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1 Corinthians 3:4-9

"For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building."

1 Corinthians 3:4-9


Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Olney, Montana...Only God!

Olney, Montana...That's the name of our new home...Where is that? you ask. Well, follow Highway 93 North almost to Canada and you'll find it...go on to Mile Marker 148 and make a left and you'll find the Potter's Field ranch nestled into the Montana mountains, the thick green evergreens, and lots and lots of powdery white snow...

See, the thing is...nobody really comes to Olney, Montana...unless directed here by God. One former Potter's Field Intern named his blog 'Olney, Montana...Only God' for that very reason. No one makes their way to Mile Marker 148 and 0.7 miles unless they are being lead by Jesus himself.

We are exactly 24 miles from the nearest town- Whitefish, Montana. So, if you think about that statement- we are 48 miles round trip from the nearest grocery store, gas station, civilization!!! Have you ever heard stories about grizzly mountain men...only coming into town every so often for supplies...and when they do they have this wide-eyed, stir-crazy look about them?

Yeah...that is SO true! And so our life now! Hahahaha...

I'm painting you a picture of real Montana life...but it isn't really our life :) But we do only go into 'town' about once a week for shopping purposes. We have chapel services once a week and church once a week. Other than that, we live at the ranch, surrounded by twelve Ignite program interns and a handful of on-site staff. When we all do get into town, we all do probably have that wide-eyed look about us, though...hahaha...

We moved from Costa Rica back to the United States about 3 months ago. WOW! It has gone by so fast! We lived in Indiana for about a month visiting with family and ministry partners. then we began a three-week road trip across the United States, visiting family and ministry partners along the way! It was an amazing three-weeks! We have memories that none of us will ever forget! We saw parts of the United States and God's creation that are absolutely amazing!

We arrived in Montana on December 20th, 2012. Just in time for Christmas! Our first White Christmas in about 6 years! Our first Christmas spent with family in about that long! Our parents were able to be with us this year in Montana to celebrate! It was wonderful!

And, now we are happy to say that we are settled in here at the Ranch and enjoying the abundant joyful life the Lord has blessed us with. We have so much to be thankful for. The Lord has given us so many amazing blessings. I thought I'd highlight a few with you today...

~We have the amazing privilege of serving with Potter's Field Ministries. If you've never looked into this ministry that the Lord is using to transform lives, please do so right now! Click here to go to there website and read more about them...Because we serve with PFM, we serve under a leadership team who are grace-filled, passionate about Jesus, lovers of the TRUTH, and dedicated to sharing the gospel with the lost, wherever and with whomever the Lord leads them, and also dedicated to making disciples of the nations...all of this with the purpose of transforming lives forever. They are the real deal. WE ARE BLESSED!
~We have the amazing opportunity of learning the stateside process of the ministry we've served with for the past two and half years. This has proven to be an incredible blessing! We could never have imagined the blessing this was going to be. We see more and more of God's providential plan in bringing us here each day!
~We have the amazing blessing of doing life with young adults who have chosen to deny themselves of their desires, who have chosen to take up their cross, and who have chosen God's way over their own. These kids are amazing!!  We call them around here 'IGNITE 1.0-ers.'They have chosen that for the next year- their everything belongs to Jesus! They are on a crazy journey that is just beginning. We are thrilled beyond belief to have the opportunity to invest in them at a stage that is so so key to their futures. Right now, many of them are just lumps of clay. Some are hard and dry and brittle. Some have been washed with water and come ready to be placed on the Potter's wheel. Some find themselves already on the wheel, clay in the Potter's hands, waiting for the Lord to being molding and shaping them into a masterpiece. Then there are a very few who find themselves a beautiful vessel, knowing they need to be broken by the master Potter, in order that their true beauty and potential and the Potter's Master plan might be unfolded over the course of the next year of their lives.
~We have the amazing blessing of serving with a handful of former interns, all of whom have returned from the field and have chosen to dedicate more of their lives to serving Jesus. We call them '2.0-ers.' They are here at Potter's Field ranch because they are being refined...they've been the lump of clay, been washed with the water, sat  on the Potter's wheel, been broken and chipped, and have been made new again, re-formed and re-worked...and now they find themselves ready for the fire of the kiln. Ready to be refined. They seek the Lord's will and are willing to live radically different lives in order to live fully for Christ!
~We are clinging to 1 Corinthians 2:9 in these days...We are believing great things from God! We are expecting Him to do things in our lives that no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no mind has conceived. We believe Him to do these things because we believe His Word to be true. We believe it to be the authority in our lives. We believe in this vision. We believe in the leaders. We believe.

We love you all. We thank you for hanging with us over the years. We ask you to believe with us. We ask you to keep praying with us!

And...watch out for those moose!

Hahaha...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great newsletter.So glad it is working out:)