One Thing...

And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed. --Joshua 23:14

Joshua followed this reminder with a warning, that just as all the good things had come to pass according to the Lord's promises, all the bad would come to pass for their disobedience and adultery.  If we indeed remember the one thing--that none of the Lord's good promises will ever fail us--then our hearts will be less likely to disobey and turn away from God.  I was reminded by a dear brother in the Lord this morning that our standing before the Lord never changes!  If we could only walk in that truth all the time, always knowing, never doubting, never deceived, never discouraged, and always full of the joy of the Lord!  Perhaps we can...  

The psalmist says, "One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple." --Psalm 27:4

I love that the psalmist here is clear that we are able to behold the beauty of the Lord daily, to dwell with Him every day, not just sometimes, but "all the days of my life!" His love for us is permanent, and He is always available, even when our love for Him is so fickle.  How great is our God?  When I find that I have been desiring anything other than the Lord (even if that something is answers or His will for my life), I need to simply repent, go boldly to His throne of grace, behold His beauty, and remember the "One thing" I should desire.

Jesus also affirms all this, in addressing Martha's accusations against her sister, "...One thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." --Luke 10:42

Isn't it amazing to think of how true it is that Mary's choice could never be taken away from her?  No matter what is happening in our lives, no matter how lost we feel, no matter how overwhelmed our hearts may get, there is nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ!  When we don't know the answers, when we don't feel the love, when we are broken down and empty, we need to recognize that there is nothing to keep us--ever--from coming to Jesus and sitting at His feet!  Even better, Hebrews 4:15 reminds us that He even understands all of what we go through.  What a wonderful High Priest we have: One that was willing to set aside all He had to come here and get dirty, be despised, and pay the ultimate price for my sins...and all for what?  One thing: that I (and you!) may spend eternity (starting today) with Him.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. --Romans 8:38-39

Update: Our house and our rental house have been on the market for a couple of months now, but nothing seems to be happening.  Please pray for us during this time of waiting...that we would simply seek to sit at the feet of Jesus, the one thing that's needed.  Thank you all for your prayers.

Moscow, Day 1 (cont.)

Well, I said I would write again soon, but it appears that I've been a little sidetracked lately.  Blogging consistently is actually a very difficult thing...it seems to be yet one more commitment that is difficult to make time for!  Anyway, my apologies for keeping you all waiting for over two months for the continuation on this one!  Here's the rest of the story for our first day in Moscow. Don't worry, the memories live on strong in our minds so we'll still be able to tell you the rest of the story... :)  We pray you are all doing well.

Building where ICF meets on Sundays

Our first stop on the trip into Moscow that first day (besides the bathroom break at McDonalds!), was at ICF (International Christian Fellowship).  Of course the building looked nothing like a church, but after we went past the security guards and made our way up to the third floor, we found ourselves walking into a pretty good-sized auditorium.  We arrived a few minutes late for service, but were there for most of the worship and sermon.  Overall, the service was much like a typical evangelical church service in America, not surprisingly since many of the people attending and serving were Americans!  In fact, the elder that gave the sermon that day was also from South Dakota...can you believe it?!?  There we also met people from Ireland, Australia, and a former CNN news correspondent returning from Afghanistan who ended up joining us for the rest of the afternoon.  

Beautiful decor, great food, all at a place called "Rake"!

We enjoyed a delicious lunch at a place called "грабли" (gra`-blay), which we came to find out means "rake" in English!  Interesting name...all I could figure is that it had something to do with being garden fresh food (which it was!), or maybe that it "raked" you in, or possibly they were hoping to "rake" in some cash (although it was quite a bit cheaper than the airport meal we had!).  It was very elegantly decorated, with one floor serving all kinds of different foods cafeteria-style, and two floors of dining above that.  It was an exercise in looking for what appeared "safe" for us, and then pointing and hoping the servers picked the right thing, as we couldn't read any of the signs, and none of the servers could speak English!

Typical building...outside

Not-so-typical...inside!

After lunch we walked towards the main attraction in Moscow, Red Square.  But along the way, we stopped by the apartment where Francis (our new friend, the former CNN correspondent) was staying.  That was very interesting to us too.  What appeared on the outside to be a very normal, simple-looking building, turned out to be very "not-normal" on the inside!  Her friend had bought the flat about 12 years ago for about $1 million.  Most likely, it was a few Soviet-era apartments that had been combined into one and beautifully remodeled.  I was a little surprised to notice that it wasn't the carefully crafted, everything-done-by-hand kind of remodeling job, but rather a recent, American-style remodeling job, complete with laminate flooring.  Don't get me wrong though, it was far and away the most lavishly decorated home we witnessed on our trip...

