Thus Far

(Pictured: The Citadel, located near Cap-Haitian Haiti...a historic fortress that aided in Haiti holding one of the only victorious slave revolts in the history of the world in 1804.)
We are at such a place in our journey where we are daily overwhelmed with His faithfulness. The past years have held so much struggle and doubt and change, but He has continued to bless us...most with His saving grace, His patience, His unconditional love. 1 Samuel 7:12 found him feeling similarly: "Samuel took a stone and...named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the Lord helped us."
Thus far the Lord HAS helped us, and we are grateful for such a personal God.

The cry of our hearts:

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

deepening our roots

Since finishing language school and coming home to prepare for our move to Haiti in August, we are struck with the reality of how soon we are leaving! Last evening, we sat on the back porch of Stacey's Dad's house, enjoying dinner and the overwhelming beauty and peace that came with the quite back yard, soft chirping, fresh air, the sweet smell of grass newly cut. With ideas, thoughts, to-do's, dreams, and fears of the future swirling, we were blessed by 2 basic truths. One, that HE IS. He is the founder of this calling on our lives, and He is the perfector of our faith. He is the provider for our future and He is the God of the promises we stand upon. Second, we realize that this time, these next three months, has been set apart to deepen our roots. Yes, this is a time to deepen our family roots, the roots of our friendships. It is a time to deepen the roots of our marriage, of our values, of our dreams. But most of all, this is a time to deepen the roots of our individual walk with Him. Every moment, every opportunity, every move...provided as a time to deepen our roots with our God. How strongly we wish to know Him well! Prayers for us all today as we find ourselves standing in the midst of a day, a year, an age set apart for a deeper relationship with Him.

We crossed the border...

...and ran smack into spring! We have come through Delaware for an Ayars Family BBQ, had a wonderful service at Sharptown United Methodist in New Jersey, took Stacey's sister from Messiah College out for lunch, and are camping over at Grandma's house in Somerset, PA before heading for Columbus, OH in the morning.

The colors of spring painted against the palette of the browns and greys of our past 4 months are overwhelming! The best gift, however, was to worship in our own tongue this morning with our brothers and sisters at Sharptown. We were so hungry for sunshine, but absolutely famished for worship music and preaching, hymns, Scripture and prayer in our worship-tongue! We were well fed...It is good to be home!

au revoir

Praises for the friends He's brought into our lives...a gift that will keep on giving.

It must be time to go...

...because the snow is finally melting! This is our Wednesday lunch group, a fun part of our week these past months. Our biggest exam of the semester is over, and only 2 more to go. We are spending as much time as we can with friends, and the rest of the time studying, packing and cleaning for our departure Saturday morning.

This four months has been one of the most clear times where we have seen His faithfulness to us, and His faithfulness to the prayers of His children. He has blessed us with so many different relationships and so many different experiences that will play a key part in what kind of missionaries we are, what kind of people we become. There are a lot of difficult things about living in Christian community, but it has given us such an opportunity to be stretched, to learn from others, to watch, and to become. We have felt your prayers heavily...thank you.

by His grace

In preparing to go and teach the Bible in Haiti, I have been spending a considerable amount of time studying Scripture and ways to interpret it. One of the hermeneutical (big word!) tools that has proved to be most helpful is simply directing my attention to frequency. Put more plainly, I look for things that the Bible commits a lot of time and space to.

For example, of all the verses in the Gospel, how many verses does Jesus spend talking about forgiveness? A lot. On the flip side, in how many verses do we find Jesus defending creationism or debating predestination vs. foreknowledge? Not a lot. How many times in the four Gospels does Jesus use the “pulpit”, if you will, to share his political opinion of Caesar (the ruling political leader at the time)? Not a lot.

In saying that, let me ask, how much time does Jesus spend healing people in the Bible? TONS! Jesus is in the business of healing people. In light of Easter, just as it didn’t end with Jesus dead on the cross, it doesn’t end in the forgiveness of sins. As it ended with the healing and restoration of his body, it ends in the restoration and healing of the world. Grace, which allows for the forgiveness of sins, is the medicine by which we are healed.

Because he is risen, it is us to whom he says, “take up your mat and walk” and our sight he restores. We are the ones called out of the grave to live again. Our Jesus is still in the business of healing…if we commit our time and our space to his touch. --Matt

thoroughly persuaded...

