November 2006

I'd like to first apologize for neglecting to update our site for so long! What can I say, I've been pretty busy lately. Well, as usual, things are going great for us down here in sunny Florida! There are three big things to discuss since the last update. I've given you two versions: the very short, and the very long. Very short version: Two gracious believers offered to pay for two of the three years of my training at RTS! We recently attended my high school reunion! (pictures are posted) And, Hana and I are going to begin working with the youth group at church!
Very long version:
To be honest, Hana and I moved down here not knowing a few things. The plan was for Hana to work full time while I’m in seminary, but she had not been able to find a job before we left. So we drove down here, signed a lease on an apartment, and moved in with no foreseeable income. We trusted that God would provide. Then, two days after we arrived, Hana interviewed at Greenwood Lakes Middle School and was offered a job! She began to teach, and I started classes. Soon we began to realize that between Hana’s salary and my part time job; paying for seminary was seemingly impossible. I began to feel the Lord leading me to ask my parents if they had ever felt the Lord leading them to pay for my training at RTS. It felt crazy at the time, but sure enough… they offered to pay for two of my three years of training. We'll be forever grateful to them and to God for involving them in our ministry.

We flew up to Saratoga Springs this past weekend to attend my 10-year high school reunion. We had a blast! We saw a bunch of my old friends and spent a lot of time with my best friend Mark. Everyone looked very different, but very much the same. It was really cool to have Hana in the same room as my high school friends. I stepped back at one point and watched her talking to them and I had a feeling of completion. This was a part of my life that she was not in, but now – retroactively, she is. God planned that we would be together before either of us was ever born, and as I watched her shine in that moment, I was overwhelmed with gratitude.

Last but not least, we recently started helping out with the Youth Group at church. We had felt the Lord leading us to get involved with the ministry at our church, and one of the pastors told us there was a need for help with the high school kids. Two weeks after we began helping out, the Youth Ministry Director resigned. He had been planning to do so for a while. One of the pastors approached me about some new ideas they had that involved me taking a part-time, paid, youth ministry internship. I interviewed for the position and yesterday they told me that I got it!! So, I’ll now be working with another paid intern to run the high school youth group on Wednesday nights, and I will also teach the high school Sunday school class. And…I’ll get paid to do it; so I can quit my part time job, and serve at church, and not go broke! Hana will be counseling the girls and helping me teach on Sundays. We’re very excited!

If you asked me whether or not I believe God is in control of things, I would tell you yes; emphatically yes! I am continually amazed by, “the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and how inscrutable His ways!”(Romans 11:33) All of our news this month has to do with God revealing some of His eternal plans for us. Proverbs 16:9 tells us that “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we are God’s, “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which [He] prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Our sinful hearts often try to take credit for God’s work in our lives. Thankfully Scripture lets us know what’s really going on.
God bless