Spare Change

Its hard to believe, but just one month ago today I was stepping off a plane in San Pedro Sula eager and ready to see how the Lord was going to work in and through my life and our group.  The month since my return has literally flown by and life has seemed to be non-stop.  I have entered back into a daily routine of work, tackled soccer, and completed many of the home improvement projects that remained at Pradero.  I may have entered back into “reality” so to speak, but I must say that LIFE looks really different at this point.

Life is changing and Tara and I are very excited about some of the opportunities he is opening up for our family.  The one thing we both have felt very convicted about is leading our children to be mission-minded.  We want Colby and Kallee to grow up thinking about serving rather than being served.  It is something that I feel is becoming that much harder as a parent in today’s world.  We as a nation have been very self-centered and God has outlined many areas where our family had become effected as well.  Going to Honduras, studying God Word, and praying for direction has effectively blown many of our plans in the air, but as the dust has settled we have began to see doors open and a new, more exciting path revel itself.

It is a path that is going to be purposely connected to serving locally, within the US, and even further abroad.  As I have read and mediated on God’s word, he has continued to impress two simple and often quoted scriptures:

⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  
                                                            Acts 1:8

¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”   
                                                           Matthew 28:19-20

Act 1:8 and Matthew 28:19-20 give us clear and simple steps to living out a life that is focused on being on mission.  As I have prayed for God to give me guidance on leading my family, He has just circled me back to these simple scriptures.

So we have taken some of the necessary steps.  The first step, which was only followed through God’s grace and provision for our lives, was our housing situation.  The next step was our obedience in Colby’s school decision.  And now our family has began the initial process of trying to identify and connect with two organizations that we are hoping to serve in a more purposeful way.  The idea, in a simplistic way, is that we will serve locally in the state of Kentucky, regionally in the United States, and then abroad. 

Our mission will be daily, monthly and annually.  Daily we will prayer specifically for each ministry, the people involved, and the areas they are serving.  Monthly, we will support each financially in some manner by giving back some of the finances that the Lord has blessed us with.  And then on an annual basis, our family is going to commit to physically serving.  On a local level, serving may be through the church, a local soup kitchen, or retirement home.  Moving outside the locally perspective, it is our hope that as a family we will have the opportunity to serve right next to the families or organizations we have partnered with.  This might mean we drop a vacation here and there to head out of the country or take a extended weekend to head out west, but the image of my entire family serving together is one that God has clearly delivered to me.  Colby and Kallee will only learn to serve first if that become the mission of our family.  It will start in Frankfort, but it has to reach much further.  They will have to reach further.

So that is my weekly ramble.  I am really excited about what is happening and I can’t wait to give more details of the people and places we hope to be connecting with.  Once God has connected all the dots and tied up all the loose ends, we will be sharing more.  We would love for you to follow us on the journey.  As we learned at Hope this summer, it is going to be an Unforgettable one!

God Bless!  Bo