The north entrance into Red Square

The mall that forms one border of Red Square

Lenin's Tomb...the Kremlin in the background

Selling souvenirs in the rain outside Red Square

The rows of souvenir stands just outside the square, and the brightly-colored ice rink inside Red Square seemed to sharply contrast the seriousness of the place.

I guess that's one thing we noticed about the culture: you just don't see much public "goofing around" like you might here in the U.S.  Everyone seemed very busy, and always seemed to be moving with purpose.  Even in the downtime (on the metro, train, etc.) people seemed to dive right into reading on an e-reader or something.  However, I do recognize that my perspective on all this is probably limited.  We aren't familiar with big cities...maybe they are much the same in the U.S.?  We also didn't speak the language, so maybe they were joking and goofing around more than we thought, without us even knowing it!  After all, everyone likes to have fun, and people are the same all over the world, right?  

Since coming home, I've noticed more of that here too.  We all have our lives, our habits, our comfort zones, and different levels of willingness to be stretched out of that.


Lord please give us understanding of others, and help us to see them with Your eyes, rather than with our eyes which so often see nothing but differences and difficulties.  Your eyes always look upon all of us with love.

Moscow, Day 1

I suppose it's a given: if you are going to travel to Russia, you can't leave without seeing Moscow!  This city of somewhere between 11-15 million people is big, especially to us li'l ole Midwesterners!  We ventured into town on Sunday with Natasha as our guide.  Our plan was to attend church at International Christian Fellowship (ICF) because it was right near the center of the city, and they had service in English!  All the Calvary Chapels around Moscow have service in Russian only. We were already feeling the effects of not being able to understand or talk to others...the greatest cultural barrier (in my mind).

Train station at Snegiri

The journey began with a 25-minute walk to the train station from the dorm.  The train ride cost about $3.50 per person (100 rub) round-trip, and took about 35 minutes each way.  The trains weren't too full on Sunday (not so on other days!).  We also began to notice that Russians typically keep to themselves.  In fact, even eye contact with strangers was scarce, and if they were "caught" looking at the Americans, they quickly looked away. 

Lady shoveling snow at McDonalds

After exiting the train, we needed to make a quick bathroom break at the McDonalds.  It was the only place in the area with a free public restroom!  It also might have been the cleanest McDonalds I've ever been too!  It was snowing out, so there was a lady clearing the sidewalk outside, and a couple more mopping up after almost every customer would walk inside with dirty snow on their shoes!  

Into the Moscow metro

A little intimidating...

 

We backtracked a couple blocks and descended into the metro station.  The metro system in Moscow is amazing!  We aren't well traveled as far as larger cities around the world (or even the US for that matter), so we were pretty amazed at what we saw under the streets of Moscow.  There were giant escalators that seemed far steeper than normal, and it seemed as though they were carrying us five or six stories deeper underground.  

The longest escalator I ever saw...

Every station we saw had unique decor (different types of stone construction, different carvings in the walls, different layout and design). 

Ornate carvings inside the metro system

Everyone staring at nothing, reading or looking at smart phones on the metro

I'll post more about Moscow soon...

Apologies...

Dear Family,

I just wanted to apologize for the extended delay on updating the blog about the trip!  We had high hopes of updating as we went along, but it seemed internet access was always agonizingly slow or non-existent at the moments we had time.  As for the almost two weeks we've been home now, we don't have that excuse!  We still haven't finished sorting through the hundreds upon hundreds of pictures we took, and we still haven't sorted through all the things in our hearts and our brains in an effort to be able to relay the stories back to you!

I would ask for your prayers.  We've discovered it is a difficult thing returning from a trip like this, where we've learned so much, but yet know so little.  Of course we also recognize the flesh is weak and the enemy has been working hard at discouraging us from what the Lord wants for us.  Right now, I would just ask that you pray for us for strength through this time...the time of waiting and working towards next steps. 

I hope to post more about the trip soon...very soon!

Thanks for caring and thanks for praying.

