30 June 2016

sifting again

two years ago
we were sifting, sorting
tossing and donating 
pieces of our North American lives
preparing for our African journey
boxes of what we wanted to keep
stacked neatly in a basement room
of our once forever home

there is only one
forever
and it is not now
and it is not here

this house will be marketed
sold and left behind
as we return again
to Africa

today, the things
in those "save" boxes
are being sifted, sorted
tossed and donated
tears falling
as more pieces of our old lives
are stripped away

I stand here bare
trembling
as I wait for new skin

But forget all that—
    it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.
 For I am about to do something new.
    See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
    I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
 

14 June 2016

Yes - going back

I wish we had time to sit down face to face, to be better able to share our hearts for the people of Zambia and the work you are enabling us to do through your partnership.

I would show you pictures of maize grown using methods taught in Foundations for Farming that surpassed any natural expectation and how teaching those methods can transform lives and communities.

I would share the story of Lisa, a fifty year old widow in Makalulu, the largest slum compound of Zambia.  Community volunteers shared the good news of Christ while tending to her physical, emotional and spiritual needs.  Though her body was ravaged by HIV/AIDS when we visited, the joy of the Lord filled her tiny living space.

Not long after our visit, Lisa went home to meet Jesus. Saddened that we could no longer spend time with her we still rejoiced in her homecoming, a victory that would not have been possible without community outreach.

If we were sitting sharing a cup of coffee or tea you would be able to see the passion in our eyes and hear it in voices that don’t quite translate to paper. We know we have been chosen and we are returning to Zambia to continue the work we have been called to. The needs are enormous and our hands are small, but we serve a mighty God who can work wonders through our limitations.

We would love to have you standing with us again through this next leg of the journey as we are entering into exciting, busy and challenging times.

Our current needs include not only our personal support but funding of the Foundations for Farming ministry that Rick is establishing.  If you have any questions, please ask. We love talking about what God is doing.

More importantly, would you continue to pray with and for us?  It is the prayers of God’s people that make all things possible.



 

12 June 2016

no words

I have not words
but perhaps
there have already been 
too many spoken
or typed
sent flying 
via anti-social media

this may well be
a time for the silence
of mourning and regret

or the wailing lament
that goes beyond words
a weeping song
that only the Spirit knows

So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance. Romans 8:26 Amplified

 

08 June 2016

home where?

last night
as we drove 
towards our home
that isn't
home
but for a little while
a reminder of glory
filled the skies
as if He said
home here
home there
home only where I Am
and something settled
deep
new layers of
letting go

Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
    and their words to all the world.
God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.