December 2010 Newsletter

Recently, Joshua asked what he had to do to hear God speak to him. It was one of those great parenting moments when we could see him really desiring to hear God’s voice for himself. We gave him some advice, but we know that the responsibility is ultimately his. This is where we have to relinquish control and let him discover God’s voice.

It’s hard sometimes because it requires complete dependence upon our Heavenly Father. It’s a facet of missions work that we love, but it’s also something with which we grapple. Sometimes we just want to rush in and convince others to do it our way. A couple of weeks ago when I (Kimberly) was visiting the red light district as the girls were waiting for customers at night, I just wanted to load them up in the van and get them off the streets. Or when I handed a young girl a pack of condoms out of the window as she was heading home with a male customer, I just wanted to scoop her up into the van. Fortunately, I was with a wise man who has been talking to girls on the streets for years, and he said his main objective for the night was to show the girls acceptance--not of their means of income but of who they are. Do we really depend on our Father for the rescues?

It’s hard sometimes because it requires complete trust in the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we want to dictate the timing of a good idea and not wait for God’s leading. Right after Kimberly visited the red light district with Brother Paul, I was wrestling with the fact that I had not yet been on the “street level”. I was so frustrated that I couldn’t concentrate on the work I needed to do with church mobilization. I had reached out to different people who minister on the street, but no one was returning my calls. Then out of the blue, Father Heinz called to say he would love to take us to visit the city dump. So Kimberly, the boys, and I visited a community that live in one of the four city dumps here in Cebu to assist in handing out medical supplies. Do we really trust in the Holy Spirit’s timing?

And it’s hard sometimes because it requires complete faith in the saving and transforming power of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we want to grace of God to be sprinkled on the world and poured out on the church when in truth the church is supposed to be the grace of God poured out generously on the world. I was able to visit a women’s prison the other week with brother Paul to facilitate a recovery group. As I sat in the meeting, I learned that most of the women there were not arrested for drug related charges but on counts of trafficking. I wrestled in my spirit as I had to consider the possibility that these women were prime candidates to receive the grace of forgiveness in Christ. Do we really believe that Jesus died for everybody?

It’s certainly hard to relinquish control, but as we do that, we are discovering God’s voice in a noisy world. We hear Him through conversations with girls on the street. We hear Him through the wisdom of His people who are lights in dark corners. We hear Him through the cries of a repentant sinner. We hear Him through the questions of a young man yearning to hear Him, too.

On a different note, what will Christmas look like in the Philippines? We’re not exactly sure. We’ll spend Christmas Eve with some IJM friends. And we may spend Christmas day with some missionary friends. We asked our boys what they would like to do, and Damascus wants “to give food to hungry people”, so we’re still prayerfully considering which neighborhood to visit. Concerned that our boys were yet again not getting a “traditional” Christmas, I asked them if they felt they were being cheated by not having a tree with presents under it. Joshua said he didn’t mind at all because those things are only temporary. When did our children become more mature than us? We want the traditions, but the boys are content just to be with people.

We really do thank our God upon every remembrance of you. We treasure your personal emails and your continued support. Have a marvelous Christmas season!