We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.  --1 Thes 1:2

Snegiri

As you might have guessed, and as we should have known, the trip so far has been a whirlwind!  Our time seems to fly by, and each day we thought we would have plenty of time to pause, reflect, and write, always seems to be over before we know it.  Overall, we have been very well.  We are beginning to be able to read the words (some of them), pick sounds out of the spoken language (although not enough to do us any good yet!), and overall we have felt very welcomed and safe.  The Russian culture is definitely different: much more direct, no-nonsense, and possibly even impolite (from our American perspective). 

Our first walk to the grocery store

During our first visit to the grocery in the village where we stayed outside Moscow, a man actually took my shoulders and moved me to the side as we debated over what kind of milk (or rather, which bottle was actually milk) to buy!  He wasn’t rough or rude about it, but I think he just realized we were going to be a minute, and that I wouldn’t understand anyway if he had asked me to move.  

The market...not quite a Hy-Vee!

In and around Moscow, everyone is definitely in a hurry.  I don’t think you can get away from that in any culture when you put 15 million people together!  We definitely aren't used to that, being from South Dakota.  In fact, when we tell people here the size of our city, and that our whole state only has 800,000 people, it kind of blows their mind!  Even with all the hustle and bustle (we'll tell more about Moscow next post), we have been well taken care of every step of the way.  God is good.  We are so thankful for the Body of Christ…all over the world!

The "Boys' Dorm"

Top floor - "The Office"

The CCCPM dorm is pretty cool...it was actually built as a hotel in this little village outside Moscow, back when it was illegal to build a large house.  You can see that many of the houses in the village started out as very small, but have since been added to, many of them multiple times!  Like I said earlier, the people are very no-nonsense, and the buildings show it.  Whatever works is what they do.  

The village from the top floor of the dorm

Train station at Snegiri

There's an electric train that runs from the village every 45 minutes or so, that costs about $3.50 per person, but it will take you into the city pretty quickly compared to driving.  I guess the dorm is about a 20-minute walk from the train station (and the grocery store), and that is about as inconvenient as you can get around here.  Apparently many of the people in the village now are weekenders that want to get out of the city regularly, so most of them can afford cars.  Still, there always seem to be people walking on the roads, carrying groceries or walking dogs.  We have walked more in the few days here than we probably did in the last couple months back home!  It's been good though, and I think our bodies are taking it pretty well. Not too sore of feet, not too much pain, not too bad for lazy Americans!

Crystal cooking in the dorm kitchen

She made me a birthday cake from scratch!  It was great...

Village house on the way to the market

Car buried in snow...old water tower in the background

Arrival

Now that we finally have a moment to stop and think, we'll back up a few days and try to fill you in on the journey so far...starting with the beginning of course!

Domodedovo Airport, Moscow, Russia

The flights over were rather uneventful.  Arriving in Moscow proved to be quite interesting however.  We immediately felt lost as we were unable to read a single sign in the Moscow airport, Domodedovo (DME). 

More of DME

Due to a good tailwind, we arrived almost an hour early, which immediately caused us to wonder if our contact here would be there yet.  After following the crowds to the baggage claim and then through customs, which really went quite smoothly, we found ourselves standing among a crowd in Russia looking for a tall, young man named Anton.  Trouble was, everyone was tall, most of them were young men, and I suspect several of them were named Anton!  We just camped out off to the side of the crowds, pulled out the laptop and went to the CCCPM website, and looked for a picture of Anton (just to be sure we didn’t get in a vehicle with the wrong Anton!).  Almost as soon as we found his picture, he came walking right by us! 

Does this (x5) look like a $60 lunch?

After exchanging some money, spending almost $60 on lunch at the airport (yikes!), we, well actually Anton, found our taxi driver outside and began the almost two hour drive towards the village of Snegiri (which is named for the beautiful little birds that live there).  The DME airport is on the southeast edge of Moscow, and Snegiri is on the northwest outskirts, in case you were wondering about the two hour drive.

The drive was long, and we pretty much sat in the back of the "marshrutka" and tried to stay awake!  Anton isn't real confident with his English, and he and the driver appeared to be good friends. We've definitely noticed that not many people here speak English at all, and even many of those that do have some difficulty with it. 

Seems like they use tractors alot for snow removal, and drive them down the freeway!

Somewhere along the drive, we noticed it was snowing, and it seems to have snowed some just about every day since we have been here.  I'll close out for now with some more pictures of the scenery along the way...

