Our Trip to Mexico With the Deans

    ...great fellowship

...great food

     

 ...meeting new brothers and sisters and hearing their stories

            

...enjoying the beautiful geography

...finding joy and pleasure in the journey

                   

       ...WE EVEN GOT A TICKET AS SOON AS WE CROSSED THE BORDER INTO THE U.S.
    ...rich times
..Thank you Jesus!  We love you and we love Your people...everywhere we go.

Plowing

---

plowing: work done in preparation for harvest.

Tomorrow Seth and I (...and our four awesome kiddos) are meeting Happy and Jerry Dean (Ten Talents Ministries) at the California/Mexico Border and we're heading down to Ensenada.  We will be attending a church service and connecting with some Mexican leaders of some ministries in  Baja. 

One "leg" of the Bending the Bow vision is to provide a place for families and individuals to experience  cross-cultural ministry.  We want this short term mission's experience to be financially affordable, short enough that people with full time jobs can still participate without jeopardizing their employment, and to provide a gentle transition from American culture and lifestyle into a developing nation's culture.  We feel that Ensenada provides all of these.   We are excited that this dream is getting closer to becoming a reality.

...Ah, plowing.

Matthew 9:37,38
He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 
So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”

Sorely Neglected Blog Is Hoping To Make a Comeback

Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good.Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

Our Year in a Nutshell: TRANSITION

1. Seth resigned from his position at Rivers of Life.

2. Mary Beth continues to grow in her great love and appreciation for coffee. (not much transition...just continued growth)

3. Josh has been to a thousand doctors, taken hundreds of thousands of medications (none of which worked) and had no less than one million tests done, just find out: NOTHING ...and through this year of sickness and pain in Joshua's life, we have watched our "little guy" grow and mature in His love for the Lord and in His faith. Our whole family has been stretched to the limits (at least I hope that was the limit) and we have grown closer to the One who holds us so close to His heart.

4. Josiah decided (with our permission) to grow his hair until he is reunited with his best friend Tristan, currently residing in Indonesia. We had planned to see Tristan and his family (The MacLean's) in July, but we post-poned our trip until February due to Josh's sickness. ...Needless to say Josiah's hair may be quite long by the time we get to Indonesia.

5. Jonathan lost his second tooth and learned to read.

6. Hannah started kindergarten!

7. We've caught up with friends from all over the world: China, Philippines, Rwanda, Tanzania to name a few.

8. Seth and I participated in an amazing marriage class, Love After Marriage through Bethel Church in Redding (Start saving your pennies; We highly recommend this class!!)

9. Bending the Bow Int'l officially became an official Non-Profit Organization recognized by the all the necessary government agencies.

10. The next Bending the Bow trip into Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines) is in the works and we are very excited about how it's coming together. We will be leaving in February and returning toward the end of April 2010.

11. Around every corner we have experienced His goodness in our lives. It's been a year of "treasure hunting"...looking for and finding the treasures He has hidden for us. It's been rich a very rich season.

Isaiah 45:3
And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—
secret riches.
I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord,
the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.

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Our Mission: To Refresh and Serve

The mission of Bending the Bow International is to refresh and serve Christian leaders in the nations. Most of what we do centers around five specific areas the Lord has laid on our
hearts:
• Encouraging Leaders through Personal Ministry
• Mobilizing and Leading Need-Specific Teams
• Empowering Individuals and Families to “Go!”
• Equipping “Senders”
• Advocating for the needs of the leaders we serve.

In the coming months we will discuss these individual strategies in greater detail so that you can better understand what we are doing for the leaders we serve. This month we’d like to explain why it is imperative that our missionaries are served and refreshed on a regular basis.

According to the Joshua Project, 98% of all U.S. Christians involved with missions are “senders”.
Senders are the ones that support missionaries through prayer, finances, care packages, letters, and emails, etc.. Less than 2% of U.S. Christians involved in missions actually “go” into a foreign nation and serve. Missionaries carry a huge workload and are out there doing the job all of us are called to do. They are an extension of us. As the senders, it is our responsibility to know how our
missionaries are doing, to find out what their needs are, and to do whatever we can to meet their needs. It is our job to refresh and encourage them; to undergird them so that they can effectively do the job God has called them to do. Their well-being must be one of our greatest priorities. When they are healthy and thriving, His Kingdom is expanding. Our missionaries represent Jesus in the nations. They represent us, as well. And until the work of world evangelization is done, our bridegroom cannot returnfor His bride. We must serve lift and connect with these leaders and take personal responsibility for encouraging, refreshing, and strengthening our missionaries as they lay down their lives to lift up the name of Jesus in the nations.

As we have ministered around the world, we have had the opportunity to serve men,women, families and organizations filled with exciting, amazing, God-birthed vision. We have watched these leaders and their families give everything they have, holding nothing back from the people,
regions, and nations they serve. They have made tremendous sacrifices to “go” and have laid their lives down so that truly every tribe, tongue, and nation will encounter Jesus. These leaders
have embraced the good and dealt with the difficult so that the name of Jesus would be lifted up in the nations. As senders, we MUST do everything within our ability to empower that 2% who are called to “go” and who are influencing and impacting the nations on our behalf.

Our purpose, as individuals and as a ministry, is to make ourselves aware of their needs and to do whatever we can do to strengthen, encourage, and refresh these HEROES as they serve us by serving Him in the serve us by serving Him in the nations.

In the coming months we will go into greater detail about the five areas the Lord has given us to develop that we hope will begin to address some needs we have become aware of through the years. We are driven by a passion to see our brothers and sisters in the nations thriving,
effectively accomplishing everything God has called them to do “...that all of the
families of the nations would worship Him.” (Psalm 22:27)

1 Corinthians 12:25-26
(The Message)
The way God designed our bodies
is a model for understanding our lives
together as a church: every part
dependent on every other part, the
parts we mention and the parts we
don't, the parts we see and the parts
we don't. If one part hurts, every
other part is involved in the hurt, and
in the healing. If one part flourishes,
every other part enters into the
exuberance.

Our Puppies 2009...For Sale and Ready to Take Home Just in Time For Easter: AKC Black Labs...All Proceeds Support Bending the Bow International

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Getting Stretched

I'm getting stretched.
     Ha!  Like a rubberband....spread thin, tightly pulled from all ends in all directions...just as far as I think I can go.
         And then just when I think I can't be stretched any further, I find myself being stretched a little more, a little farther. 
             Now, am I stretched to full capacity?  I hope this it! How much more can I take? Seriously,
who signed me up for this emotional and spiritual yoga class?

Trust...I keep hearing Him whisper, "Will you trust Me?"
         I surrendered my options a long time ago.
               My only option, my only answer, "Yes, Lord.  I lay my will down.  I trust You.  I trust the greater work that you will to do in me...the greater work You are doing in me...NOW, through this painful stretching...Yes, Lord. I surrender to Your hand, to Your love, to Your plan for me.  I trust Your goodness.  I see Your goodness all around me.  You are good and You are my Peace in the middle of the storm."

Security..."I will never leave you.  I am with You."
Comfort..."I see.  I know. I am."
Strength..."I sing over you.  I carry you.  My grace IS sufficient, My power IS made perfect in your weakness."
Reminder..."I keep My promises."
Peace...anchors my heart.  I BELONG to You. You are my loving Father, my intimate Bridegroom, my Comforter.

You anchor me.