Thursday, May 28, 2009

Taking it up a notch

Hey to all.  ITS HOT HERE IN TEPIC.  So I am still trying to nail down a regular blogging schedule so that I can provide more frequent updates to those who invest into Juli and I and our ministry.  It is amazing how quick the time flies! Summer is an extremely busy season for us here at La Fuente (but also one of the most enjoyable) because we have short-term mission groups visiting us from all over, and we usually try to catch up on much needed construction projects.  Last week we were able to finish up some light construction at our newest church plant in Compostela, and we are currently hosting a group from Kansas that is going to be involved in various aspects of the ministry for the next week or so.  I am pretty sure I have already gone over the limit with hillbilly jokes so pray I can restrain myself.  On top of that my wife is approaching the end of her semester in school, and this means added projects and final exams, the good news is that she is doing awesome as always in school and will soon be available to help out full time in the ministry while she is off for the summer!!  I hope that all is well with you guys, you are all in my prayers.  

            I wanted to write a bit about something that has been on my mind a lot as of late.  I have been really feeling lately like it is time for me and for Christians in general to really make sure we are constantly trying to take our Christianity and relationship with Jesus to the next level.  It is such an easy and convenient trap to become stagnant in our walk with God, or even get to the point where we set our relationship with Him somewhere on the back burner to focus on what we consider more important things.  It is so easy to get comfortable and begin to neglect the time we invest into what really should be the most important thing we have going for us.  We are put on this earth and wired to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and so often we begin one, but that is where it ends.  Or we grow for awhile, and then we become a bit complacent and shift our focus to other things such as personal success or our own problems.  I believe that when we truly desire to grow in our relationship with Him, that is when we truly get to know Him and who He is.  That is when we recognize more and more of what He has given us and we begin to realize the importance of relying on His guidance for everyday matters.  Take any one of your relationships for example, if you neglect your friends or family and are not in constant communication with them you begin to drift apart.  Even if it is slight at first it can grow over time to the point where you hardly know the person.  On the other hand the more and more time you spend with a friend and with more and more communication you begin to understand what makes them laugh or what they like and dislike.  It is no different with God.  This life is about one thing, knowing and worshiping our Savior.  Lets do it.  Continually. 

            Thank you guys so much for your prayers and support.  You guys are awesome. Juli and I are truly blessed to have people like you backing us up.  We love you guys!  We want to hear how you are doing!

 

Josh and Juli                 

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Roots and Miracles

So today my wife and I had a pretty full Saturday.  The day started with a soccer tournament for the youth from our mission churches.  It was a good time and cool to see all of our church plants come together and do something.  Valles (the church where I work) came in third place.  On saturday nights we have our group for people who are HIV positive or have AIDS.  I felt as though the message that was shared was great and important enough to be passed on to my blog.  Another pastor on staff came and shared about roots.  More specifically roots of issues.  Often times as Christians we judge based off of symptoms that we see or experience.  For example, if I see a mother miss-treating her son, or someone lying constantly, I tend to judge their actions as wrong and then can easily jump to conclusions about them as individuals.  What we really need to do is look deeper at the root causing this behavior, and as believers, do our best to speak into their lives the answer to the root issue, not necessarily the behavior displayed by the root issue.  I think that this is a great lesson for all of us to grab hold of.  Even in our own lives we tend to judge our actions based off of purely what we see happening while maybe there is something deeper we need to address.  I love the example of pulling weeds, if we break it off at the ground it will disappear for awhile, and we may even think we have beat it, but if we don’t get that root pulled out, it will return.  I challenge you to examine your life and see if there is a root or two that still needs yanked.

 

Speaking of our HIV group, this week we saw what we are claiming as a miracle for my good friend Robin.  Robin had the original idea of starting this support group; he is a HIV patient who was given 5 months to live about a year and a half ago.  He understands the only reason he has any hope is because of Jesus, and with his inspiration we started this group.  Robin was hospitalized for a period because of this virus, and has battled quite a bit.  We have all been praying and believing for his healing.  Last week Robin went for a routine check up of some various cell count numbers and a check on his defenses.  There is a lot of science involved here but the bottom line is that the test results came back and the doctor told Robin that his HIV is now “almost undetectable.”  The doctor said that the medical treatment Robin is on must have been working…He doesn’t know that because of the side affects Robin did not take the medical treatment…Praise God.

 

God Bless.

 

Josh