Thank you for your prayers for Ruben! Since the last time I posted, he had been released from the hospital because the pain had diminished quite a bit and he seemed to be doing better. However, the doctor in Santo Domingo still believed that surgery would be necessary to remove his pancreas. His pain never diminished completely and his condition never was fully restored. He actually has lost 60 lbs over the course of this whole ordeal. He decided to get a second opinion and went to Quito to see a doctor there. The doctor in Quito is giving him a much better prognosis, saying that he will need another checkup in one month and if his condition is not better at that time then he will need surgery but only surgery to remove liquid around his pancreas. Again, thank you so, so much for all of your prayers for Ruben! We’ll keep you updated in the meantime!
Update on Ruben
Finding wholeness in the Healer
It’s been a couple of months ago that I had the idea to write this particular blog. Don’t ask why it has taken so long; I suppose this is the time God wanted me to write it-as God seems to be pretty amazing about that whole timing thing ya know… If you know me or have read my blogs, you know that I absolutely LOVE the worship music of Kari Jobe I was listening to one of her songs, Healer. I have listened to this song 100 times before, but when I listened to it this specific time, it’s simple and known words, I realized that I was seriously missing something. We humans pray for healing, we pray that God will heal, that He will heal our bodies, our land, our minds, our hearts. I think of times that I have so desperately prayed for healing for others, not doubting at all that Christ can do it if He so chooses. It was a little different when I started praying for healing for myself. Joel and I have been trying to have another baby for about 2 years or so now and have been unsuccessful. This has been a struggle, a deep one for me and I feel like my body is broken because I can’t seem to easily do what so many women can so easily. In my work, I see women all the time who are so disappointed when they get pregnant and it hurts me and my heart breaks a little because we so desperately want another child. Infertility issues are common nowadays. I know so many women struggle with it, and each one deals with it in their own way. Some are angry, and don’t think I haven’t been there. But I really have felt like I’m just not whole because this part of life has been difficult. This is not meant to be a pitty party, it’s not. I do know that God has a plan. I do though, want to tell you my journey in infertility and how wholeness and healing started with the simple words of a song. As I listened to this song Healer and really thought about the words, I realized the way I looked at healing all my life may have been wrong. Of course God can heal at any moment, He does, He has and He will. I have never doubted that at all. However, the process of healing and the way a person is healed may not always be as expected. In the words of the song, I realized that wholeness is in Christ. It is not if your body or your mind is whole, but understanding that wholeness comes through Christ. I asked myself the question, “Am I OK with Jesus being sufficient enough for me, even if we can’t ever have another biological baby?” AM I OK WITH THAT?Because if I can’t be fulfilled and have enough with Christ, it’s not going to matter if we have another baby. Now, maybe this is elementary for all of you saints and biblical scholars. However, to really understand that and to really be whole and healed and have Jesus as your portion and to actually do it and not just say it is difficult. Initially, I didn’t like my answer to the question. It meant being OK with giving that dream and wish and hope up. It meant being OK without more biological children. That was hard for me to swallow. But, if every, and I mean EVERY area isn’t given to Christ, is wholeness possible? So, I had to make that choice. Do I pray for healing in my body, or do I pray for wholeness in Christ? Am I OK with NOT being healed? Does this happen overnight???? Of course not. Giving up something you have held onto so tightly is never easy. But as much as I have to give Simeon to Jesus daily, so do I have to give up each aspect of life to Him as well. I encourage you… WHAT ARE YOU HOLDING ON TO? Is it healing for yourself or someone else? Whatever it is, God can take care of it better than you can. He wants what is best for you, but we have to trust that He knows better that we do. It’s not easy. It’s a journey, but He wants to walk with us, not make us carry it on our own. Her are the words and the song by Kari Jobe.
“Healer”
You hold my very moment You calm my raging seas You walk with me through fire And heal all my disease I trust in You, I trust in You I believe You’re my healer I believe You are all I need I believe And I believe You’re my portion I believe You’re more than enough for me Jesus You’re all I need You hold my very moment You calm my raging seas You walk with me through fire And heal all my disease I trust in You, Lord I trust in You I believe You’re my healer I believe You are all I need Oh, I believe I believe You’re my portion I believe You’re more than enough for me Jesus You’re all I need Nothing is impossible for You Nothing is impossible Nothing is impossible for You You hold my world in Your hands Nothing is impossible for You Nothing is impossible Nothing is impossible for You You hold my world in Your hands I believe You’re my healer I believe You are all I need Oh, yes You are, yes You are And I believe You’re my portion Lord I believe You’re more than enough for me Jesus You’re all I need More than enough for me Jesus You’re all I need You’re my healer
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Thank you New Hope Covenant Church
We had a wonderful time with New Hope Covenant Church of Richland, MI this past weekend. We were greeted by this wonderful sign in the morning!
