On the Diving Board

“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 creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ro 8:38-39 AV)

We are approaching our full time deputation rapidly. The church has called a man to candidate. If he becomes the new pastor the date we start full time deputation will be set and we will be ready to leap into that great adventure, virtually without economic support.

I have likened it to the common illustration of jumping into the deep end, sink or swim. Recently however, I have realized that my real fear is not deep water. My real fear is that there will not be enough water to swim in! I now realize we are walking down a diving board preparing for a beautiful swan dive, head first into a pool of unmarked depth. A deep pool with lots of opportunities that I must only follow the Lord's leading to organize effectively is no threat. A shallow pool without enough opportunities to keep us busy is my nightmare.

We appreciate all those who pray for us, and those who have made financial contributions. We look at these as the Lord's earnest of His opportunities for us. We are walking down the diving board and soon will commit ourself to the tender mercies of Christ, whatever the depth of the water.

Things I Appreciate about IPM

We have just returned from almost a week of meetings in Pennsylvania at the IPM headquarters. During that time, we had two department meetings, two days of symposium, and one meeting of a more personal nature. I came away very glad to be a part of IPM and wanted to share with you some of the reasons why I feel that way.

Partnership: I love the fact that IPM’s middle name is partnership. As I have come to know some of the national missionaries with whom IPM works around the world, I have been impressed with the quality and godliness of these men and women. I am happy to partner with them and happy too, to work under them. I welcome their leadership and admire what God is doing in and through them.

Prayer: Whenever we gather, there is an emphasis on prayer and the realization that nothing we do will matter unless God works. As we embark on this new adventure, I am so glad to be part of a group that loves to pray.

Optimism: There are always negative things going on in our world, but the atmosphere at IPM is usually optimistic because we serve a powerful God. There is never any doubt that God is still is control and that He is very good.

Camaraderie: I do not feel the division that I feel in some organizations. The office staff, the national missionaries, the US missionaries, the representatives, and the board are all working together. We have our individual roles, but we are all part of the team. I love being part of this team.

Willingness to change: It’s easy to get stuck in a rut and to do things because we’ve always done them a certain way. How thankful I am that IPM is willing to respond when God leads in a new direction.

There are other things, but these are the main ones. So thank you, Lord, for IPM.

Packing for the Exodus

"And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders." (Ex 12:33-34 AV)

When they departed for the Exodus and their extended sojourn in the desert the people of Israel were in a hurry and had little time or room to pack the material goods of their lives in Egypt. While we have had lots of time, we will have little room for the material things of the next phase of our sojourn. I realize one Subaru Outback wagon load would have been a vast treasure to an Isrealite household, but by the standards of America in the 21^st century it is small indeed.

The process of our packing started with a yard sale. Last summer we sold much of what we felt we would not need. Then, when our home sold in the winter, we sold or disposed of everything we did not have immediate use for or did not want to store. We now have 300 square feet of rented storage space, and that is with the vast majority of our furniture, almost all our tools and many of my "man toys" sold!

Now the truly hard part comes: What do we pack for deputation? For six months we have been thinking of what clothes to pack, what will our display be like, what storage items will we need for brochures and prayer cards. We have a basic policy - any new purchase must be accompanied by giving something away, unless it is a necessary addition to the deputation kit.

The Lord has allowed us the opportunity to do some part time deputation meetings so we will be able to trial run our presentation and display materials. That will be a great blessing. The day will soon come when we will move from our 400 square foot studio apartment into the Subaru. The few items we removed from storage will go back. The clothes we do not need will be added to the storage locker and we will drive off into our desert wandering.

We have the blessing of a fixed goal for our journey, full time ministry with IPM, which in itself will be a series of sojourns although with the luxury of a home base. We also have the blessing of the same God Israel had in the desert. This is the God who provided manna, the God who prevented their shoes or clothes from wearing out. This is the God who protected them from Pharaoh and his army. While I do not expect Him to feed us with manna or prevent our car from running out of gas or our tires from wearing out, I do expect Him to provide for our needs because He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses and Joshua, and through the Exodus journey He demonstrated Himself to be the God that provides.

--posted by Charlie