A Tale of Three Cities

Please be in prayer specifically for these three cities as we journey across Russia for the first time (see the map below for a visual reference):

• Moscow - Capital and largest city (11.5 million people)
• Novosibirsk - Largest city in Siberia (1.5 million people)
• Irkutsk - Siberian city near Lake Baikal (600,000 people)

Pray the Lord would set up divine appointments...things only He can do, and that we would be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit (so as not to miss any of these appointments!).  Pray He would show us and teach us much about the people and this country.  Pray He would give us safe travel and favor with the government and officials in each place.  Here's the map showing our plane and train routes across this vast country:

We will attempt to keep you posted as we journey, and look forward to see what the Lord will do through your prayers.  Thank you all for praying.

Getting Close

It seems every time I write a title, I think of another meaning to the words!  When I typed "Getting Close" above, of course I meant that we are getting close to our departure date.  When I started to type though, another meaning popped into my head: getting close to the Lord.  We are at the end of the preparation time for this trip, and honestly, I don't feel very prepared!  I only know a few words in Russian, we don't have a very solid itinerary of activities, and I know I need to pray more.  Work has been as busy as ever (go figure!), there have been some cool things happening with the children's ministry at church, and there is always a list of things to do around here (and even some projects elsewhere).  

Basically, I've not been able to focus on this trip as much as I would have liked.  But you know what?  That's the story of my life.  I know I need to learn to say no more often, let some things go, and spend more "Mary" time at the feet of Jesus.  I had a wonderful conversation with a brother at the church last week, where he said something that struck me: "We all seem to be able to handle different levels of 'busyness'."  My life is busy, and this next little while will be no exception as we finish preparing for this trip.  However, I think the Lord created me this way, and even if I find myself down a side road He didn't necessarily intend, He always is willing to take me back as I turn around.  

In the midst of work this morning, I paused for a moment because I realized there was a number that kept popping up lately: 360.  I asked the Lord what it meant, and He led me to Hebrews 10:36 (36 x 10 = 360...I know, I'm a geek). I shared this with my wife, and she thought it meant that we are just going in circles! :)

For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: "For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him." --Hebrews 10:36-38

For yet a little while...  Lord us help us remember that all of this life is very temporary, and of all we do, only what's done for You will remain.  Help us to draw close, and stay close to You.

Things to Fall Back On

Walking with the Lord is hard.  When we purpose in our hearts to be obedient to the Lord, exactly where we are, doing what we do, there will be trouble.  I am fully convinced that if we take it to the next step, where we change what we are doing to allow more of the Lord in our lives, or serve Him in a greater capacity, there will be more trouble.  I am also fully convinced that if we endeavor to do all of that in a place we do not know, a place or situation that is unfamiliar to us, there will be even more trouble.  I am learning this: that each step that requires greater faith, will be met with even greater resistance.  Sometimes the resistance comes from within, as the result of my own flesh, and other times it comes from outside.  When I am blinded by the flash-bang grenades of the resistance (in whatever form), I need to have things to fall back on.  I need to be able to just close my eyes and say, "Lord, I know You are right here with me...and I trust You." 

So this morning, when I awoke, discouraged and doubting yet again, I needed to do just that.  The Lord met me in that place, and told me to read Jeremiah 31-33.  Most mornings I barely get through a chapter, but today I had to read three.  I know these chapters are speaking to Israel, but as gentile believers, we are grafted in, and therefore heirs of the promises.  For that I am thankful.  Here are a few of the words that spoke to me this morning:

Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. --Jer. 31:3

Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.' For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he. --Jer. 31:10-11

Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all. --Jer. 31:12

Thus says the LORD: "Refrain your voice from weeping, And your eyes from tears; For your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD, And they shall come back from the land of the enemy. --Jer. 31:16

For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. --Jer. 31:25

No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. --Jer. 31:34

Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.  --Jer. 32:8

Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You. --Jer. 32:17

You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. --Jer. 32:19

Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me? --Jer. 32:27

They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. --Jer. 32:38-39

For thus says the LORD: "Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them." --Jer. 32:42

 And I could go on and on...there's so much more, but that's enough for today.  I'll need more encouragement tomorrow too!

Visas...and the Plan

Monday we received our visas in the mail!  It's a very strange thing to have them in our hands...an invitation to come to another country half way around the world.  To us, it's permission to come and share the good news of Jesus Christ with people we've never met and will probably barely be able to communicate with! 

