LIBERTY!!
We first of all thank you for your prayers and concern for my (Jack’s) unexpected, but necessary operation in the States to correct and heal a deep-set sinus infection. God, as we know, is always in the middle of these situations in so many ways and we thank him for his healing power and care. We all also know that the prayers of his children carry “real weight” and that He receives the glory in being able to respond as He knows best. Thanks to you all!! I am hoping and praying to be back with Janine in Chile by mid-month.
This month’s BIG PRAISE is for our LIBERTY!! Today, the 4th, we give thanks in the United States for the precious liberty we are so blessed with to govern ourselves free of any other country’s will or control–all due in its inception to the courage, commitment, and sacrifice of those that went before us and to God’s personal will to honor and bless those efforts. We began, One nation, under God. What a responsibility it now becomes for us all of this time in history to maintain that liberty and wisely use it.
There is another much more far-reaching liberty that God wills for literally all creation and that liberty only comes through his Son Jesus. There are so many passages and verses in the Bible that speak of this, like Romans chapter 6—don’t you love how these few verses end? Picking it up in verse 6,
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Freed from the “status quo” and from the control of feeling like we need to simply fit in and just be “good and responsible” Christian citizens. Paul turned his freedom from sin into “slavery” to Jesus (Romans 6: 18-23). May God bless our liberty! What a wild ride and how freeing the feeling!! There are far too many lives that Jesus would touch and transform through each of us. Thank you, Lord, for life in Jesus!
July Petitions
–The above-July praise provides more than enough prayer need in and of itself, but that is exactly what we would pretend to be part of in transforming the lives of every single child under our care in Santiago and to accomplish through every one of our other ministries there as well.
–Please pray especially that my sinus area infection, balanced with the proper clotting of my blood (I have a metal heart valve) be totally completed to allow me to return to Janine, our team, and work by mid-July!
–Janine and I are still looking for a house to rent and live in. Thank you for your prayers!
–July is a HUGE month for us in terms of “people in Chile”, between special, wonderful visitors and the visiting eight-member group from our supporting church in Manteno, IL. We wouldn’t give even ONE PERSON back!! Every single one of them will have left their mark and been blessed at the same time. What a great praise and challenge—to God be the housing, the results, and the glory! He is the “Grand Orchestrator” of all time, even with one of us in the States with an unexpected medical problem. Please join us in praying and giving thanks for our July “People” month. May it be the best ever!
–Our “house dad”, Pablo, has a job. Thank you for your prayers and please keep praying for the best gelling possible of our identity of community—all of us “gringos”, the four house parents, and the children.
–Lastly, through monies given and monies promised, we have received all funds necessary to cover the purchase of our 2003 Honda. That’s a big praise—THANK YOU!! Pray that it would always be God’s “ministry” car, as those before it, helping us accomplish all of his good and incredible purposes.
Praising, praying, and fasting with you in our Liberty Jesus,
Chile Mission 