Take up your mat

Jesus asked him, "Do you want to get well?...Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." John 5:6-8

Why was this man laying on a mat? He was an invalid for 38 years (we find in previous verses). We don't know exactly what is wrong, or how it happened, but we know he's been in this lifestyle for 38 years. That is a long time to lay on a mat, begging for bits and pieces of food/coin/charity to come his way.

So Jesus asked him, "Do you want to get well?". Well, duh! Jesus, why would you ask that question?? Well, we know Jesus never asked a question to get an answer for himself, he already knows the answers. What was he trying to get the invalid to think about?

Oh how I love to lay on my mat! To be on the same mat, knowing how your day will go day after day for over thirty years is a comforting thing. Even if you are living a life of poverty, a life of sin, or a life of whatever, there is comfort in knowing what tomorrow will bring.

This man had many excuses as to why he could stay on that mat. If he got off of the mat, he didn't know how to gather food/work/live. Staying on the mat pretty much guaranteed a coin thrown here or there, or a sympathetic ear to your wailing. What would happen when he got up off of the mat?

Well the man found out. He got up, and after a while met up with Jesus again at the temple.

There Jesus told him, "...Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." (verse 14).

The poor invalid was now able to walk, and he headed to the temple (some time later). Now he was being asked to quit sinning. Why? I wonder what was going through his mind? Was he thinking, "poor pitiful me, I wish I had never met that Jesus"? Do you think he was trying to figure out a way to steal his next meal? Do you think he had thrown his mat down, lain on it, and was pretending to be an invalid again? Do you think that he was scared that all he had known for over 38 years had been turned up-side-down?

We will never know (this side of Heaven). All that we know is that Jesus said, "stop sinning" and "take up your mat and walk".

Don't lay there in your sin, feeling sorry for yourself. Don't look trouble in the face and give up. Don't rely on the charity of others to get you moving. Take up your own mat, grab Jesus' hand AND WALK.

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God is so good to us. We are preparing to get off of our "farm mat" and enter a world where we don't know what tomorrow will bring. We will be relying on the goodness of God to bring us financial partners who will walk with us on our journey.

We are so excited to be heading out into this journey, and scared. I will admit that openly!

We KNOW what God has asked us to do, we just don't know HOW He will enable us to do it.

Please pray for us over the next year as we start walking.

June/July Recap...

Over 12 baptisms, dozens committing (or re-committing) their lives to Christ, and hundreds had the opportunity to hear about Christ's love for them and the entire world.

Here is a short recap of the first half of our summer:

Covered in sin?

I love this photo. It was taken the first day of July, at an Elementary School Summer Camp that we spoke at. The theme of the week was "Sticky Situations". Can you tell why?

My favorite part of this photo isn't Tom, covered in all of this goo, but look around him (we'll get to Tom in just a moment). There are dozens of people just walking along, minding their own business. No one even seems to notice Tom, in all of his glory.

This photo reminds me of our sin. We are all covered in it! Every single one of us. When God sees us, he doesn't see the clean people walking around in the background.

We don't see our own grossness. We all think we are clean. We are wrapped up in our own lives, hugging and laughing, living "the life".

But what does God see?

He sees us, just as this photo shows Tom. All covered in lies, deceit, anger, pride, and grossness. God chooses to hug us anyway. He came out of His clean throne room to be spit upon, tortured, and die. He came here to wash us clean of our filth so that we could all be clean. God takes his big water hose of Holy Spirit and hoses off all of that gunk, and clothes us with white robes of righteousness. Praise HIM!!

As you can see from the above photo, we had a great time at our second (and final) camp of 2010. We raised over $1,000 toward our airfare for this fall's scouting trip to Italy.

We will be spending this month preparing our house to go on the market for sale. We will also be seeking more partners in prayer and finances.

Prayer Requests:

+Quick sale of our farm

+Safety for Larry, who will be traveling to his new home soon.

+ Serenity for our family as we enter a time of chaos and change

And the first shall be last...

^{Michele teaching at a camp full of middle school age kids this June.}

^{Mark 9:35"}And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, "If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all."

This month has been a month of firsts: Our first month as official "Missionary Recruits" with our sender, our first children's camp as missionaries, our first donation, our first missionary bank account, our first financial partnering, and our first newsletter mailing.