Yesterday we bought our plane tickets!  Now it's all there...dates are fixed and it's real!  Here's the plan:

We fly into Moscow, where we will be picked up by someone from CCCPM. We will stay with them (they have a lodge that can house large groups of missionaries) for four nights.  We then board a plane for Novosibirsk (the largest city in Siberia at 1.5 million people!).  There we will be picked up by Bill Shepherd, pastor of Calvary Chapel Novosibirsk.  We'll be staying at a hostel in Novosibirsk for two nights.  Then we'll board the Trans-Siberian Railroad with Pastor Bill (thankfully!), and begin a 30-hour train ride to another city further east in Siberia called Irkutsk (which is about 500,000 people!).  We'll stay four nights in a hostel there before boarding the train again for the return to Novosibirsk.  After two final nights in Novosibirsk, we fly back to Moscow for two more nights with CCCPM before boarding a plane for home.

Like I said earlier, it may be tough to communicate, but thankfully even that barrier can be overcome.  Regarding the brethren that we will meet (and hopefully encourage!):

Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God. --Romans 15:5-7

Whoever we may meet, even if we cannot understand them, let us remember this:

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. --1 John 3:18

Please pray for us! 

Please Pray!

Praise the Lord!  Our visas have been approved, and are ready for pickup!  Thanks so much to our dear brother Tracy, for all the prayers, advice, and for helping out with the visas!


The final, biggest step is the plane tickets to get us to Moscow!  As of right now, that's the last major obstacle, and I know it is a small thing to the Lord.  Please pray that He would provide and make it clear when we are to buy the tickets: time is getting short!


Also, please pray for protection for my family.  We have all been getting hit pretty hard lately.  My son is in a cast with a broken right wrist (and yes, he is right-handed).  We found out yesterday he actually broke two bones instead of just one, and now may still be in a cast during our trip!  I have a bad knee from a fall a couple weeks ago, and I just learned I most likely won't be able to get an appointment with an orthopedic doc until after the trip (unless I want to pay extra money to go elsewhere).  There's more, both physical and spiritual things, but I'll spare you all the details...  Just suffice it to say, I'm pretty sure that our adversary does not want us to take this trip to Russia...


God is always faithful, however, and I need to give Him praise for what He is doing in our body here in Sioux Falls!  Every time we gather, we are encouraged by our brothers and sisters in the Lord.  We are praying, and seeing that He is doing a new thing here, stirring the hearts of His people to fulfill the Great Commission, both here in South Dakota and around the world.  Pray that many would be willing to go and make disciples, whether that means go down the hall to a children's classroom, next door to a neighbor, to another city, or somewhere on the other side of the world.

We recently received some encouragement from another new friend, Mary, who has spent some time in Russia: "Just take it one step at a time, keep flexible, and watch for what the Lord does with things you can't expect or prepare for."  Good advice for anyone endeavoring to walk by faith, not by sight! (See 2Cor. 5:7)  Please pray we will have the faith to do just that.  She also encouraged us with this:

"Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass."  --Psalm 37:5

So Far... (Part 2)

Another aspect of the journey of a lifetime is always, "what has happened so far."  We seldom can see or know what is really going on in the middle of the journey, but we can always trust the Lord no matter what is going on.  I've been reading through the book of Ezra lately, and there is so much there in relation to a journey...it's amazing, the Lord's timing!

So far, we have heard the Lord speak to each of our hearts about this place that had been in our hearts for years.  He began to bring things to the surface for each of us in His way...through His word, through teachings, through worship songs, through other believers.

One of the first things I noticed in the book of Ezra, is that as the Lord leads, He always makes a way.  In chapter one, Ezra records the historical return of the remnant to Israel from the Babylonian captivity.  Those who had it on their heart to go, went.  Those who didn't, sent them.  

In the succeeding chapters, we learn that one king supports the work, local enemies try to halt the work, and they manage to convince another king to try to halt the work. Ultimately, we discover (again) that God's word is true: 

The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. --Proverbs 21:1 

If God wants something to happen, it will, no matter how difficult or impossible it may seem!  We just need to walk in faith, trusting Him.  So far, He has not let us down...nor will He ever. 

If You Say Go...

Keith and I and others having been praying for the Lord to "Go" before us... He is faithful to answer prayer (John 14:13). As we pour our hearts out to Him, He will give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4). My devotion today was so sweet! My hopes and fears, doubt and assurance of salvation all on one page. I praise the Lord for the saints that have gone before me, who have sought the Lord and shared with me the comfort they have been comforted with (2 Cor 1:4).

