It was fifty degrees outside and Amy, Ezekiel and I were
standing in Smithville Lake with a couple of hundred people
watching. We didn’t get very many pictures because we were
all in the water, so I don’t have any to share here, but it’s
probably the coolest thing that happened since I wrote to you
last. I asked Ezekiel why he wanted to be baptized and he said,
“I am repenting and believing in Jesus and I want everyone to
know about it.”
The last couple of months have flown by. I’ve been
learning a new program for my new role with Pioneers, taking a
course on Islam, proofreading another one, helping with field
trips, speaking in churches, making hundreds of phone calls to
potential supporters and churches, speaking in some churches
both familiar and new, working on our house and cars, and
more! The kids and Amy are done with school for the summer, we don’t have any big plans to travel.
Amy is working on come continuing education/certification that she needs and we’re looking into other
needs that we are working on as a family but are harder to do during the school year.
The past few weeks I’ve been taking the online Encountering the World of Islam course. We are
currently in lesson 4 out of 12. I’ve been meditating this week on the shame and disgrace of the cross
and the humility to which Christ calls us when He says “If anyone wishes to come after me he must deny
himself, take up his cross and follow me.” The cross is a hard concept for Muslims to grasp because
honor and shame are so important. Who could believe that God would shame his prophet like that?
Even further, just thinking about honor and shame when witnessing to Muslim friends, it’s a
hard thing to do effectively. We frequently listen to someone talk about what we believe as if it’s
ridiculous and silly, and we are ridiculous and silly for believing it… I don’t like being talked to that way
and I want to answer in kind, but can I communicate the gospel
without attacking back? Can I accept the shame without
shaming in return? I’m not very good at being insulted without
defending myself, but that’s exactly what Jesus did. He bore
our sin without ever coming to His own defense and thereby
took our sorrows, shame, grief and sin on Himself so that we
could have eternal life. I have a long way to go, how about
you?
Thanks for keeping up with us and praying. Feel free to reply
to this email if you want to communicate with us!
Justin, Amy,
Ezekiel and
Caleb
