Hopes Become Plans, Plans Become Hopes

“Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring.” James 4:14
“God the Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer.” Hab. 3:19

I have been pondering passages like these recently. James writes to urge his listeners to humility regarding their plans for the future. Habakkuk confesses his trust in God, in the midst of extremely challenging times, and finds that a nimble, deer-like agility has come his way.  For all of us, the past few weeks have brought enormous and difficult changes.  A sprightly deer is not the best picture of my mental state as we have faced challenges and uncertainty, but at moments I have sensed God infusing agility into my heart.  When a friend asked today how the CoVid-19 situation is affecting our travel plans, I replied, “At this point we have travel hopes, not travel plans.”

So let me share our updated hopes, and two prayer requests.  We remain hopeful and excited about the potential to serve the church in Southeast Asia by equipping its leaders and preachers. The first leg of our journey was to have been Rich training students and staff of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES, known as InterVarsity in the US) in Nepal, leaving June 10. That is most likely postponed to September. Our hope is that  by late June, we will fly together to Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia. The president of Alpha and Omega College (who is a three-time Fuller grad) continues to hope we can each teach an intensive course over the month of July. From there, we hope to travel to the Philippines to teach for a seminary in August.

A promising development over the last month has been an offer for me to teach half-time at St. Paul’s Theological College (SPTC). This fast-growing college is an offshoot of Holy Trinity Bukit Batang. Many of you know the Alpha Course, which grew out of Holy Trinity Brompton, in England. Their sister church in KL is training leaders (from many denominations) for the church throughout Malaysia through SPTC.  Rich and I hope to lead a retreat for their alumni in mid-July, and then I will teach theology, exegetical methods, and spiritual formation. Rich’s role with SPTC is less defined but his value to this and other colleges, churches and organizations, including IFES, will quickly become apparent.

wo Needs Have Arisen in Light of the Corona Virus:
First, our hope for this past month had been to drive to North Carolina to give our dog, Luna, into the care of our daughter and son-in-law. Since that was not possible, we now find ourselves hoping she could find a loving home with a friend in California. Luna is a sweet-tempered, gentle (barks about 4x a year) dog, about 8 years old, likely a blend of Black Lab and McNab Shepherd. Would you pray, think through your networks, and consider whether there might be a Luna-shaped void in your own heart and home, which you hadn’t known about until this very moment?

Second, we find ourselves less confident of the rental market in light of global economic uncertainties, but we are moving ahead with packing up and preparing to put our house on the rental market in mid-April. Please pray for the right renters to emerge, for whom our home, with its quirky, older charm, will be just right.

Fundraising Update: We are making progress! We are so grateful for the generosity of many of you who have given or committed to do so. Currently we have about 66% of our budget raised. If you desire to make your gift, or set up recurring gifts, please do so at our Paraclete page. Thanks so much!

With love and hope, and even agility on our good days,
Rich and Lisa

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