Monday, May 24, 2010

Aaron and Brittany's Going-Away Dessert Fundraiser

Cadence Yoga in Oklahoma City is hosting a Going-Away Dessert Fundraiser for us! Saturday, June 19th at 7p.m. Stop in and munch some finger-foods and bid us farewell. Our last day in the U.S. is June 28th, so this will be one of the last oppertunities we have to hang out with everyone. Hope to see you there!
To view the Facebook event, click here.
To visit Cadence Yoga's website or get directions, click here.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Songs That Insire Us, Part 2

Another song we love, and one that has especially spoken to us recently, is Louisa M. R. Stead's 1882 hymn, "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus":

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at his word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know, "Thus saith the Lord!"

(CHORUS)
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er.
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!

In a 1974 letter, Dutch Christian Holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom describes her own faith journey in the context of the Father-child relationship:

"When I was a little girl, " [she] said, "I went to my father and said, "Daddy, I am afraid that I will never be strong enough to be a martyr for Jesus Christ." "Tell me," said Father, "When you take a train trip to Amsterdam, when do I give you the money for the ticket? Three weeks before?" "No, Daddy, you give me the money for the ticket just before we get on the train." "That is right," my father said, "and so it is with God's strength. Our Father in Heaven knows when you will need the strength...He will supply all you need just in time."

That's the kind of journey WE'RE on as we attempt to reconcile "we KNOW this is what we're suposed to be doing" with "how on EARTH are we going to pay for this?" :) Similarly, THAT'S the kind of prayer this hymn inspires us to pray in the meantime: "Father, we trust you. Show us what to do, and we'll do it!"

It's also a prayer that we invite you to pray with (and for) us...we believe that God can do anything if we let him!!

-Aaron

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Songs That Inspire Us, Part 1

On our next-to-last Sunday at Stillwater 1st, the new worship leader (hi Loren!) chose several songs that spoke to us in general, and with regard to our upcoming ministry in Poland in particular.

The first such song (and perhaps Brittany's all-time favorite) is titled "Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy," and was originally penned by English clergyman Joseph Hart in 1759. The words (as recently popularized by the Robbie Seay Band and Todd Agnew, among others) read as follows:

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy
Weak and wounded, sick and sore.
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love, and power.

Come, ye thirsty, come and welcome,
God's free bounty glorify
True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings you nigh.

(CHORUS)
I will arise and go to Jesus.
He will embrace me in his arms.
And in the arms of my dear Saviour,
Oh, there are ten thousand charms!

Come ye weary, heavy-laden,
Lost and ruined by the Fall.
If you tarry until you're better
You will never come at all.

(REPEAT CHORUS)

Why does this song speak so powerfully to us? At least two reasons.

1.) It will always, always remind us of the churches and communities we've sung it in before...including with OKC 1st's Kaleo congregation, at our own wedding, and as worship team members at Stillwater 1st (where they always, always ask Brit to sing lead because she obviously loves it so much).

2.) The lyrics beautifully and profoundly describes the brokenness of the world in which we -all of us- live, and the arms-wide-open love, mercy, tenderness, acceptance, and compassion with which God welcomes and embraces his children. THIS is the love we -all of us- are called to think, speak, and act into the world every single day. WE'RE called to do it in coffeehouse/house churches in Poland...but it's what we're ALL called to do!

We HEART Stillwater!

We spent Sunday, 4/25, in scenic Stillwater, OK, speaking at our home church, the Stillwater 1st Church of the Nazarene. We got to share what God is doing in Gdansk, Poznan, and Krakow in detail, and to explain what we'll be doing in the coffeehouse/house church ministries there.

As they have throughout our 2 years in Stillwater, our friends and family here absolutely BLEW US AWAY with the love and generosity with which they responded to our presentation...we thank you all SO much for your prayer, emotional, and financial support in this always-exciting, sometimes-terrifying faith journey we're taking from Oklahoma to Poland.

We are now officially halfway to our fundraising goal of $40,000...which is several different kinds of exciting, depending on how you look at it! :) We're trusting God to do what we absolutely, positively cannot...as he has throughout this process, and as we're sure he will continue to do in the future.

We love you guys!

-Aaron

Monday, May 3, 2010

Fundraising=Hard Work

Well, we're about HALFWAY to our goal (which is exciting), but we still have a long way to go! Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has contributed so far. We are 8 weeks away from our plane ticket, and we're so excited. This weekend, Aaron will graduates from OSU with his Masters in History--wow! After that we are visiting BA First, Regency Park, and Richardson Church of the Nazarene in May. All this, plus learning Polish and getting our affairs in order makes May a busy month. Thanks everyone for the prayers. We'll keep you posted :)