"I Have an Appointment"

Picture taken from the Far Reaching Ministries' website.
http://frmusa.org/

A few days ago, we had Superman, Batman and Spiderman sleeping upstairs. Now, most people would know them as Johnny, Bosco, and David, but to my boys, they are basically super-heros.

We have prayed for the Far Reaching Ministry chaplains for close to ten years now. They are trained in South Sudan, serve the South Sudanese Army, fighting alongside them, and leading many to Christ. And now, these three guys have been sent out to start churches. They are in pretty remote areas. They don't have email or a blog or Facebook where people write to them and say, "Keep doing what you're doing! Jesus is well pleased!" They are alone and get discouraged just like anyone else would if they were isolated. God sees them and loves them and wants to use us to encourage them.

Down in Entebbe, Uganda, eleven hours from here, some men organized an East Africa Pastor's Conference. There were pastors from Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Egypt, Kenya, and probably more countries I'm not aware of. As I posted in the last blog, Tyler went down with a bunch of guys and, and they came back CHANGED. Thank you Jesus!

David is a pretty quiet, keep to himself, kind of guy. He always looks exhausted. Mind you, he and his pregnant wife care for 20 children - 6 of their own and a whole bunch of orphans. He runs a nursery school with 130 kids, and is the pastor of the church. He's a busy guy. Tyler said his whole countenance changed by the time they were done with the conference. LIFE was revived in this man.

Johnny, Ty and Bosco when he visited
South Sudan a few weeks ago.

Johnny and his wife with Tyler in their church.
They were complaining about not having a decent church building.
Tyler taught about "success" according to God.
I praise God we meet under a mango tree and don't even
have a building - that we might live what we preach.

Bosco and Johnny serve together in their church in South Sudan. When the Lord called them to begin the church out in a remote village, Bosco's wife stayed in the city in order to keep her job as a dentist. By the end of the pastors' conference, Bosco realized that this goes against what God would want for a marriage. He called his wife, and she is moving to the village with him. Forsaking ALL to follow Christ brings sacrifice. You can be praying for this couple as they choose to be obedient to what God has asked them to do. This reminds me of when Jesus saw some fisherman, and said, "Follow me." They dropped their fishing nets, and followed Him in pure obedience. (Matthew 4:20) God will honor this couple's decision.

When Tyler got home, he said Jesus challenged him regarding how our family is run. I thought everything was going just fine. But there is always room to draw closer to Jesus.

There was a GREAT study about how to balance ministry or work and family. Men- if you want us to send you this study, email Tyler. (tgooden7777@gmail.com) It's worth listening to even if you're not "in the ministry." Really, if you're following Jesus, no matter what your day to day job is, you are "in the ministry." Anyway, this study had such an impact on Tyler, we now have a set schedule for our family's time. A guy called and asked to meet with Tyler the other night around 7:30pm. Tyler responded with, "Sorry, I have an appointment." Do you know what that appointment was? Helping to get all the kids showered and in bed and prayed for, and have time to read the Bible with me. It's a priority that is so easily overlooked. People can do amazing things in this world at the cost of neglecting their family. It is not a price we are willing to pay. It is not what Jesus wants either.

Parent-child and husband-wife relationships are really not very important to this culture here in Africa. And sadly, America is turning that way too. As lights in a dark world, we are not to adapt to what the culture says is normal. We are to stand for what the Bible says is right.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.

Ephesians 5:25

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

Ephesians 5:22

Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.

Colossians 3:20

God wants order in a home, and in a life. He has order and laws in His creation. Without the law of gravity, this Earth would be a mess!

It's great to really want order in your life, and even to pray for it… but there are actions we need to take for it to actually happen. We can pray all day for God to help us get the mountain of dishes done, but unless we stand at the sink and actually DO the job, the ketchup will get crusty and the oatmeal will turn to concrete. (That's for those of you who have the luxury of ketchup and oatmeal.)

"And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord."

2 Chronicles 20:3

He set himself. He made a plan and did it. Everything we will ever need to know in life is found in the Bible. So we follow this example. We fear an unrestrained life that is as unstable as water. (Genesis 49:4) We fear a life that seeks after big results, neglecting the little ones that have been entrusted into our care. We have set ourselves to seek the Lord. I will be the first to tell you that some nights are easier than others. Sometimes I just want to turn my brain off and watch mindless shows on YouTube. But Tyler and I… we have an appointment with our family and our Bibles.

If we miss that appointment, we'll miss it again tomorrow, and soon we will stray. It will be remembered as "that time we were really close to each other and to God." I want this time to be known as "that life that was really close to my family and to God."