GOD PROVIDES & TRUSTING IN HIM TO DO IT AGAIN!

Jaci and I are coming off of 2 tough weeks of Kids Avenue. I have been sick for the last 2 weeks with a terrible cough and congestion that I can't seem to get rid of. The last 2 weekends in Kids Avenue have been, to say the least, trying.

Satan has been throwing every attack that he can at the ministry in an attempt to thwart our children's spiritual development. Last weekend, it was exhausting both spiritually and physically. It took a huge toll on me and I found myself just hanging on.

This weekend the attacks were also relentless. The sound system didn't work. The itunes set up on the computer wasn't working. The DVDs for many of the large group songs were missing. During our 9 AM service 4 kids had to leave early due to illness, during the 11 2 kids did. It was crazy.

Did I mention that we are teaching about Determination this month? As I taught the kids the story on determination focusing on the Apostle Paul, I began to feel the Holy Spirit sharing with me that this was what was being manifested in our ministry over the last 2 weeks. I could just give up and go home, or I could, like Paul, say "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run#cr1 with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:2 NIV

If only we could all have the determination of Paul. After every beating, imprisonment, and shipwreck, he continued to get up and push on again to that prize of preaching the gospel to the world! That kind of determination could literally change not just our community, but the world itself!

Why is it that we so often wonder how we will get through something when we serve a God larger than all of our problems? Sometimes it takes looking at the largeness of God reflected through the eyes of our children to remind us how big God is. After all, we are all "children" of the Father.

So, we just continue to pray that God will provide for all of our needs. Our current prayer as a family is for our van. We really need to maintain 2 vehicles due to all of our church obligations and picking Noah up from Bethel Prep in the afternoons when I can't. Our van's transmission has been on the brink of breaking down for over a year now. We just can't afford to get it replaced. It also doesn't have heat or defrost, which we were able to ignore during the spring and summer, but with winter around the bend we are going to need it replaced.

So, once again we sit here as a family with a financial need that is insurmountable in our own ability. Please pray along with us that God will provide a way to fix our van so that we can still maintain all of our current obligations in serving Him at Kids Avenue in GCCC! I, for one, can't wait to see God move!