| We now return to your regularly-scheduled prayer bulletin... Well, maybe not. Life has become anything but regular or scheduled. As I told many people soon after receiving our 10-year, full-working-rights residence permits, "The 'summit' to which we were climbing in our prayers for 10 years, once attained, immediately transformed itself into a foundation under our feet and our life into a construction site!" Upon this foundation we believe that God would have many new things built. Huge opportunities are exciting but feel fairly destabilizing at the same time. We're of the impression that huge opportunities is a situation that doesn't simply apply to us as a family, but we seem to be seeing some of the same things with others around us and in the lives of different people with whom we're in contact around the world. So, here are some huge "prayer opportunities". |
- Learning your mother tongue all over again - I'm not the only one that can profit from our new residence permits - Angela can too and has already completed 1/2 of a certification to teach English as a second language. She has had adults ask if she could teach them English, but felt completely unqualified in this area, until now. It would be a great way to make closer friends, as well as some spending money. Please pray that God would direct Angela as this opportunity unfolds.
- That is so "high school!" - One of the huge opportunities that we see in our circle here is the project to start a Christian high school...hopefully by September. Just so that you understand, this would be only the 2nd Christian high school in all of France, a country which is dedicated to a secular society and whose educational system is controlled at a national level. While not a huge "player" in this drama, I am involved in the planning meetings, and as external partnership and international connections are both areas of emphasis that are desired in the new high school, I am involved in certain specific ways. Please pray for direction, discernment, faith, courage and connections for this tiny band of planners as we move towards this very important goal.
- Business Administration...French style - I've submitted French tax returns for several years now, but they've been fairly cursory affairs due to the unique nature of our financial support. We've also braved French bureaucracy trying to find answers to our immigration complications, but it was really God's intervention that finally broke through. Getting my own business to be official is different, however. I've taken the swan dive into the deep mud of French small business bureaucracy! I'm actually making progress, but it's slow and arduous swimming. Unfortunately, ignorance and inexperience are not good excuses for mistakes either. So I would very much appreciate your prayers for grace to master the very necessary administrative details of starting our small business. Additionally, my clientele is taking shape, but I see it evolving for a while still, to where what I do and with whom becomes more of a steady thing. Please pray for discernment as to what work I take and how business relationships unfold.
- Making beautiful Swiss music - Next week a church in Neuchatel, Switzerland will be holding their annual church retreat quite near us. This church and ours have developed a wonderful relationship, and as such, having them in our "backyard" for a week gives us great opportunities to serve them. Several from our church, me included, will be helping them out during worship and with translation duties, etc. Please pray for the extra energy to add these meetings into our week and to strengthen this relationship between different churches, that the world may know that we follow Christ by our love for one another.
- Over the river and through the woods - Speaking of Switzerland, we just got back today from a day in their capital of Bern. We went ostensibly to launch the renewal of our passports. Angela and I can do ours by mail, but our kids must do theirs in person with both of us present too. We know we can do it in far-away Paris (with very restricted hours on limited days), but in our research, we believed that we could do it in Bern as well. Well it turned out that we couldn't and only found that out the very frustrating way of driving two hours there to be told that. So, we're back to the drawing board at the moment and probably need to get this sorted next week (see previous prayer point) as Noah is home for spring break. In addition to the cost of the passports, this is an expensive and stressful activity to cart the family to some far away big city for the administrative formalities. After the let-down of today, we would appreciate your prayers for how best to get this accomplished and for discernment as to what God may be wanting us to pay attention to here.
- Bi-lingual Building - Another challenge/opportunity in our circle here is the expansion of our school's properties and renovation of buildings for next September. We've begun a relationship with a ministry of Greater Europe Mission, called EuroTeam who will be coordinating a month of actual work with volunteer teams beginning in early June. My role has been a some-time liaison between EuroTeam and the leadership here when language was an issue. During that month of work and in preparation for that month (right now!), I'm also the liaison. Please pray for this work project and all the planning that goes into it. Pray for financial resources necessary for the work (our school is in a financially challenging time at the moment). Pray for the logistical resources necessary to house and feed the visiting teams for a month!
- Time and Eternity - If you read this far...bravo! If you've read between the lines, you've perhaps already grasped that we're in a challenging season, time and energy-wise. In this type of season, I've learned that God is wanting a new level of heart contact with us, and desire to reveal new aspects of His character and His love to us. Paradoxically, of course, in this sort of season those are the things that can be the most difficult to grasp...but the rewards of grasping them are huge and eternal. This is probably the "huge opportunity" that matters most as we launch into this new season...as we establish new endeavors for God's Kingdom, etc. Please pray for Angela and I to guard our hearts for the Lord and each other and our kids during this transition season. Please pray for our ability to find our true rest in the Lord in the very midst of new challenges that He presents to us.
I can't tell you how much your partnership in prayer means to us...Thank you!
David |