We are so excited to have come this far, and are looking forward to many more months of preparing before we actually head overseas.

I've talked to numerous middle-school age kids this month (over 200). In these talks, I've explained that EVERYONE can (and is called) to be a missionary. That doesn't mean that you need to pack up and move across the ocean, but it does mean that you need to move. God warns that you are not to remain idle, comfortable, lazy in your witness. It is good to rest when needed, but when you consistently remain idle, trouble finds you.

Did God call me to become a foreign missionary because I'm perfect? Sinless? I have the Bible memorized? NO, of course not.

God called me because He knew that I'd say "YES". Not because this will be fun. Not because I'm anxious to move to another country. Not because I want to uproot my family from their home church. I said yes because I love God (period). I said yes to becoming last.

He will equip me as I need it. I just need to go and open my mouth. He will fill it with HIS words.

Will you join me in my journey? We are looking for partners in finances and prayer! Email me at mradams333@yahoo.com to join our mission. We will be praying that God speaks to you, and that you say "YES" to whatever call He places on your heart.

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PRAYER REQUESTS:

+Safety in traveling this month to Washington, IN

+Motivation as we prepare to sell our farm

+Perfect neighbors in Italy

+New friends for our girls in Italy

+Financial Partnerships to come fast and without worry

We're on our way...

You can print and mail the above card to: Adams Family Donations;

8868 Andrea Court; Newburgh, IN 47630

Photo of Aaron, who sacrificed

his hair and beard for our

fundraiser at camp!

It's happened!

We've been approved as "recruits" with our sending company. This means that we are a go to head overseas. Where exactly? That will be determined this fall, after our short trip. When do we start working in the field? Late next year (2011), God willing.

We are now seeking partners in prayer and finances so that we can head over for a short (2 week or so) trip to Italy and meet the other wonderful teammates already there. Then we will find out exactly where God is planting our family for the next decade (or longer).

We could sure use you on our team!!

In the book of 1Samuel, 30:9-25, there is an interesting story, that I will paraphrase for you:

David and his army went down to fight the Amalekites. On his way to fight them, 200 men in his army became too tired to go on. Leaving them at a base camp, the rest of the army went down, defeated the Amalekites, and plundered them. On their way back into base-camp with the loot, some of the "evil" (quoted) men and "troublemakers" said that they would not share the plunder with the 200 who did not go to the front lines. David replied, "The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to battle".

This is our partnership with you! Our family has been asked to physically go into the field, while you (perhaps) have been asked to stay back at base-camp, supporting us through prayer and finances. We will all share the eternal rewards equally!

Although our family will physically see the front-lines, we feel that your "jobs" are much more important: protecting our backs, supporting us spiritually, and sacrificing your finances all for God's work in Italy.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the prayers you have already given for us, on God's behalf, and are now ready to join you in financial support as well.

Please call us at 270-454-9666 or email mradams333@yahoo.com (or missionamore@gmail.com) to let us know how you would like to partner with us this next year. We will be sending out letters, as well as placing phone calls, so you may hear from us soon.

We have been blessed with our first fundraising of $826 (which will pay for 1 1/2 plane tickets), at a Middle School Camp in Washington, IN. We have another camp planned for elementary school kids in late June. We are praying that we reach the goal of gathering enough funds for the rest of the plane tickets then.

Please prayerfully consider how you might partner with us in this wonderful adventure. Let us know your prayer requests, as well, because this is a two way road!! We love praying for you!

God bless you!!

We keep on waiting (waiting) on the world to change...

The world IS changing, every single minute, but not for the better.

Did you know that 50,000 people die, every single day, without knowing who Christ is? It's so hard to believe that in today's world of cell phones and satellite TV and internet, but it is true!

In Revelation, it talks about a final battle that will leave blood "up to a horse's bridle" from the dead. That is a LOT of dead. Not one of them will be in Heaven. They could be your brother, or mother, or neighbor. Now, I'm not trying to scare you, what would be the good in that? However, it is a cold hard fact that makes my heart heavy.

In Jesus' triumphal entry, he wept. Why? Because, even in the midst of all the celebration of God's kingdom come to earth, He remembered those who won't make it.

