November 8, 2007

Dear Praying Friends,

In just one month we will be gathering together to celebrate 25 years of ministry and envision the future.  I hope you are coming.

Reflecting on twenty-five years …-- gives us a chance to remember.  God asks His people to remember, to be a remembering people.  And in remembering, we receive:

• Perspective

Twenty five years is a long time.  A lot of learning curves, a lot of troubles which gave us gifts of insight, a lot of prayers answered, a lot of lives poured into and a lot of love returned.  All of this lays a foundation of perspective.  Urban work is a long term commitment.  The poor are precious to God.  Endurance is a spiritual gift.  Love covers a multitude of sin.  It is worth it to seek first “the Kingdom”.
 

• Joy

As we have been flipping through loads of archives, photos and years of memorabilia, we are flooded with joy.  We can be back there, 1987, at the first Kids Club, the windy park, the naïve expectations.  We can see the first Lake Day, Frankie Saenz is just four, (he is 23 today), Nueva Esperanza is a new church, the food bank remodeled, the first baptisms at ODF, work crews from partner churches, broken bus stories, and the homeless years. How is it possible we have been so privileged to have lived these precious memories? 
 

• A Grateful Heart

Maybe our prayer ought to be, “Lord, have we failed to thank you regularly?  You pulled us through difficulty after sorrow, after misunderstandings, after insurmountable odds.  When we collapsed in exhaustion and watched you redeem the story of this life, or that tragedy, did we forget to tell you how grateful we are?  Help us always to be thankful people.  You are worthy of all praise, as we remember”.
 

• Amazement

Sometimes we claim the verse from Ephesians, that “He will do beyond all you can ask or think”, as a mantra. I am often asked, “Did your vision for this work, look like this?” I laugh.  “Who besides God thinks this big and can sustain His people to carry on, and can pay all these bills, and hire these amazing people, and grow his church?”  Remembering leads to astonished amazement.  Looking at this work, the conclusions about what God is like are also endless.
 

• Focus

Remembering centers us.  The discouragements can be many.  Some months are simply more than anyone bargained for, and some challenges are beyond our capacities.  These can derail our faith and take us down dark alleys of distraction and self-pity.   But then we remember what we are about, what we have been called to do, and how God has met us here before.  And we can do another day.
 

• Hope

Even though twenty-five years is a very long time, in some ways it is just a good running start.  There is so much more to do and be about.  God has been giving us glimpses of it.  And we are trying to take hold of it, carefully, trembling – like before, it’s beyond us, but not beyond Him. 

If you will not be able to be with us, will you pray for us that night?

But we would love it if you are going to be there.  We’ll be looking for you!