journal : : field notes
Yesterday...
Yesterday was a good day. Actually, yesterday was an
amazing day; the best I've had in a very long time. It was one of those days when the blessings just kept coming. It started normal enough: a typical Monday, but one Bekah and I have been looking forward to for months.
We paid off our van yesterday.
Words can't express how good that feels, going into missions without a car payment. By itself, this would've constituted a 'good day' in my ranking of days. But this was only the beginning...
Shortly after freeing our van from the bondage of bank financing, we got an email from the U.S. embassy in Guatemala. In all honesty, I've been really, really anxious about the timing of this adoption. Current projections place me in Guatemala on the very same week our 3rd child is scheduled to come into this world. The prospect of being in another country while my wife was in labor was really hard to consider. We've been on this adoption journey for 22 months, and of all the weeks for this thing to end, it had to be the week Bekah's due?
Bekah felt prompted (with hindsight, it was evidently by the Holy Spirit), to send an email to the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala, explaining our situation. AT BEST, I was expecting them to tell us to wait to hear from them on Tuesday (when our DNA results would arrive, legally allowing them to schedule us our appointment in Guatemala). I was expecting a diplomatic, automated response.
So, back to that email we received yesterday. Turns out they had a cancellation for Friday, March 7, and they are reserving that slot for us! That's next week! All that remained was to actually receive the DNA results, which were scheduled to arrive Tuesday (today). They arrived yesterday, and were a match!
This is nothing short of a miracle from God's own hand. I can go down on Wed, March 5, pick up my daughter, and be back on March 11, approx. 9 days before Bekah's due.
This beautiful girl is coming home!On top of that, airfare and hotel worked out perfectly, and we have a 24 hour window to rebook everything in case this all falls through.
If this weren't enough,
we received a handful of pledge cards in the mail today, from people who have decided to support us as we serve in Vancouver. God is good!
Yesterday was a good day.
[Donate to the Moser family's mission in Vancouver! Click
HERE to give online.]
New Look...
If you read this-here blog using an RSS feed reader, than click your way over to the actual site, and check out the new look. Nothing drastic, but instead of the 'amber-waves-of-grain' feel, you now see the Vancouver skyline. Be sure to click on the 'HOME' link and check out a stunning evening look at Vancouver's skyline.
Many thanks to my brother,
Travis, for the design work.
[Donate to the Moser family's mission in Vancouver! Click
HERE to give online.]
Adopt-a-Pixel, Help a Family Adopt
Jamie & Kim Arpin-Ricci are missionaries with YWAM in Canada. They've struggled with infertility for years. In spite of the fact that they are donor-supported missionaries, they're taking the plunge to adopt a baby from Ethiopia.
But they need your help, and they have a very cool idea for raising the necessary funds (approx. $20,000). You can go to their adoption site, and 'adopt-a-pixel' of an adorable pic of a baby.
So check out their site,
Adopt-a-Pixel, and skip your triple grande no-fat caramel latte for the day, and use the money to help a couple adopt an orphan.
Election Year Politics and Kingmaking...
Ok, I'll admit it: I have a touch of election fever. I'm fascinated by the gamesmanship and competition of an election year. I think it derives from my love for sports; I see politics from the lens of competition. Whether that's neither accurate nor appropriate, I can't seem to help it.
However, I'm enough of a Mennonite to be truly guarded when it comes to my expectations for our next president. As a fiercely loyal subject to the King of Kings, I'm wary (and weary) of the Messianic expectations that are projected upon candidates each year. They breed shortcomings and disappointment, and we have historical amnesia, as we crown another candidate, placing all our hopes in yet another.
If you're trying to decipher which political party I'm attacking here, I'll save you the effort: all of them. I'm fiercely independent, because I believe it's the most appropriate biblical stance.
I flirted with becoming a libertarian a short time ago, and while I still appreciate some of their views, I simply can't buy in completely. Now, some of my fellow Mennonites go so far as to abstain from voting (or, writing in 'Jesus' for president, to make a very poignant expression of their allegiance to Him and Him alone.) Some will even renounce their citizenship to their country of nationality [which, in some isolated instances, I support...but not as an all encompassing Christian requirement].
I value and appreciate some aspects of their position, but I'm not going to burn my passport. I need one to get my daughter from Guatemala, and to serve the poor and marginalized of Vancouver. Plus, I do value the freedom America has to offer. I appreciate the right to vote, and I will vote.
(If you would like to know who I'm voting for and why, you'll have to email me. I may or may not tell you. It depends on whether you want to lecture me, or whether you want to have an authentic dialogue).
I vote because I care, and because people gave their lives for the right. However, I think it's very important to have a balanced perspective: vote because it's important, but realize that your candidate isn't Jesus reincarnate.
And, as the media juggernaut of election coverage chugs on, heed the words I read this morning, from I Sam 8:7, when the nation of Israel demanded a human king to lead them:
"And the Lord told him [Samuel]: 'Listen to all that the people are saying to you. It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as King.'"
Now, before you leave a long discourse-comment on the clear differences between American democracy and Old Testament monarchies, I'll save you the time and energy. I KNOW. But beyond the socio-political differences lies a very important question:
In whom does your true and ultimate allegiance lie?
[Donate to the Moser family's mission in Vancouver! Click
HERE to give online.]
Speaking [Mini] Tour
I'm in the process of developing my sermon/teaching/presentation on God's heart for missions (and specifically, Vancouver). Here's my schedule so far:
April 6:
Archbold Evangelical Mennonite Church [7pm evening service/missions emphasis]
April 13:
True North Church, Wauseon, OH. [10 am worship service]
April 20:
Salem Church, Gridley, IL [9:30 am joint Sunday school, 10:30 am worship service, followed by a potluck lunch/Q & A time]
If you're in the area on any of these dates, please come and join us. Also, if you're looking for a guest speaker for your church, small group, organization, etc about the new frontiers of today's mission work, contact me: drewmoser[at]gmail[dot]com.
[Donate to the Moser family's mission in Vancouver! Click
HERE to give online.]
Support Letter!
Our support letter is now available online, as a .pdf. You can access it
HERE, and read up a bit more about our future plans. For those of you lucky ones who received it via snail mail, it's the same letter. It's 2 pages, full of color and pictures, to keep monotony and boredom at bay!
[Donate to the Moser family's mission in Vancouver! Click
HERE to give online.]
Ash Wednesday
I'm sure you all know that today is Ash Wednesday.
CRM, the parent organization of
NieuCommunities, has produced a great Lent Devotional, which you can subscribe to [for free] online
HERE.
"From dust you have come, and to dust you shall return..."
[Donate to the Moser family's mission in Vancouver! Click
HERE to give online.]
Web-Site Tweaking
In light of
recent events, this digital space is getting a subtle facelift. Stay tuned, and be sure to drop by in a few days. In the meantime, a little Vancouver humor for you.
[Donate to the Moser family's mission in Vancouver! Click
HERE to give online.]
Words can't express how good that feels, going into missions without a car payment. By itself, this would've constituted a 'good day' in my ranking of days. But this was only the beginning...
This is nothing short of a miracle from God's own hand. I can go down on Wed, March 5, pick up my daughter, and be back on March 11, approx. 9 days before Bekah's due. This beautiful girl is coming home!
