"I have some money I wanna give but I don't know who to give it to." That's what someone told my sister-in-law in Colorado while she was working her customer service job in the grocery store. It made me think, "I bet there are people all over the country who feel that way." Then I started to wonder how many people sit down to pray and realize they don't know what to pray for. You're probably used to missionaries soliciting money, but I would like to solicit some of your prayer time instead.
We spent December in Colorado with John's family and are now back in Florida where we were scheduled to close on a house (the one in the picture) on the seventh of this month. Everything was going as planned until the underwriter decided on the morning of closing to call our church in Texas for verbal confirmation of our employment. She didn't like the words she heard to describe the missionary/sponsoring church relationship so she denied the loan on the spot. Our agent is still working on our behalf to somehow close the deal, whether it be with a different mortgage lender or to convince the current one to reconsider. Our dilemma is in the facts that the seller has refused an extension of the contract, we are currently staying in someone else's house, we stand to lose several thousand dollars in earnest money, and we may not be able to afford to rent an apartment in this part of the country.
We are beginning to understand why God may have felt it necessary to reassure us with the skywriting before we left for Colorado. We also recognize that the focus of the disciples' biblical accounts never centers around homes and possessions but always around expanding the kingdom borders. We have not forgotten why we came here or what we are about - to introduce Jesus to those who don't know him. Please join us in praying for God to use us to that end. If that means more time being uprooted, so be it. If it means settling into a home here so that we can become members of the community, even better.
