to get discouraged in the “filler” times. It can feel like life is just average and mundane … maybe even a tad hopeless … that there isn’t any “momentum” in the things that we’re a part of. We regularly need to remember God’s bigger desires for our lives and the eternal weight of the things He has for us. He wants us to do things WITH HIM, regardless of whether there are big things happening or not. He is looking for faithfulness … then He takes care of the story.

the CHURCH

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for the church in Konomala. They have been through a lot in the last year. There has been some great stories of growth and faithfulness mixed in with some stories of missed opportunities and rejection of the truth.

Right now, the church is in one of those stretches of time where there probably wouldn’t be many Bible stories written about it. There aren’t any big boxes to check off or tasks to be accomplished. We’ve stepped into a new chapter in the life of the church. It’s the forever-chapter called, “be faithful”. Our two families alongside the church are re-aligning ourselves again with God’s ways of restoring people to a full likeness of Himself.
We are needing regular times of re-orienting our hearts to be more in line with God’s. We want to have a mindset like Paul’s in Colossians, “For this I toil [to present everyone mature in Christ] struggling with the energy that Christ so powerfully works within me.”

The church will be able to thrive generationally only if those of us within the church give ourselves completely to the work of “admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, in order that we can present them fully mature in Christ”. That is worth giving everything for … and we have to believe that to be true in the midst of the mess and challenge of real life.

We are praising God for how He has worked in peoples’ hearts. And we’re so thankful for the few in the church who have responded in humility and begun to walk faithfully with Him. At the same time, we’re sad for those who have chosen to walk in independence from their Father and continue living for themselves.
Regardless of the circumstances, we want to be faithful to do everything possible to help people as we toil in this eternal work.

Please keep praying for the church as we grow together and devote ourselves more and more to the work of presenting people fully mature in Christ.

Right Now

Our teammates, Luke & Ellenie, have been back in Konomala for a month or so now. There was a lot of stuff to fix on the houses and a lot to ease back into as they re-adjusted life with our friends, the church, and the community in general.

Keep praying for them as they are facing a lot of things on their own over these next months before we re-join them. They are faithfully stepping into the things God has for them…it’s an amazing thing to be a part of, yet the battle is very real.

Our time stateside has been very full. It’s been a good, healthy time of re-connecting with the body here. God has faithfully shown us ways that we can better align with Him in how we are walking with Him personally and in how we are bringing others along as well.

A few of the highlights:
– It has been great to re-connect with family.
– The girls have really jumped into building new friendships at church and in the neighborhood which has been so fun to see.
– We have enjoyed spending time at local parks and going hiking.
– We’ve been traveling a fair bit to visit friends and churches around the country.
– We have finally been able to start addressing some long-overdue health issues.
– Fresh food, riding bikes, swimming … all so fun.
– And yes, we’re still making comments about how smooth the roads are.

We are beginning to look at tickets for our return trip to PNG in December. Time has been going by so quickly. It’s an odd life to live when there is always a leave-date somewhere in the near future. If you would like to help with the cost of tickets, please reach out to us or click here for more info.