Road Trip Part 1!

A week ago, Sam and I left Fort Worth for a little road trip through some of the Southern States. There are a couple of purposes to our road trip:

1. To visit several families and friends across these states and talk to them about joining our support team.

2. Taking advantage of the last month of summer left to see some of our beautiful country!

3. Why not travel?! We love it, and we're having a blast!

We're halfway through it, and here's some of our adventures thus far!

Hitting the road! Please note Sam's use of my Chanel sunglasses. Forgot his own...

Visiting New Orleans! Complete with a stop at Cafe du Monde and the French Quarter.
A beautiful, yet hot and humid visit.

Onto Tennessee!! We are actually spending the majority of our time in this
beautiful state and are thoroughly enjoying every moment of it!

Finally, we visited a friend from TCU in Chattanooga, TN.
Got ourselves roped into a crazy hike to a waterfall…
hornet stings and spider bites included.

Onto Nashville, the northern half of Tennessee, and then Arkansas and Oklahoma next. Stay tuned for updates and thanks for keeping up with us!!

Love,

H&S

Three Big Lessons

Support raising for Helen and I has been one of the most challenging experiences of our Christian life. Never before have either of us had to rely on the Lord for such simple things as a place to live and food to eat. To be honest, this was possibly one of the most uncomfortable positions a prideful, new husband could be in. In the beginning of our support-raising experience, I spent a lot of my time stressed out and doubting God. Many times I thought back to the prayer I pray almost daily, “God, I will go anywhere you want, to do whatever you want, whenever you want”, and thought that I should have clarified for God. I meant preaching to thousands of people or planting churches in the African Bush, not something as humbling as raising support.

However, as time has gone on, raising support has gone from an unfortunate hurdle to one of the most incredible experiences I have ever been through. Now, I couldn’t imagine starting off our marriage any other way. During our short time of support-raising so far, God has shown Himself in ways that neither Helen nor I could have ever imagined. From encouraging appointments with incredible people, to being humbled when we experience someone giving out of nothing because they are so bought into God’s mission. Out of all the incredible lessons that God has shown Helen and I, there is one that stands out from the rest. It was one of those paradigm-shifting lessons. One of the lessons that you come away from and you realize that your life will never be the same.

God used three people to teach us this lesson. A missionary family from Africa, a young couple on fire for the Lord, and the words of a seminary professor to his class.

The first was the missionary family from Africa. Helen, her family, and I got to share a meal with their family friends who do marriage counseling in Africa. During our conversation, they said that they had been trying to listen to God more. They said that we too often act first and then ask God to bless what we are doing. Instead we should be asking God what He wants first and then following where He leads. Those words hit me like a ton of bricks. I was 100% guilty.

The next lesson came about a week later. Helen and I were on a support appointment with another young married couple. We did the normal support raising thing; explained the ministry, asked them to support us, and overall it was a great appointment. The exciting part happened on our way back to the car when I was talking with the husband about our spiritual heroes. One of his heroes was Martin Luther who is quoted to have said that he prayed for 4 hours everyday because he couldn’t imagine getting through each day without that time. The conversation moved on from that, but those words stuck with me. If a man like Martin Luther, who stood up against hundreds of years of religious tradition to radically change the landscape of Christianity today said that he had to pray 4 hours a day because he couldn’t imagine not, how could I think that praying 30 minutes a day was all that I needed?

Both of those were incredible lessons in themselves, but a few days ago God used one last lesson to tie it all together. Helen and I were visiting DTS and we had the opportunity to briefly sit in on a class. During that time the professor explained to his class the difference between legalism and grace in a way that I will never forget. He said that legalists ask “where is the line and how close can I get to it?” but those who understand grace ask the question “what can I do to bring God the most joy?”. The professor explained what he meant using a parable;

All four of his children are incredibly intelligent and have always brought home straight “A” report cards. He posed the question to the class—“When my kids bring home great report cards, does it cause me to delight in them for the first time? No of course not!” He has always delighted in his children. Their excellence in school just provides a new way for him to delight in their character and who they are.

It is the same way with God. We are His children and He always delights in us. When we obey Him and do things that please Him, we are merely providing an opportunity for God to take joy in our character, who we are, and who He created us to be.

Then it hit me. I pray for 30 minutes a day; asking God to help me with this, give me that, and bless this. But I had it ALL wrong. Instead, everyday I get to wake up and ask God “How can I best bring You joy and glory today?”

And then just

Sit.

Be still.

Listen.

And allow Him to speak to me by moving in my heart and thoughts in order to direct me. I get to go throughout my day continuously aware that God is with me. I get to constantly talk to Him as He directs me throughout the day. Through the act of bringing God joy, I have found that I experience greater joy than when I am serving myself.

