Last month...

I'm glad to get October 2011 in my rear-view mirror. My continued surgery recovery lasted another month with more up-and-down periods in my health.  I feel I'm finally at a place where I can live normally again.  The challenges of health and finances have been very fatiguing for us.  We were blessed to have very reasonable hospital bills for my surgery, including the 2nd hospitalization.  We're very thankful for that, but car and furnace repair plus even "reasonable" hospital bills at the same time has stretched us paper-thin.  This, of course, is great fodder for our growing in trust for God's provision, but it also exposes differences in how Angela and I approach finances and that continues to be an area of growth for us.  Thank you Lord for growing pains!

Some of last months prayer action:

• Renovation - Many blessings on the strong young and not-so-young arms that finished the completely hand-dug excavation necessary for the installation of the elevator at church.  The stone-mason should begin work any time now on the "cage" into which the elevator will be installed, which will be the first real physical sign of our building developing into the tool of the Kingdom that we've envisioned.
• IT work - We are in the middle of the 2nd week of our fall break, where I had hoped to make significant infrastructure changes at school.  My up-and-down health, however, meant that I did not get the prep-time necessary to be ready to take advantage of these two weeks.   Consequently, I've put many expectations on the shelf and simply have done what I can.  I've passed through the disappointment phase about it and have felt a peace to simply leave the rate of advancement in the Lord's hands.   So, I am encouraged to be able to connect more with the Lord as I work and not be as stressed to make a certain deadline, as it was simply removed from my grasp.  

This month...

• Financial agreement - Please pray that Angela and I come into new levels of unity in stewarding our finances together. Our roles in day-to-day finances won't necessarily change, but our unity in the stewardship of what God gives us is of paramount importance in this season.
• Worship - During these two weeks of fall break, about 20 members of our church have been visiting Israel for a prayer journey.  As a way of connecting those who didn't go with the team in Israel, we have been having daily worship times at church with a focus on interceding for them. Our friends Rusty and Janet Richards are back in France for another 3 months and have done daily worship stints and Angela and I have done M-W-F stints.  This is the first regular mid-week worship happening since we finished our summer sessions near the end of August.  We know it's vital to resume these sessions on a regular basis.  Please pray that as we resume school schedules next week, we'll find the right worship schedule to resume as well.  Angela and I are excited that we have the health again to do it and excited about growing in our worship unity during these times.  Please pray that we would have the grace to persevere in doing this increasingly together, something that's not always been easy for us.
• IT work - The Lord has been gracious to reveal solutions to me to help me keep moving forward in evolving the IT infrastructure at school.  I'm still arriving at levels of frustration with my own efforts initially before I surrender and let the Lord flow into the situation.  I'm really not satisfied with that. I desire to get to a point where, in this incredibly cerebral context, I would constantly expect supernatural breakthrough.  I really want this to be an experience of regularly pulling heaven down into this technical environment.  I literally don't know what that will look like!   I'd appreciate your prayers to submit my mind and mental analytical patterns to my spirit and that my spirit would be in constant connection with the Holy Spirit in the context of this IT work.
• Sound team - At church, I've been looking for how to move our sound team forward and I really don't see the time in my schedule to do what needs to be done.  Leading the sound team at church is a role I sort of grew into by default but is not one that gives me much life and would love to pass it on.  We were at a point where we thought that we might have someone on our team that we could groom to take the leadership one day.  That's fallen through as that person doesn't have the time to continue on with the team.  So while we now have about enough people, we need to take it to the next step of organization and equipping. Please pray that we find the right person to take this on or the way to structure the team so that this happens without need of more of my time.

Ok, that's more than enough to fill your agendas!

Many thanks,

David