Category: Personal

A Jon Post

Sorry this post is late in the week. There were a lot of things floating around my head this week and I had plenty that I could write about here but instead I decided to go a different route.

I sometimes draw these “Jonny Pirate” cartoons and I did this one for Layne recently. It’s sort of an “Ode to finding my adventuring/missions girl as I went out searching for adventure/missions”.
Anyway, I thought I’d share it and she didn’t mind.

Sorry to those of you who may be viewing this on phones. I haven’t optimized this site for mobile yet so you may have to go to a computer for this one.

So click on the first picture below and read the little story about finding my beauty out looking for adventure. And her purple sails…

A Layne Post

Well here we are, ready to begin packing our bags once more. On Friday we head to Colorado to a have a big joint family vacation before heading back to Mozambique. How blessed are we that we get this precious opportunity?! We are grateful.

We have soaked in dear moments with family and friends filled with laughter, tears, and comfortable silence. We have wept in our bed alone for news painfully received from Mozambique. We have watched in awe as our daughter has grown. We have collapsed exhausted into comfy beds in cool houses. I’ve been treated with pedicures, girls’ brunches, and more shopping than was necessary. Jon has been treated with fly fishing, golfing, soccer, football, and paintballing. We’ve had too much good food to even recall it all, and me, a few pound to show for it. (Thanks 2nd trimester!) We’ve gone on lots of walks with our daughter. Taken her to parks, the aquarium, a pumpkin patch, play places, bouncy places, etc. We are grateful.

We have heard testimony of prayer warriors and intercessors, those we consider teammates, who have faithfully stood in the gap on our behalf and on behalf of those to whom we minister. Our ministry is not possible without the Holy Spirit and His presence. These teammates are crucial to our effectiveness.  We are grateful.

We have sat with many of our financial supporters and reported back about their ministry in Maputo, Mozambique. They, too, are dear teammates of ours. We have been humbled by their generous gifts. Our lives there would not be possible without them. We are grateful.

So we wrap up this furlough with grateful hearts, absolutely in awe of the Lord and His care for us.

A Layne Post

So here we are, settling in. Driving no longer feels so foreign. I am loosing the urge to honk at everyone. I’ve stopped admiring fancy toilets and thick heavy mirrors. Incredibly nice customer service is no longer shocking, and I’ve lost my urge to grab and hug the necks of strangers for being so friendly. I do not have the desire to shovel every single food item on the grocery isle into my mouth at the same time.

It is such a blessing to have family and friends that we can pick up with as if no time has lapsed at all. There are not awkward silences, or wishing we could slip away. It has been heartwarming and encouraging to be so surrounded by love.

We are happy to be here.

I can say; however, while life seems a bit easier, or perhaps more convenient here, I wouldn’t want to live here. I’ve really thought about it this week, as I’ve struggled through funny emotions, finding it strange that this was ever “norm” for us. It is comforting that the Lord has grown in Jon and I a deep love for Africa, and now specifically Mozambique. I miss it. How hard it would be to feel like our service to the Lord was only obedience. I’m not sure I could leave all this that I once held dear. Instead God has blessed us with a ministry we love, in a place we’ve grown to love, surrounded by dear friends and fellow laborers we love.

So here I am, in my common predicament, torn by the ones we love. Happy to be here, missing people there. I guess we’ll never all be on the same continent.

I’m ever reminded this world is not our home.

A Jon Post

Sorry this post is a couple days late. We drove north with some friends this last weekend to spend some time at the beach, relax, rest and remember. We have said some hard goodbyes over the last few months, and missed the chance to say many of them in person. There is a weariness that comes in body and soul when that happens often and it hung heavy over us in the memories of many friends we will no longer see on this earth.

This past weekend was a time for us to step away from that weight and remember the depth and width of the love of Christ in ways that are often easy to forget. I often forget that Christ expresses His love in;

• Sand between my daughters toes
• Waves of water crashing over me instead of waves of grief
• Laying beside my wife late at night with our daughter sleeping peacefully to the sounds of the ocean
• Standing on a surfboard
• Feeling the warmth of the sun bake my skin
• A smile and a sigh as my wife tells me “This is good“

  

  Hellers – September 2011

  

  Watching Whales with my Daughter

  
  

  

  Catching my Surfing Wife

  

  Chasing my Surfing Wife

  
  

  

  Resting with Mommy