Final Post

It has been nearly six months since Ann and I left Mozambique.  Our 15-year plan turned out to really be a five-year plan as the plans of man....well.....they aren't so reliable.  It is clear that we will not be returning and we have many more questions than answers about our time there but at the same time, we know we were faithful to His call on our lives.

We will continue to search our 'what is next' through prayer, reading, study, and seeking.  We are not at this time inclined to return to overseas service.

But regardless, it is time to end this blog since this particular journey has ended.  I offer the following summation:

1.  Our Call was real, it was specific, and it was for a purpose we may never fully understand.     The reality of that Call has never changed.  It was for Mozambique, and there was urgency in the Call but just as quickly as it came, it was removed.
2.  It was truly a privilege to work in Mozambique for the time we did and to work side-by-side with our dear Mozambican brothers and sisters.  We were given a love for them that was not something we could have ever generated in our own hearts.
3.  Blessings came from the most unexpected places as did the challenges.
4.  The things we thought would be hard turned out to be very easy or even not needed, whereas the things we thought would be easy, turned out to be hard and in some cases impossible.
5.  We were privileged to have the most incredible team of people who went with us, stood by us, prayed for us, sent us notes, called us, hosted us, visited us - the graciousness of God's people is beyond measure.  We could never say 'thank you' enough.
6.  With great gain comes great heartbreak.  But our life experience tells us that God will help us to remember the good with great joy and to cast aside the dung, for life is always full of both and we gain character from both.  Kind of like the movie - wax on, wax off, wax on, wax off.
7.  God loves us and is with us in the good and the bad.  When our hearts break, his heart breaks, for He has walked the same roads as us through His Son.
8.   God is less interested in what we 'do' than I had ever realized.  When we arrived in Mozambique, He was already there and to think that we are 'bringing something' is really kind of silly.  He allows us to participate in what He is already doing.  Everything has to come from being WITH Him, from being open to that leading from deep inside that comes from that Pure spirit deep within us that is His presence.  At 58 years of age, I know so very little of the things of God, for they are in many ways unsearchable and unknowable - but I can know Him and there is great peace in that.
9.  Sometimes the things we do in our compassion and strength are not the things that God would have us do.  Sometimes they even do harm rather than good because of our own frailties, insecurities, and presuppositions.  People need to see the love of Christ in our eyes and our actions.  Our money, our time, our lives are of little help if people cannot see Christ in us. Like those in the medical profession, perhaps we in ministry should also take the vow to 'do no harm' as a guiding principle.
10.  Lastly, we know that God will finish what He has started.  For we believe He is who He says He is.  May we learn how to simply 'be' with Him and trust Him.  There is no other way that makes any sense.

Thank you for standing with us.  May His name be praised and His will be done - on earth as it is in Heaven.

Much love,

Dave and Ann


"Hear O Israel:  The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give to your today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."  Deuteronomy 6:4-7


"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  "Love your neighbor as yourself."  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."  Matthew 22:36-40


May we love Him.