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posted by James on 01/14/08

Rob slams on the brakes shortly after exiting the highway. A car, facing us and in our turn lane, is sitting half on the road and half on the curb. Immediately, Rob turns on his flashers and calls for me to direct traffic behind us while he approaches the wrecked car to size up the situation. For the next 20 minutes or so, I stand in the spitting snow and freezing wind directing traffic until the police arrive and a friendly “neighbor” pull the car back on the road. We were minutes, if not seconds, away from potentially being involved in the accident.

It was the first day back in Chicago, and I am enthusiastically typing away on the computer to help Robert get caught up on things that had built up over Christmas break. Forgetting to save a document on a Mac computer isn’t a very good thing. For no reason at all the program quits, and because the automatic saving feature isn’t turned on, I loose well over an hour of work. It was an act of the will (and after a good pep talk from Robert) before I am able to rejoice in the Lord for all things. I now have a good testimony to give at the Mission tomorrow: destruction comes unexpectedly and salvation in Jesus Christ is as simple as “Command + S”.

I stand frozen in my tracks as a wary, nice sized doe crosses the forest path a few yards in front of me. The light, winter breeze complements the bubbling sounds coming from the steam in the valley below. Two more does and, finally, a hefty 8-point buck, make their way across the path. My camera, which a lens unfortunately too short to be of any use at the moment, is at my side. To be in this situation smack in the middle a huge city, is truly amazing; but thanks to the network of Forest Preserves in the Chicago suburbs, a circumstance like this is not as uncommon as you might think. When I followed God’s direction to come and work with IBLP, I surrendered all expectations to pursue my love for nature photography. Finding this out was an unexpected blessing.

What do these three stories have in common? For one thing, they are not all every-day occurrences (or, at least, not normally). But they have also proven to me the goodness of God and His complete ability to take care of the things I surrender to Him. God is in control. I surrendered my life to Christ and He has protected me and allowed me to live another day. I surrendered my right to get frustrated over a crashed computer, and God used that problem to creatively share the gospel with the lost. I surrendered my passion for photography, and God  has unexpectedly opened doors to allow me to keep pursuing it. God, in His great goodness and sovereignty, takes good care of what you give Him.

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posted by James on 01/7/08

For me, 2008 is going to be very different. In late November last year, I was invited to go and work at the IBLP Headquarters, the same place Robert has been for the past year. I was there most of December for sort of a trial period to see if this was something I really wanted to be part of for a full year. It was at this time that God made a verse pop out to me: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). In context with other things God had been doing in my life, I knew this was a rhema of God’s direction.

Not only will I be involved in the various ministries of the Institute, but I will be learning practical academic skills and gaining experience for the future. I will be working in the Graphic Arts Department doing design, layout, typesetting and picture taking for the never-ending outflow of various publications. To begin with, I’ll be learning the ins and outs of Mac computers, Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark and all kinds of useful software.

I would appreciate your prayers. God is all-powerful and He is the One who orchestrates time, projects, and people to make things go efficiently, quickly, or sluggishly. I hope to periodically post updates on how God works in the months ahead.

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posted by Esther on 01/5/08

I am so grateful for all of you, friends and relatives, who have held me up in prayer during the past semester while I was teaching Character in several elementry schools. You are such a blessing and huge part of the ministry! Like the spring semester (Part 1), Jennifer Wilkes, journaled her prayers for me. As I compared our journals I saw first hand how God directly answered them. What a powerful testimony to you all that your prayers are making a difference! May this post be an inspiration to continue. I returned on January 4 and will begin teaching on the 14th.

On 9/10/07 Jennifers journal entry recorded that she had prayed for a deepening of my standards and conviction during my time of ministry. Little did she know that one of the assignments during my training would be to write a paper on 10 convictions that I have and why!

10/11/07 Jennifer’s journal: “Help us to look up and remember you are right here.” My journal entry 10/11/07 read “The Lord blessed me with His peace today and the awareness of His presence.”

10/23/07 Jennifer’s journal: “Give Esther eyes to see what the root problem is with those certain children she is working with. Give her words to say what will reach a heart.” That week I wrote: “Wow. God has really blessed me with a sense of urgency and an important message to communicate this week. We have discussed how to get along with siblings, how to respond to difficult situations, how good can come out of bad, how to accept yourself… We talked about how wrong suicide is.”

These are just a few of the direct answers God gave in answer to specific requests. Thank you all for keeping me in your prayers and for asking God to send labourers into the fields white unto harvest!

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posted by James on 01/3/08

Today is an important day in American history. The Iowa caucus, the first in the nation, will be held tonight. The presidential hopeful who wins the “Hawkeye state” usually receives a tremendous boost in popularity and momentum.

We must get on our knees in full surrender to Christ and ask God for His mercy and His blessing on the decisions being made today. Because fasting is closely associated with prayer, we chose yesterday morning as a day of prayer and fasting for this event. Today, or tonight, is not too late.

Our family has decided to support Huckabee because of his stand on protecting human life, toughening up security on the border, supporting Israel, being supportive of home schooling, emphasizing character and control government spending. We are praying that:

• As he pursues truth, he would find favor in the sight of God and man (Proverbs 3:3-4)
• He would have strength in a full day of campaigning (Psalm 86:16)
• As he loves Jehovah, he would rise as the sun shining in it’s strength (Judges 5:31)
• The election process at the polls would be carried out in honesty
  (I Timothy 2:1-2)
• Ultimately, God’s will would be done (Luke 11:2)

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posted by Esther on 01/2/08

We went ice-skating to celebrate this joyous occasion! Little did we know the greater purpose God had behind our excursion. What fun to be back on the ice! As we took a break waiting for the ice machine to smooth the ice, Robert sat next to a couple young men. He hesitated to start a conversation because he was not feeling very outgoing at the moment. Much to his surprise, one of the boys asked him “What’s your name?” Sensing the Lord’s leading, Robert moved the conversation from casual topics to spiritual matters. He was soon  presenting the gospel. Be fore he had time to finish, the rink re-opened and everyone started crowding onto the ice. Surprisingly, the young men were so interested they didn’t make any move to go back on the ice! The rest of us noticed what was going on and started praying for them, and before long, both young men had prayed to receive Christ. They soon joined us for a fun game of Bible runners on the ice.

Let us take advantage of normal opportunities. God very well  might turn them into supernatural ones!

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