Well for a guy that likes to have a picture to go with everything, two of the neatest things to happen this week have no picture. It’s kind of a cardinal sin in my books but I’m willing to roll with it and will do my best to tell you about them non-photographico!
First-Time Visitors
No-Photo Highlight #1: Last Saturday I received a text message from an unknown number inquiring about our Sunday service. The next morning they arrived early enough to have a short chat before beginning. Afterward, they indicated how much they enjoyed service, expressed that they’d see us the following week and invited us to their home for a visit during the week.
We had a lovely visit with them over apricot tarte, talking about the things of God and spent time in prayer. Both in service and there in their home, they were visibly moved. Praise God for the touch of his Spirit!
God’s Economy
In Saint John, our church’s treasurer, Roger Leckey always said that he’d seen God bring a harvest from places where they’d not necessarily sown… as long as they were sowing somewhere. They’d do a prayer walk on the east side of the city and would get a call for the bus ministry to pick-up someone new in the north.
That’s how I see this new couple as having come. Remember last week I talked about prayer-walking through Richelieu (30min away)? Only 5 days later we get contact with folks who are 20min away in the opposite direction.
God’s kind of cool that way!
Monday
The Lord has opened up another door for me to teach English, this time at the ESSCA Management School in Angers.
It means an early departure and near 2-hr drive but it also means connecting with a number of other French students and networks of people, while also helping financially.
I enjoy the drive and it makes for great quiet-prayer time. This week I also took time to prayer-walk through downtown Angers before coming home.
Financial coolness
No-Photo Highlight #2: Things had been tighter for us this month with an annual bill that comes through each August and the beginning of the school year. We buckled down and were doing our best. Sometimes we have the option of pulling from a Canadian account to help top-up, but due to an ATM software update in Canada, our cards were not working. The very next day, I got an email indicating that our monthly allotment would come a week early due to St. Louis office staff being at General Conference next week. … God’s timing is cool!
#UPCIGC17
Speaking of General Conference, I’m excited that Pentecostal Publishing House will be selling my book Short-Term Missions Success at their booth. They will also be selling it through their online store on an ongoing basis. 70 copies have sold through Amazon in the past two weeks alone!
Short-Term Missions has been so positive in our lives and this is a tool to help those that God is calling to do the same.
Missionary Paul Brochu
Please keep Bro. Brochu in your prayers… Yesterday, Friday, he was in a Paris train station and collapsed with a severe heart attack.
Three Miracles:
- It happened right next to an emergency call phone to station staff so help was with him almost immediately.
- Once at the hospital the doctor said it was a massive attack that could’ve killed him.
- Because they caught it so early the doctor expects no scarring on the heart.
Praise God for these three miracles!
Oh yes, today’s post title…
“Promenade du Bout du Monde”
means
“Walk to the End of the Earth”
…. now I can say I’ve been there!
In case you’re wondering about today’s title and feature image… here’s the back story.
The picture comes from the castle in downtown Angers. The moat (which was never filled with water but with animals from the governor’s menagerie) is bare and plain on the upper end, but on the lower end, boasts a typical garden in the high-French style. Rich in color and beautiful in design. It remains, however… a moat… a pit surrounding the castle walls.
- We had gone a while without new visitors at church. That can feel like a pit.
- Things were stretched financially. That can feel like a pit.
- But God, in the midst of a pit, turned it around in ways that only he could.
Beauty in the midst of a pit….
- David walked through the valley of the shadow of death but feared no evil.
- Daniel found himself in a literal pit of danger… but the Lord made a way.
- Joseph went from a pit to a prison… but the Lord lifted him out marvelously.
If anything, this week, has caused you to feel like you were living in a pit… a barren place, keep holding on and trusting the Lord. You can find beauty in the pit! Trust me… that’s been our testimony this week.
God bless you this week….
and may you find beauty in the pit!
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Short Term Missions Monday
It’s been a while since I published a STMM post, mostly because I was focused on getting the book done this summer.
There’s another post coming this Monday on the question of language and this time in the form of an audio podcast link – thought I’d try something new.
Check it out & let me know what you think.
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AIM Long 