I am so grateful today.  We arrived home last night from our weeklong exploration trip to Laranjal, north of the Amazon river.  We had a nice trip and had some nice opportunities to both explore this region and to connect with each other.

We arrived home to a box from a friend in the states.  It contained tylenol and ibuprofen.  These simple meds will help so many.  There was an email waiting for us from a praying friend who offered grace, encouragement, and a sense of what God would say to us as we weigh various factors in making our decision regarding relocation.  It’s difficult to describe the feeling that these create in me, but today I’m compelled to try.  I find myself asking, "Why me?" 

We are partnered with such beautiful people.  You are among them.  We are so loved and appreciated, even by some who consider what we are doing as somewhat extreme.  We are daily (no exaggeration) humbled by this love and support. 

This love and support comes in various forms, all significant, all moving and life-giving to us.  We have received boxes.  Boxes with meds and tools, boxes with treats, boxes with gifts.  We receive letters, and emails, and pictures.  We receive boxes and packages both sent by mail and sent with teams arriving from the states.  We receive financial support in regular giving and in one-time gifts to the ministry, all sacrificial, all so humbling to receive as we know that it isn’t money you send but rather your time, your effort, your heart.  We receive the fruit of people conversing with God on our behalf.  We are given pictures and "senses" of God’s communication, as well as advice and scriptures, all so helpful.  Some make us laugh (we so NEED to laugh) and remind us that God carries the burden of this work and we don’t have to.  So many of you have chosen to walk with us.  We even received a box from a family in Columbus that we’ve never met, with cards made by their kids!  We’ve heard from people we haven’t heard from in years.  We have received from those who know Jesus well and we’ve received from those who are not sure yet about Jesus and who exactly He is.  There is such diversity in our team.  This is all so beautiful.  Beautiful to us, and, I think, beautiful especially to the One who is behind it all. 

So many are walking with us.  I don’t understand.  I never will.  God has chosen us (you, us) to be a team for this season, for this place, for this time.  If we don’t joyfully agree to the task and the role He gives us (like a gift), He will use someone else.  There is no obligation or duty.  In His kingdom, there is no "I have to", only "I get to".  We "get to" participate in God’s work here in the Amazon Basin.  You "get to" participate in God’s work here in the Amazon Basin.  We all get to participate, only our roles in the work differ.  Roles, all, of significance, lived in joyful obedience to the One who loves us so dearly.  So that others may know…      So that He will be known…

Thank you.  I realize again today that, alone, I am weak.  The One who owns the work and is responsible for ALL the results, is strong.  He loves teams and bodies of diverse parts and roles.  I am so encouraged this morning in knowing how He loves this team, of which you and I are a part.