"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:5-11).
It is such an amazing thing to think about the God we serve. He humbled himself to be a man, further humbled himself to the death of the cross and was eventually exalted by the Father that we might confess that he is Lord. As Christians, our goal is to bring people to the point of willingly confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord. There is so much opportunity with so many who have not heard.
We have officially moved into a new chapter now (and I realize that I have said that a lot recently). Once again, it is true. Praise the Lord that our house has officially sold, closing on the 23rd of August. It was quite the journey with many ups and downs, but the Lord knew the process all along. We are just learning to trust his knowledge and plan.
The other big news is that I have completed the first portion of my Aviation Maintenance certificate in that I went through the testing on 5-6 August, coming away with my FAA Airframe Certificate. I have two remaining classes through October and the first couple of weeks of November. Lord willing, at that point I will take my Powerplant testing and the maintenance portion of our missions prep will be complete.
The final piece of big news is that we had been discussing when to break away from my full-time employment and spend more time toward the ministry. The Lord seemed to clearly lead toward a set time and I have finished my outside work. I now have several weeks to put toward the ministry before heading back to school for the last several weeks of the program.
Prayer requests:
Our biggest need at this point is to set up meeting dates with churches. Please pray that we will be able to fill up our schedule as the Lord sees fit. Our current plan is to be in the Midwest in mid-February and forward. We have several churches in which we would like to present our ministry. Between now and then, we would like to fill up our schedule here in the Northwest.
We cannot complete this ministry and calling without the faithful prayers of so many. As God works, we see the results of those prayers. We endeavor to share as much of them with you to encourage you as well. We are trying to be better about sharing them sooner on our Facebook page, and we will continue to get better about that.
Faithfully in Christ—Matt, Rebekah, Emily, Michael, Chelsea, Elijah, Noah