Real commitment, real joy, new digs

Our Mission’s Conference has been very good. Just the recharge we needed. Moving presentations from the missionaries that have presented – going to Mozambique, Iceland, and Panama, respectively. Dr Fielder, who is director of Worldview Ministries, a group that focuses on unreached people groups by translating the Bible into the heart language of those people groups, has preached some very convicting sermons. Sermons on prayer, the practice of our faith, on our participation in the Gospel outreach and on exercising our potential in the Lord for that outreach effort worldwide. It has been very challenging. Mama and I have been reviewing each message together and asking ourselves, what more does God have available for us to do in the work of missions?

Neither of us are physically capable at this point in our lives of taking on the work of fulltime missionary service, but there is still plenty to do here that we are able to do. Witnessing, handing out tracts, praying for the lost, encouraging fellow believers, remaining faithful to the local body of believers where God has placed us to serve. Sharing from what we have of our lives, our time, and our resources. At times it does not seem like enough, but it is what the Lord is asking of us for now and we are committed to be faithful. My life may not gain many crowns in Heaves, but I would like to at least gain the Crown of Faithfulness.

I read a brief article in the news this morning that spoke to the abject oppressiveness of the “woke” philosophies pervading the thinking across the news media as well as within our national government. How that message of “tolerance” and “diversity” and “equity” is sucking the joy out of our daily lives. We cannot watch a movie or TV show or enjoy a sporting event without being bombarded by the woke politically correct crowd kneeling for our anthem, badmouthing our country by telling us what a horrible country we are – a country that has made many of those participants very wealthy – intentionally oppressing those of us who feel and believe differently. In the article, the author proposed and idea. Let’s get our joy back. Take our masks off and smile at each other. Find things to celebrate with each other. Laugh and play like we are a free people.

Such expressions of joy, which are fully warranted because we live in the United States of America, will drive the doom spreading woke crowd nuts. As believers, we understand that the real source of joy is the Holy Spirit living within us. That has not changed and cannot be changed by external circumstances. When someone tries to dampen your spontaneous outburst of joy, laugh in their face and remind then they are free to express such hateful and demeaning speech, but we do not have to avoid offending their overly sensitive nature because we both live in the greatest country on Earth. We are as free to express our true joy as they are to express their ginned up, unreal oppressive gloom. One emotion (our joy) is true. The other (their manufactured guilt and gloom) is not. Over time, we will see which wins the hearts of men.

Yesterday I met the CEO of our company at the house he refers to as HQ. In our recent renovation of the office there has also been a renovation of the house. We met at the house so he could show me the setup they are considering for the online classes I am teaching at the pace of two per week. I will no longer have a space at the office for presenting those classes, hence the setup at the house. It will work out very well as envisioned. I spent a few hours setting up a desk with monitors which I will use as an office space. Friday I will get the cart I have been using for presenting the classes and transport it to the house. Next Tuesday I will begin using that as the primary venue for presenting the classes. For now, I will be the only one at the house even though there will eventually be fifteen desks set up there.

The house itself is a beautiful two-story house with two huge barns set on 41 acres. There is a pool which has a waterfall built into the pool setup, a gourmet kitchen and lots of decorative additions to the house. The dining room is now set up as a meeting area with a breakfast nook with a large bay window set up as an eating area. There is a pillared front entry and a large living room just off the front room which has been set aside for the training room I will be using. They have carefully maintained the beauty of the house while setting it up for office space. The only issue I have with the room I will be occupying is the echo within the room. It has a high vaulted ceiling and is virtually empty for now. We will need to muffle the echo a bit, but I believe some plans are in the works to address that. It will be a very good setup for the classes I need to present and I got the impression that it will be my primary office space. That even when I am not teaching a class, I am free to report there for work versus finding a space in the main office on the days I am required to work from the office.

I can live with that.