A Seminary Decision!!

One component of Sam’s residency program at McKinney is taking seminary classes. And let me tell you, he is excited about that part of the job!! He hasn’t even started yet, and this is the stack of books that he wants to read before schools starts this August. My man loves to learn, and he’s very excited about all the things he will get to learn and study in his seminary classes.

Sam had to decide where he wanted to go, so we spent the beginning of this week visiting the two best and closest options. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Dallas Theological Seminary. After actually going to both campuses and talking with students and professors there, the choice actually ended up being much easier than we expected!

…..drum roll….

Sam has officially decided to attend Dallas Theological Seminary starting in January. He will start out pursuing a Masters of Theology, and will adjust as necessary as he continues through the residency and discovers more about the gifts the Lord has given him and where he might fit best in ministry in the years to come.

We’re both very excited to officially have a decision, and Sam can’t wait to start! (You can pray for patience and perseverance as he finishes out his nutrition degree at TCU this fall)

Learning to Pray

The past three weeks have involved over 25 face-to-face meetings with couples, and individuals. From family and friends to brand new faces, we have gotten to meet with many different people. One of our missionary friends told us that raising support is just friendship building, and we have found that to be very true! We have genuinely enjoyed getting to sit across the table from so many people and hear about how God is working in their lives while also getting to share about where He is calling us.

So here we are, three weeks in, and I will say that support raising has taught me more about The Lord and what it looks like to walk with Him than I ever expected. The biggest lesson, surprisingly, has been in the area of prayer.

Before we got married, many people told us that one of the best things we could do as a married couple was to PRAY together. I, being a list maker and rule follower, decided that when we got married we’d better start praying together regularly. However, Sam and I initially found it difficult to keep up the discipline of praying together before bed each night. It would be simple things that stood in our way; one of us would fall asleep, or one would still be reading. Whatever the reasons, the simple truth was that we didn’t pray because we didn’t tangibly feel our need for Jesus.

Then, three weeks after we got married, we started raising support for Sam’s job with the college ministry at McKinney Church. Suddenly, our eyes were opened to just how dependent we were on the Lord. Since then, a day hasn’t passed that we haven’t gotten down on our knees as a couple; thanking God for His faithfulness that day and praying for His provision and blessing over the next day. We don’t forget simply because we can’t. We are completely aware that without the Lord’s presence and faithfulness in this entire process, we will fail. 

We pray because we know we are dependent.

“But as for me, I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. 

You are my help and my deliverer; you are my God, do not delay!”

Psalm 40:16-17

The interesting thing about prayer is that it builds. The more you pray, the more you want to pray. Unfortunately, it tends to work the opposite way as well, tempting those who have not conversed with the Lord for awhile to be hesitant to start again. Not only am I learning that prayer leads to more prayer, I am also learning that prayer is vital to the Christian walk.  Prayer is like your leg muscles. You might have some really attractive and ripped arm muscles but if you don’t have strong legs, you’re pretty much useless. I think that our prayer life is the same way. The “arm muscles” would be things like scripture memory, discipleship, and Bible studies; showy, popular, and pretty easy to do. But a deep and meaningful prayer life isn’t as obvious and it’s difficult to teach. But it’s foundational and necessary.

To be honest, I’m learning that my prayer muscles are pretty weak. I can go on and on about how to lead a Bible study, or the best way to memorize scripture, but when I sit down to actually converse with the King of Kings, I find that my attention strays very quickly. Instead of drawing my strength and inspiration from the One whom I am serving, I do it on my own all day and then give him a 5 second debrief on how it all went just before falling asleep each night. It’s pretty backwards, I know.

How can I expect to be walking with the Lord and in His plan if I never talk to Him?!

So I encourage you to learn from me, and not wait until the Lord takes you through the process of raising support to realize that you desperately need Him. And that prayer is powerful and necessary way to connect with the Lord and rely on Him on a daily basis.

When Jesus Christ taught His disciples to pray, he includes this line.

“Give me today my daily bread.”

Matthew 6:11

And if Jesus prayed this, how much more should we?

Friends, let us pray.

Prayer Requests:

Sam and I fervently believe that the most effective way you can partner with us and serve us is by lifting us up in prayer before the King of Kings. Our current prayer requests are:

·     - The 2,000 new TCU freshmen that will be coming onto campus in about a month! We are excited to meet them and eager to start getting to know them!

·      -Sam and I will be traveling throughout Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma from July 23-August 4 to meet with family and friends in those states. Please pray for safe travels and the Lord’s blessings over those meetings.

·      -Trust in the Lord and passion as we continue to meet with people throughout the coming weeks.