Ministry Schedule
- October 13: Cross Fellowship Covenant Church, Chicago, IL
- October 20: Pleasant View Mennonite Church, Goshen, IN (Missions Night service)
- October 27-30: Ashram – Pastor’s Retreat for the Covenant East Coast Conference – Swanzey, NH
- November 3: St. John’s Church, Millsersburg, OH
- November 4: Faith Community Covenant Church, Youngstown, OH
- November 10: Hope Covenant Church, Indianapolis, IN
- November 16: Bay Evangelical Covenant Church, Green Bay, WI
- November 17: Lost Lake Covenant and Bethlehem Covenant, Stephenson, MI
- November 24: New Harvest Christian Church, Oregon, OH
- December 8: Covenant Community Church, Fairfield, OH
- December 15: Sojourner Covenant Church, Evanston, IL
Keep praying for Ruben!
It’s been a while since I updated you because I have been waiting to hear significant updates. Ruben had a few more days in which his condition was staying the same or worsening that was followed by a couple of days in which things were looking up and he looked to be on the mend. Unfortunately, today his condition has worsened again. They are needing to put in a feeding tube so that he is getting adequate nutrition. They are not planning an operation nor a transfer to a bigger hospital at this point but those are both options if his situation gets more desperate.
Please keep praying for Ruben!
Latest from Ecuador
Here is the latest from Ecuador from Ruben’s daughter Lisseth. Again, Ruben is a good friend of ours and is the Administrator for the Campground and recently came down with something that is presenting as an Acute Pancreatitis. Here’s the translation:
“I ask for your prayers please. Tomorrow we will need to make a very important decision. Around noon tomorrow the results of recent tests performed on my dad will be given to us. If he needs to have an operation, he will be transferred to Quito. The other option is that God puts his healing hand and restores him quickly. His family cries out in prayer…!
We pray for the life of our father”
PLEASE BE IN PRAYER FOR RUBEN AND HIS FAMILY IN THIS EXTREME TIME OF NEED!!!
Pray for Ruben!
For those of you who don’t know, a very good friend of ours in Ecuador, Ruben Rocha, the Camp Administrator, is in the hospital with an acute pancreatitis. Please pray for his quick recovery and that it is not an indicator for a larger problem. Medical bills and Ruben being out of commission are two things that they can’t afford, let alone the fear over his health condition.
Updated Ministry Calendar
- September 22: Northwest Covenant Church, Mt. Prospect, IL
- September 29: New Hope Church, Richland, MI
- October 20: Pleasant View Mennonite Church, Goshen, IN (Missions Night service)
- November 3: St. John’s Church, Millsersburg, OH
- November 16: Bay Evangelical Covenant Church, Green Bay, WI
- November 17: Zion Covenant Church, Sheboygan, WI
- November 24: New Harvest Christian Church, Oregon, OH
Praise the Lord!
We have a huge answer to prayer to share with you all.
We sold our house!!!!!!
For some of you that are newer to following our ministry, your immediate reaction maybe “huh???” But others that have known us for a long time know this as a long-standing prayer request.
Here’s the deal: The beauty of a house (sarcasm intended) pictured below was purchased by me (Joel) in 2000 in Marion, IN as an initial home/renovation project. I lived in it for only a little over year before I felt the call to start Seminary and moved to Chicago. During that year, I poured a lot of time and work into it to get it fixed up and it was actually in fairly decent shape considering what it had started out as. At that time, I decided to rent it out to Indiana Wesleyan college students to see if it could be a profitable business for me.
I was able to rent it out for a little while and make a little bit of money off it. However, I learned quickly that in a couple of years by not living in Marion, it was very hard to keep the tenants happy and them paying on-time. I did eventually have a rental manager that was able to help me but over time, I realized that with all of the expenses I was having, I was turning very little profit. And it was just a lot of work and stress trying to deal with issues with the house, especially when I didn’t living in Marion.
It quickly became obvious to me that I needed to get out of the rental business; that it wasn’t for me so I decided to try to sell it. Well, one big thing that I haven’t shared yet happened during the course of me renting it out: the housing market collapsed. I found out very quickly that I couldn’t sell it even if I wanted to. The only people that I could find that were interested were folks that wanted to make a quick buck off my misfortune. The biggest offer I received for the house was $3,000. Now, I did only pay $15,0000 for it but that was a huge loss to take, especially with someone with so little money to begin with.