Please keep our family in your prayers as the Lord goes before...

When He has brought out all His own, He goes on ahead of them. (John 10:4)


This is intensely difficult work for Him and us--it is difficult for us to go, but equally difficult for Him to cause us pain. Yet it must be done. It would not be in our best interest to always remain in one happy and comfortable location. Therefore He moves us forward. The shepherd leaves the fold so the sheep will move on to the vitalizing mountain slopes. In the same way laborers must be driven out into the harvest, or else the golden grain would spoil. 


But take heart! It could never be better to stay once he determines otherwise; if the loving hand of our Lord moves us forward, it must be best. Forward, in His name, to green pastures, quiet waters, and mountian heights! (See Ps. 23:2.) "He goes on ahead of [us]." So whatever awaits us is encountered first by Him, and the eye of faith can always discern His majestic presence out in front. When His presence cannot be seen, it is dangerous to move ahead. Comfort your heart with the fact that the Savior has Himself experienced all the trials He asks you to endure; He would not ask you to pass through them unless He was sure that the paths were not to difficult or strenuous for you.


This is the blessed life--not anxious to see far down the road nor overly concerned about the next step, not eager to choose the path nor weighted down with the heavy responsibilities of the future, but quietly following the Shephered, one steep at a time.

Dark is the sky! and veiled the unknown morrow!
   Dark is life's way, for night is not yet o'er;
The longed-for glimpse I may not meanwhile borrow;
   But, this I know and trust, HE GOES BEFORE.


Dangers are near! and fears my mind are shaking;
   Heart seems to dread what life may hold in store;
But I am His--He knows the way I'm taking,
   More blessed even still--HE GOES BEFORE.


Doubts cast their weird, unwelcome shadows o're me,
   Doubts that life's best--life's choicest things are o'er;
What but His word can strengthen, can restore me,
   In this blest fact; that still HE GOES BEFORE.


HE GOES BEFORE! Be this my consolation!
   He goes before! On this my heart would dwell!
He goes before! This guarantees salvation!
   HE GOES BEFORE! And therefor all is well
                                                      J. Danson Smith

The oriental shepherd ahead of his sheep.  He was always in front. Any attack upon the sheep had to take him into account first.  Now God is out in front. He is in our tomorrows, and it is tomorrow that fills people with fear.  Yet God is already there. All the tomorrows of our life have to pass through Him before they can get to us.   F. B. Meyer

Taken from Streams in the Desert, January 14, by L. B. Cowman (Updated by Jim Reimann).

So Far...

I started to write this thinking that I would post some of the things that have happened "so far" on this journey. Then I realized I had also been thinking in some other terms of "so far" as of late.

Here's a map of Russia:


Never before have we been "so far" from our home, here in the middle of America. When we reach Moscow, we will tie our record of when we went to Israel in 2009. As soon as we board the plane for Novosibirsk, we'll be heading further than we've ever been from home.

When we arrive in Novosibirsk, we will be "so far" from home, that when our bodies will think it's lunch time (about 11:00am for me!), it will actually be midnight! Thirteen time zones separate us!

When we board the train heading further into Siberia to Irkutsk, we will be "so far" from the US Embassy (our security blanket as Americans abroad), that if there were trouble, it would be a five-day journey by train to reach the embassy!

Despite all this, we fully realize that the Lord has never before called us "so far" beyond ourselves. He sees beyond the cultural differences of a place "so far" from normal to us...and knows His purposes for this trip. I guess the main purpose is becoming pretty clear to me now: to share His great love and grace, which I know is "so far" beyond my comprehension, with people we've never met.

So why are we willing to go "so far" in obedience to a call we can't hear with our ears, by a God we can't see with our eyes? We know He has spoken these things to us, and because, like David, we recognize how gracious the Lord has been to us. "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." --Psalm 103:12

One Day at a Time...

The Lord was very clear as we began to understand this calling, saying, "Just take things one day at a time. Do what I have set before you today." Well, as hard as that is when there are big things on the horizon, we've been trying to do that. Some steps have been taken, and we are now vested in this adventure:

• Plane tickets to get us from Moscow to Novosibirsk have been purchased
• Funds have been sent and now visa invitations have arrived from Russia!

There are still many things to do, many things to learn, much money needed, and not nearly enough time to be able to get it all done. It will have to be the Lord, but we know He is faithful!