We take time to celebrate the precious few who DO make it every week at church. We will all get to spend our eternity worshiping and celebrating God. All the while, pushing to the back of our minds the sadness of those millions of people who will never get to celebrate with us. They will spend their ETERNITY someplace very different.

If this post makes you mad, or sad, or upset, then it has done it's job- to wake you up.

This is the burden we, as Christians, carry with us. We are not to be complacent in our jobs. We are not to be wrapped up in our kid's athletic programs. We are not to be secluding ourselves in our church. All of these things are good, and pleasant! They are not sinful, in itself.

However, would you continue to watch TV if you knew your neighbor's house was on fire? Would you continue on to that game if you saw a horrific wreck happen right in front of your eyes? Would you continue singing at church if a tornado was ripping through your town?

This past week, on our way home from church, there was a bus broke down on the side of the road. It was a large white bus that read "Church Bus" in big black letters. I pulled over and Tom went back to make sure someone had a phone to call for help. We couldn't offer more than that, as our car was full, and we have no mechanical knowledge to offer to fix the bus. When Tom went back to talk to the driver, we were shocked to learn that the bus had been sitting there for more than 40 minutes and we were the FIRST people to stop and offer help.

How sad for our area that not one single car, on a busy major interstate, stopped to offer help to a church bus!!

Wake up America! What are you waiting for?! It's coming, and may catch you napping. Be vigilant, because the time is near.

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We have a 2 week wait before we can offer any new updates on our quest to become foreign missionaries. Until then, we find that we have a ton of mission work right here in the US. Please join us in prayer over the next months as things get sorted out. I'll update as soon as we have any new information. Thanks for reading and keeping our family in your prayers!!

Another Sports Analogy

By: Tom Adams

Even though we all like to think we’re complex beings, I guess I’m a pretty simple guy. Because last night God spoke to me about something I really thought I already understood, but he dumbed it down even more for me!

I love to watch sports. Live or on television it doesn’t matter (well, ok, some are better live!), and although I am very un-athletic, I appreciate the way these team sports work. Anyway, God spoke to me last night about the missions journey my family is on in terms of a simple sports analogy.

Let’s just say that I have played baseball throughout my elementary, Jr. High and High School years. Maybe I even played in college. But I will never be successful in Major League Baseball if I am not called up in the draft. End of story. No matter how much I want it, no matter how skilled I am, if I’m not picked in the draft, I better find something else that makes me happy, because I haven’t been chosen!

Okay, so for the sake of argument, let’s just say that Steinbrenner saw me play, and he wants to give me a shot. If I plan on accepting an offer to play with (Ugh!) the Yankees, I had better have done my homework and made sure that I can play within the system of the coaching staff. If they have a totally different coaching style than I have been under, or if their style of play doesn’t use my athletic strengths, I might want to look for another team who will be happier with my fit, and who will allow me to be happier and contribute in a more beneficial way, or no amount of ability or confidence from Mr. Steinbrenner will make this a good fit.

Now, I have been called up, I fit into the coaching system and style of play, but I have never met any of my teammates, and I really don’t know them personally. Sure I’ve read their stats and seen their baseball cards, but I haven’t had the opportunity to hang out and really get to know them. I had better go to New York (or better yet St. Louis!) and meet the guys I will be playing, and practicing, and traveling, and doing life with.

This is where my family is right now. We are grateful to have been called by God (what an overwhelming sentence to type!). We have strong conviction that we should serve the people of Italy (although we have no idea where in Italy). We have met with (and love!) Team Expansion, and if we are accepted as Recruits, our next step is to take a visit to Italy to meet the teams there and see if we are a fit in the work, the place and to just meet the people personally that we have been “cyber-stalking” for all of these months. I feel I am a part of this work and that I know these workers simply because I have spent so much time reading their “baseball cards” and praying for them and the work, but honestly, we don’t know each other very well. Also, God has placed a love for the Italian people in our hearts, but we have never visited their country or met them personally either! So when the process of support raising begins, we will be asking for your partnership to go and “scout” out the major leagues. I can’t wait to meet the awesome people God is using to do his work there, and to travel to the place I have fallen in love with without ever visiting (weird!?!).

Thank you all for the past and continued prayers. We really feel them, and will need them in the future as we go on the road.