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December 2003 The wonderful memories of that challenging September Mt. Washington hike have been replaced by equally exhilarating “mountain top experiences” of a different nature these past two months. Our journey has taken us from coast to coast and to points between several times, and we gratefully affirm God’s faithfulness to us as we’ve spoken to groups large and small of multi-ethnic backgrounds about God’s design for marriage and the family. In these times when the obvious is being obscured by distortions, returning to His Word to reaffirm His design is of critical importance. In the end, it’s about Him and His plan, not about 21st century “enlightenment” that diametrically opposes Biblical truth. We are privileged to be actively engaged in pressing hope into the hearts and minds of couples eager to more fully embrace God’s plan for their marriage and family. Some of our “mountain top experiences” have included counseling a couple whose marriage was being destroyed by unfaithfulness, and witnessing the transforming work of the Spirit in the husband’s heart to end the affair and work on his marriage; meeting with a couple who skipped a session of the conference in order to attack the “carpenter ants” threatening their marriage; counseling an Asian couple who were challenged by our teaching on “leave, cleave, and become one,” a Biblical truth that flies in the face of Chinese tradition dictating parent and adult child relationships. Since the end of September, we’ve spoken over fifty times, to a total of 1800 people, and have been energized by these experiences. We’ve also counseled numerous couples, some of them growing and changing, others finding it difficult to emerge from their stuckness. Those “stuck” seem to resist embracing the only hope we can offer: that which is found in a personal relationship with Jesus and a commitment to following Him obediently. Cooperating with His plan makes so much sense when you contrast the lives of those who do with those who don’t. October 24 was a mountain top of a different sort: over 200 gathered to celebrate the launch of Home Improvement Ministries. The atmosphere was electric with the fellowship of dear friends, full of expectation and vision for this new ministry focus. Our 501(c)(3) (non-profit) status has been granted and our calendar is full through next September. We also withdrew from the competition for the longest web address and replaced it with “HIMweb.org”. We are surrounded by an amazing team of gifted friends who share the vision and are sacrificially giving of their talents and resources to make this a reality. We are humbled by their commitment and belief in what we’re doing. We’ve just returned from a week in California, where we joined our three daughters and most of Paul’s extended family for Thanksgiving. We were delighted to have time with each of the girls in their current “homes” and to experience their worlds to a degree. There aren’t words for the joy we have in our souls as we see God at work in their lives. What evidence of His amazing grace! The days relentlessly and hastily pass by and we’re startled to be turning to the December calendar page already. This month we’ll hold our first “Engagement Matters” weekend at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and we’ll wrap up our couple’s study with the New England Patriots. We’ll welcome our daughters home for the holidays and carve out time to celebrate the birth of the One around whom Home Improvement Ministries centers. Our deepest heart for you is that you will know of His love for you in ever deepening ways and be drawn to cooperating more fully with His design for your life. |
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