Second night in Cooperstown

It’s been a great Thursday.  Todd was back from his early morning appointment in Mohawk (New York) where a diagnosis was made on the air conditioner and the broken air circulating fan was fixed. The part for the air conditioner will not be in until 7 a.m. tomorrow morning, so Todd took the children out into the countryside amongst the Amish (a different group than those we normally work alongside), and one of the boys and I stayed behind for a quiet afternoon of computer work. Law study for our eldest son is demanding work usually done in the cramped quarters of a moving Suburban; this down day was a tremendous blessing to him as he has an appellate brief he is working hard to complete by late tomorrow.

In the evening, as dusk was settling, the owner of the campground offered the use of their bicycles to us free of charge. God is very good!  We had a wonderful time riding around this huge property.

As for the George Mueller Report, the $70 tire repair and the $200 diagnosis and fan repair bills today are all paid, as are all other bills due. We are resting in Isaiah 26:3 (Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee).  Thank-you for all your kind and continued support as our partners in this work.

Cooperstown, New York

We awoke at 6, broke camp at 7, and arrived at noon.  Todd went immediately to the closest town with the girls to find help for the failed air conditioner, and for the flat tire.  The boys and I stayed with the trailer to tidy, write, and study.  The wind is blowing hard, and I am grateful for the inclement weather; if the sun would shine warmer, I would want to be outside in this rare half day off, and the pile of correspondence I have been wanting to attend to would sit another day unfinished.

As for the George Mueller news, we are still going strong.  Our dedicated gas fund is at the 300 mark, and all our bills are paid. 

Leaving New England

We’ve had great meetings during this first week of transition.  On the boat over from the islands, we had the pleasure of spending time with a French couple from Cap-aux-Meules.  It has been our hope and prayer that Jean-Louis (the man of the family) would become an elder in the small church there.  This unexpected chunk of time on the boat to spend with him was a God-ordained meeting.

Friday, we gathered with other families for a Bible study in a home in Maine.  There was excellent teaching and great fellowship. As a result, the discussions around our dinner table have been especially rich in talking about God’s Word. I never imagined how wonderful life with teenagers would be!

Tomorrow will be our last day in New England, and we plan to spend the night in Brattleboro, Vermont.

As for the “George Mueller Report”, all bills are paid, and we are carefully driving our way through the generous gift of a thousand dollars in designated donations for gas costs.

 

The Comfort of Trusting God (Isaiah 26:3)

Two soulmates. Three young men. Two girls. Life as a close family out off the edge of the continent on a string of islands 80 miles out to sea from the nearest land. It is on these islands –les-Iles-de-la-Madeleine– that we minister through the cold barren windy season of Autumn, Winter, and Spring, and it is from these islands each summer that we take the long boat ride to the mainland for another season of circuit riding.

We are four years into this lifestyle, and with 7 moves in the last 3 years, we have the packing-of-the-boxes and the cleaning-of-the-rental-house down to a science. It is the hours of decision making that consume our mental energy. Weighing options, praying, sometimes fasting, eventually making decisions that will impact our every day ahead. No longer do we –the counselor and the teacher at the helm– make all the decisions; as those who embrace the intentional training of children around our own kitchen table, we now include the older children in the sometimes gut-wrenching search for God’s will. It is He who has sustained us thus far, and it is He who we actively claim as our leader and guide, the only One we desire to follow with this degree of passion. We are still learning to depend on Him for provision, protection and practical guidance.

Since the day we waved goodbye to our rural California home and set out with a half-ton suburban, a 25-foot trailer, and all the belongings that five eager children and two enthusiastic but serious parents could pack in to the nooks and crannies, we have been committed to living in the center of God’s will, despite all the testing, trying, pulling, squeezing, and patching up that have been part of the experience along the journey.

And so the hours talking over meals that extend well past the consumption of the food, the crunching of the numers, the leaning on God, is all part of a bigger education around our kitchen table. The children are growing spiritually through this process. We all are. We discuss the George Mueller approach, and how we will continue to forge ahead with a faith approach in the face of soaring gas prices and a fragile economy.

And we read. We read your letters, your blogs, your thoughts as fellow believers on this path. And we are strengthened…strengthened to follow God’s “serious call to a devoted and holy life.”

There is comfort in trusting God.