Our friends threw us a lovely suprise good-bye party last night, and it has Matt and I quite sad today to be leaving some dear friendships. We have been truly blessed.
"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth."

no spring in sight...

The snow is falling again today, and we've given up hopes of seeing any grass in Canada (much less playing any volleyball!). We are trying to get ready for the round of tests in front of us...one tomorrow and then one every day next week! We prepare to move again...our last before Haiti!
Hosea 6:3 "Let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn, and the Will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth..."

the home stretch...

We are back in the classroom, willing ourselves to learn as much as possible in these LAST TWO WEEKS of language school. We are scheduled to move back to the States on the 21st, and are working to take full advantage of our remaining time here. While making friends and then leaving is a normal part of missionary life, it is something that Matt and I are truly struggling with. Pictured here are just two of the people that have been good friends this semester, Michelle (Alberta, Canada) and Andrea (Slovokia). Leaving the people we have shared this part of our lives with will be so difficult! Praise the Lord that He is our Constant...

First Words

The view from the kitchen window of Stacey's aunt and uncle's house in Maine. We had a lovely Easter!
Thinking about the meaning of Easter lately has me wondering what Jesus’ first words to his followers were after the resurrection. What were Jesus’ (God’s) first words to humanity following the event that redeemed the world? But before searching out an answer to that question, I wanted to first find out what God’s first words to humanity were following the event that ushered sin into creation: the Fall.
Immediately after the Fall in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve hid; naturally then, God’s first words to the newly fallen humanity were “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9). From this point until the resurrection, this question defines everything that happens in human history. It makes complete sense then when we discover in Matthew’s gospel that Jesus’ first words to his followers following his resurrection was “Greetings!” (Matt 28:9). The once lost humanity is now found thanks to the empty tomb.
Scripture records the story of God’s search for us, not our search for God. There is nothing left for us to do other than believe. So often we feel as if there is more to do in order get God’s attention and approval. We can to keep to the list of do’s and don’ts, we can stay incomparably busy for God in ministry, etc, but due to the empty tomb, we’ve already been found! Happy Easter to all! -Matt

this is TODAY.

It is April, and we are now completely burried in snow. Again! Sigh. We have resigned to waiting for Spring another 3 weeks for when we finish language school and head south. We had our last day of class today before our mini-Easter break. We have several things to look forward to this Easter. Stacey's reading partner and good friend has invited us to share Good Friday with her family in Victoriaville, Quebec. While Christine and her sister are the only family members (of 9) who speak English, it should be a fun night! Then we are spending Saturday and Sunday in Maine at Stacey's uncles home...it will be great to be in "a real house" for the holiday, and Matt is very excited about having lobster for Easter Sunday! This Easter in snow...next Easter in a place where no one has ever SEEN snow!

all I have

We are trying to be thankful for all of the mud, for the sake of some dear boys on campus who are just eating it up (literally).

As we begin to discuss our living conditions in Haiti and packing lists with the field, I (Stacey) am suprsied by how difficult it is for me to think about giving up so many of the luxuries we have. I have never been obsessed with having nice things, nor am I one to shop for name brand clothing or name brand, well, anything. But as the time grows close, I realize that "things" still matter to me far too much. How can I move to a new home with nothing but four suitcases? Can we be happy without ice cream, air conditioning, a TV...without a Wal-Mart, a microwave, a sofa, without a full-size bed? We are both reading the book, "No Guarantee but God", which details the life callings of four missionaries who founded OMS. And I am so humbled and so blessed as I read the testimony of E.A. Kilbourne, once a man asking himself these same questions as he headed for Japan.

He ended up exchanging all that he had for funds to support the sharing of the Bible with 60,000,000 people. When all his possessions were gone, "He took five dollars from his pocket--all the money that he had--and laid it on an open Bible, across the verse, 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.' In doing so he acted in consistency with a long-established life principle which held, 'I am God's, and every thing I have belongs to Him as well.'"

Oh, Lord...take it all, for all we have is a blessing from You and all we want is what You have for us...

"let the grateful heart sweep through the day, that it might recognize in every hour some sweet blessing."

Today we are so thankful for this experience in Canada (good and bad), for each other...for all of the everyday blessings we experience that are luxuries for so many others...pure water, email, wonderful families, His Word...