So, I decided to hold on to it longer and try to rent it out longer to try to give the business aspect to it another shot. And I did find a professional rental manager that was able to help me out. But really, in the end, the same story ensued. We had a lot of problems with the renters (one time a drug bust actually occurred in the house) and every year, very little, if any, money was being made. The house continued to deteriorate and we were making very little money off of it.
This continued all the way up through when we returned from Ecuador. After coming back from Ecuador for our first Home Assignment, the house was vacant and so I decided to go take a look at it to try to figure out what to do with it. I was shocked to see what had become of it. When walking in it for the first time, I was actually reminded of when I first purchased it and the condition that it was in. It had really gotten into terrible shape and I said to myself that “I couldn’t let anyone live in this house.” I’m not a slumlord! I decided that I had to do one of two things: 1) get rid of the house and cut my losses or 2) invest probably another $5,000 – $7,000 to get it fixed up again. It didn’t take me long and talking with Kim that we decided that we had had enough with the house and we were going to try to sell it and cut our losses and we listed it with a local real estate agent.
Here is the tremendous blessing. Our realtor was able to find a buyer and the price that we agreed upon is only a slight loss of what I originally paid. I thought for sure, taking into account my previous experience, that I would only be selling the house at a huge loss. On Wednesday, Simeon and I traveled down to Marion and I signed the closing paperwork to sell the house. Everything is being done in cash payments so there will not be any bank or lawyer involved so the amount of fees will be kept to a minimum.
This is a long story but a good one in sharing how good God is in working all of this out in the end. I thank so many of you all so much for all of your prayers for this over the years. I know that many of you have been extremely faithful in praying for it.
But… I don’t WANT TO God!
I’m sure I can’t be the ONLY mom out there who worries about their kid. I suppose that is a normal thing. Like I said, I know I’m probably not alone. There are incidences that sometimes make you more aware of the bad things that COULD happen as well. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has had a close call with your kiddo where you realize how close you were to something hurting or happening to them. RIGHT? Please tell me I’m not the only one… I’m typically not a control freak. Not someone who has to do it all myself. But I feel when it comes to Simeon, WE as his parents, are the ones who are supposed to protect him and keep him safe. I KNEW in my head that God was with him and protecting him, but when it comes to GIVING them to Jesus, putting them in God’s hands, do we do that? I keep thinking I can do it better until I realize… I can’t! A few months ago, I had one of those ‘close calls’ and realized just how close we came to Simeon getting hurt. I worried, I lost sleep, I worried, I cried and I was SO overcome with a feeling of fear and worry, that I couldn’t concentrate at work or on anything else I was doing because I was so afraid. It seemed like no matter what I did, I couldn’t shake the fear that something would happen. Now, in all honesty, I’m sure this is perpetuated by the fact that I used to work in the pediatric ICU where I saw the kids and families who were in the midst of bad things happening. THEY were experiencing those worst fears coming true. So, it’s not like I’m naive enough to think those things can’t happen. That makes it worse. Before we had Simeon, I remember hearing multiple times that when you have kids, you make a choice, knowing that at some time that child will hurt, you will see them hurt, in different ways and you don’t know what will happen to them. I remember making a conscious choice to have kids. But, I don’t think as a parent you understand the risk that is taken with that. You don’t KNOW what will happen. You aren’t guaranteed to have a perfectly healthy child or that you will outlive your child or that bad things won’t happen to them. I think most of the time, for me, I put that out of my mind, probably subconsciously because I don’t want to think about that. The same time that I heard that having kids is a choice you make, not knowing what will happen, I also remember hearing that our children are not ours. God literally GIVES them to us to care for and nurture. We aren’t guaranteed to always get it right, we aren’t guaranteed how long they will be with us or what they will grow up to be or do. You would think that wouldn’t give much comfort to a mom or dad who worries and has sleepless nights about their kids and what can happen. But it is such a good reminder to me that JESUS LOVES MY KID MORE THAN ME! HE LOVED HIM FIRST, before I did. Am I really so crazy to think that for a moment God lets him our of His sight? He is always with him, when I can’t be. THAT IS COMFORT! …
Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.… -Psalm 139: 12-14
Psalm 91 One that I just absolutely love and hold on to when I worry and feel anxious and overwhelmed for protection for Simeon. My Refuge and My Fortress 1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say[a] to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. 5 You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 8 You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. 9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge[b]— 10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. 12 On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. 14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. 15 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
The Santiago Partnership