Relocation and Settling In

Even in ideal circumstances it is difficult to leave loved ones behind.  These include not only our immediate family members but all of you receiving this letter who have been encouraging and supportive in so many ways during our transition.  Bob’s father’s condition stabilized and he returned home to begin his recovery from a broken leg.  Bob’s brother-in-law David is currently undergoing intensive radiation for cancer.

On December 28^th we completed our journey to Los Angeles to settle into a staff house on West 20^th street.  Our daughter Rebekah flew out with us, effectively doubling our strength and energy for the task.  Her help was essential as sixteen Taylor University students would soon arrive for their Senior Capstone course.  Bob has led the student trip before but never to Los Angeles and never under these circumstances!  We received additional grace in the form of two eager young men, Byron Siemsen, a World Impact Missionary who developed our L.A. trip agenda, and Jon Cavanagh, Bob’s former student who helped to coordinate this year’s experience.  Our visits to a variety of Los Angeles-area churches and urban ministries were both eye-opening for students and an intensive orientation to our new home base for Bob.

Our new location and way of life brings many adjustments!  At least one of these is easy: since our arrival here we have enjoyed mostly sunny, warm days—a fantastic change from the Midwest.  Other adjustments are more challenging: traffic, crime, noise, dirty air, and the high cost of groceries to name but a few.  Here in the heart of this “city that never sleeps” we are making our home.  Like Abraham we have come in order to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, and we look forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God (Hebrews 11:9-10).

Please pray for our transition and for healing for David and strength for Bob’s sister Belinda. Join us in asking the Lord that all who are touched by this situation to come to know that He is Healer, Sustainer, and Lord. Let us know how we can pray for you.

Christmas “vacation”

Bob:
After submitting my final grades for fall, Chris and I flew from Indy to Fort Lauderdale—a wonderful transition (from 8 degrees & snow to 75 degrees and sun)! Since our upcoming move takes us to the Pacific coast, we had planned to spend time with our daughter Rebekah (TU 2007) and son-in-law Jorge, who serve on the staff of His House Children’s Homes of Miami (www.HHCH.org). We would stay in their Miami Beach apartment from December 16 through 28, a nice respite before “taking the field” in Los Angeles. These plans changed as I spoke by phone with my parents who live in Beaufort, SC, and who view our move to California as remote and foreign. So, the same day we arrived for our Florida respite, I caught a flight to Savannah, where my sister picked me up for the drive to Beaufort. Arriving that night we learned that my father had been admitted to the Beaufort hospital with a broken leg. Dad’s diabetes and heart disease made this a life-threatening condition, so I went directly to the ER where I found him alone, awaiting the doctor. He is also legally blind, but when he realized I was with him he immediately asked for prayer. His condition was listed as unstable and we spent the night together in the ER, as I read the psalms aloud to him and prayed. The next day I napped for a couple of hours before returning to spend another night with him, this time in PCU (one step below ICU). He was mostly unresponsive due to pain medication, and his reduced kidney function concerned the doctors. Over the next few days my mother, sister, and I faced first the possibility of saying goodbye to Dad until Heaven (he’s a believer), and then of how to best arrange for his long-term care. My visit was timely since my mother is elderly and my sister’s husband is facing treatment for stage 4 cancer. Please pray for these two women—my mother and my sister—as they face losing their husbands. It was emotionally difficult for me to leave Beaufort with so much unresolved, but wonderful to be back with Chris, Rebekah, and Jorge, for a few wonderful days prior to our departure.

Right Where You Are

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days (Micah 5:2, ESV).

God shows up in out of the way places. If we miss out on what God wants to do among us, it is because we expect that he can do great things anywhere but here! For ancient Israelites, Judah was foremost and Jerusalem was the place to be. Bethlehem was nowhere. Micah’s prophecy overturned that perspective: Jerusalem’s rulers had cannibalized God’s people (3:2-3) and little Bethlehem would become a nursery for a new ruler who would shepherd God’s flock in the strength of the Lord (v.4). The place was well named (Bethlehem means “house of bread” and Ephrathah, “fruitful place”) since it was home to Ruth, Boaz, and David, and would become the birth place of the Messiah.

Lately there have been times when I strongly desired to be two places at once, but this was not to be: omnipresence is a trait the Almighty reserves for Himself! Even if somehow I could have been with my wife and daughter in one place while remaining with my sick father in another, my divided self would have done little good in either place. God is able to keep his word—to work all things together for good—in any situation, even in my absence. Wherever I am He is there also, and is able to make my heart and mind a fruitful place.

What are you looking forward to?

The countdown to Christmas 2010 is in its final days. Advent is a season of anticipation, when believers reflect on the sign of Immanuel given by the Lord about 2,750 years ago! “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign” Isaiah told the king, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14, ESV). This is not what King Ahaz was expecting. In that day the national threat level was elevated from yellow to orange as Jerusalem faced the threat of invasion by foreign powers. The people were terrified and the king schemed for a political solution. So the announcement of the birth of a child was not exactly what the king was looking for. God is gracious, however, and if the king missed the significance of the name of this child—Immanuel, “God with us”—Isaiah was there to explain that this birth signaled the demise of the threat the nation was dreading (Isaiah 7:16).

For today’s Americans the threat level is also elevated, and the Church season of Advent is oddly mirrored by a different sort of anticipation in the shopping malls and online. As I write this, Chris and I are awaiting our departure from the Indianapolis airport. This morning we locked-up and left behind the home where we have lived comfortably for the past 15½ years. The specially-equipped van Chris has used to get around in for the past 8 years is also locked-up and parked in the driveway, awaiting its next owner. Our final days in Upland have been marked by friends and loved ones asking some version of the same question: “what do you anticipate you will do in Los Angeles?” While we can (thankfully) offer some specifics—teaching classes with The Urban Ministry Institute, supporting the ministry of the Los Angeles Christian School and local church plants, mentoring, being involved in prayer ministry, etc.—more broadly we anticipate God’s work of building the kingdom, and look for indications of what the Lord is doing in the city. If God is for us, and Immanuel is with us, who can successfully oppose us? (Romans 8:31).

Bob & Chris's farewell, part 2.flv

Bob & Chris's farewell, part 1

Support raising update!

Thanks to the generosity of many, we now have raised 92% of our support!