Sweet Surrender

This is a great question and probably represents the BIGGEST change I have seen in my dad. And in this he is teaching all of us a brand new lesson - his daughters and all of his grandchildren. Absolutely overwhelming to watch this transformation.

How have you seen the way God turns things upside down--strengths are weaknesses and weaknesses are strengths?

GARY: 

I have traditionally been very hesitant to depend on others or even accept help very readily.  Perhaps the way I was raised?  Some of you will know what I mean, - Be your own man - Step up, no one else is responsible for your success, and the like. These are not bad lessons to get from your father, but they do overlook or ignore the help that our Heavenly Father provides.  For whatever reason, my ability or proclivity not to ask for help, which I always considered a strength has been an issue that I am learning to correct.

For example, in raising support for our mission work, I have consistently resisted making the request for support.  The personnel at One Mission Society have tried to explain to me that what I am offering is a way for those who can't go, aren't led to go, or won't go to still be effective in the work for the Lord in the Great Commission of Matthew 28, "Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."

Generally, what I have found is that most things I thought were my strengths were in fact areas of weakness that I incorrectly thought I had taken care of. 

Fortunately, as it says in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

God is faithful and He has sometimes almost miraculously provided needed funding for trips where we were making reservations and purchasing airline tickets with no clear idea of how or where the money would come from to pay the incurred expense.  Our month end balance has been less than $300.00 far more often than it has been over $2,500.00 which is about the cost for our typical trip to Honduras.  We are just grateful that God is taking care of the books and the accounting

Some Divine Protection

IF you have a single bit of doubt about how or IF your prayers for Gary and Diane are being answered, check out this response from Gary.

How has God shown His protection of you in your travels thus far? 

When we were in Costa Rica last year, we were robbed at gunpoint, so it hasn't been all roses.  Going to dinner at a restaurant with two classmates from Language School, we were stopped by two young men who demanded our money.  I didn't realize we were being robbed, so I refused and kept walking. I had Diane on my arm and I told the other two girls from our class to keep moving.  One young man ran around in front of me again and said "I said give me your money."  I responded that I had said no at which point he showed me his gun.  At the very same instant, his partner had grabbed the purse of one of the girls with us and had thrown her to the ground and she screamed.  I am not sure why, but I responded to her scream rather than the sight of the gun.  What resulted was so much better than it could have been.  The thug saw me running back, he got up and ran, and he had a gun as well.  The guy who pulled the gun on me ran up beside me, grabbed her purse where the other fellow had dropped it and then he ran off as well.  Could have been fatal errors committed here - I am only blessed that God was in control. 

The girl lost about $40.00 in cash, a NJ driver's license, and a VISA card that was cancelled in less than 20 minutes after the robbery.  She was scraped up from being thrown to the ground, but was really only shook up.  God is good, all the time!

These are the two "girls" that were mugged with us.  To the left is Caitlin (in her 30s), She was our classmate and is now making four week trips about every six weeks to Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala etc doing water supply projects, solar panel powered water delivery projects - all as part of and in support of missionary work in Latin America.  She is a civil engineer and has specialized in projects related to providing reliable sanitary drinking water to communities in poverty stricken areas of Latin America.  The other is Cathy who has gone on several mission trips with Caitlin and who is a member of her home church in New Jersey.