Africa Finalized

Africa is finally finalized for Michelle and I.

We'll be departing on July 27th and returning on August 7th.

We're really excited for the opportunity and can't completely comprehend what the experience will be like, but that's a good thing.

Africa Update

Michelle and I were invited to be included in the next couple of trips to the Congo through our church's Project 58 campaign. Project 58 is the name given to our long term commitment to World Relief and to Congo. 58 is a reference to Isaiah 58..

We were asked to go in June and then lead another trip within a year. The hope is that our church can begin pouring in and support the efforts made by young adults and/or couples that would add stability to the project and provide leadership on future trips. We're all about this idea. The first trip is in June and the second would be in August and then again potentially in February.

Well, we committed to the trip in June with our friends Joe and Steph only. Then I was to co-lead with another staff person from our church in August for a group size of 10. Michelle just wouldn't be able to take that much time off with so little time in between. But I could do to the nature of my work.

This has been shaking down for a month or so now and the nature of short term trips are always changing. So, there has been some wrinkles.

The second trip has been coming together despite a later start than desired and the high cost of airfare. $3000 per ticket round trip, crazy!! Late last week we found out that all the exiting flights from Kigali Rwanda are sold out for over a week straight during our trip and when we were planning on leaving. So, the trip is getting moved into July a few weeks.

This puts a pinch on me and my job. 4 weeks in between trips was pushing it, but now only 2-3 weeks is making two trips impossible. Not sure what is all going to shake out, but got to make a decision soon..

Keep you posted.. journey has many bumps

Service Day Saturday

This Saturday we're partnering with Blackhawk Ministries to launch into the NE community of Fort Wayne to meet the needs of a handful of individuals requesting help.

I'm stoked about this because we really could see a lot of momentum in the NE quadrant due to a few churches really embracing serving their community.

What could this look like? Let's see, at least one initiative each month that could include 3 churches and their members reaching out to those in need. It could even look like a few churches each weekend organizing service projects.

Think what could happen if the majority of the churches in the NE quadrant decided to collaborate and meet major needs in their areas. Each church decides to get outside of their walls, meet the felt needs, and take their message of hope with them.

Join us this Saturday...

Blackhawk Ministries - NE Fort Wayne

andrew@nlfw.org if interested

Good Spot

I'm in a great spot as ED of the organization I work for. We are volunteer based organization that seeks out agencies dealing with social issues and needs and operate a website that volunteers can connect to those needs. I say that I'm in a great spot because I don't have to worry day to day about having the funding to continue operation due to a great board of directors.

On the other hand, I am constantly trying to fight and fix things that I see that are broken but in reality maybe aren't. We get lots of projects that our group of volunteers cannot do on a given weekend or due to financial resources not being available. But, we get a lot of projects that can be completed and do get completed. I find myself in the tension of wanting to push forward at my own pace and not the pace of God. In the balance of living in my own strength and not in the strength of the Spirit in which I desperately need to complete the type of work I am attempting.

The people in need need God's grace and mercy and for Him to provide. I need God to provide daily and the organization needs God's intervention to solve bigger issues. Faith can be such a fine line, especially when we have skills and resources. In matters of physicality, we can do so much without Christ at times...almost too much.

The Journey keeps getting longer...

Pictures of last Week...

Pictures from the past week taken by my phone. It was a great week long celebration

Happy 2-7 to me I guess

Today is the day I was born 27 years ago… and yes… you get to walk like an Egyptian on your birthday. Bringing you a little vintage Andrew here.

I’m usually not really all that big on birthdays, but Michelle makes celebrations awesome. What a great wife! We’ll have to keep you posted on the festivities and events of the day.

A trip to the doctor is in the plans.. excitement is brewing

House pt 2

So, the house thing didn't work out. There were just too many unknowns with the deal and the risks were high. Unfortunately, we'll wait.

HOUSE

Michelle and I have been looking for a house in a neighborhood that is meaningful to us for many reasons. Many of you that know us, know that our desire is to live somewhere we can embrace community and attempt to live out ideas of community development and allow God to transform us through that process.

We've looked at many houses over the past year in this neighborhood. The one you see above is the most recent house. We looked at this house towards the end of February. This house is what they call a "short sale" type house and is scheduled to go to sheriff's sale on Thursday. We've made a couple of offers only to be turned down by the bank... UNTIL Today.. The bank called the listing agent who called our agent and said that we could have the house for a price that's quite a bit less than the listing price but more than we offered the last time.

We believe it's still a pretty good deal, but we're not extremely sure. We've been praying for this neighborhood and for something to come along, but as you may know, when a decision like this comes along, you can't get enough assurance.

Please think and pray for us on this.. We'll keep you posted. Decision time is tonight!!

Let me tell you a story about my wife

She loves with an unselfish love. She loves children that sometimes have no one else to love them. The children have been ravaged by diseases outside of their control. The kids she loves didn't choose cancer. They didn't choose sickle cell anemia. They didn't choose cystic fibrosis. They didn't choose abusive or neglecting parents.

Sometimes these children have parents that are laying their entire lives and families on the line for their sick child. Going so far in debt that they couldn't even dream of escaping it. Their families are inevitably broken due to the stress a child with cancer places on them. These families are many times left to suffer on their own. No support groups, churches, close friends to journey with them. They are left questioning the God they know or the God that is supposed to save them from all bad things. Regardless of whether or not they know this God, they are left questioning why them, why their child?

More times than you would like to know, you have families that neglect their children through these diseases. They drop their child off at the hospital for a week and only come to visit when it's time to pick them up. They don't monitor their medicines or diets and wonder why their kid is attempting suicide. They wonder why their child is getting in trouble with the law and doesn't care about anything, even living and beating their disease.

My wife is passionate woman that cannot let children suffer alone. She will fight for their lives and fight alongside the parents ready to fight by equipping them with the tools and resources to succeed. She will love these children, she will hold these children, she will cry for these children, she will laugh with these children, she will make the little girls princesses, and she will make the little boys meet their heroes. She will live vibrantly with them and she will be hurt when they hurt.

She shows me more of what Christ's unconditional love looks like for us than anyone else I know. I want to be more like my wife.