“They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”
(Psalm 92:14-15)
I read these verses recently and had to smile. I sometimes accuse the guy I shave in the mirror of being old and fat, and at the same time, I am encouraged. Any fruit that we help gather during these silver years is done to show that the LORD is upright. He will get the glory. “The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows.” (Hum that for a while, and you’ll have a spell!)
I want to put my first ministry front and center in this letter! In the coming months, my wife, son, and daughter will each be contributing a paragraph to our prayer letters so that you can view life through their eyes. They are doing well and extremely busy. In the weeks before Christmas, my wife and I celebrated our 20th anniversary and enjoyed a steak dinner by candlelight—a lot of hand-holding without hand disinfectant. Recently, my daughter and I had a long overdue “daddy-daughter date,” talking silly and eating Italian food (not at the same time). I was able to take her shopping and buy her two new dresses; she was so tickled. I was also tickled, because it didn’t take her six hours and five stores to find them—some of the best hours and money I could spend. My son got a drone for Christmas, and he has shown himself to be quite the pilot. I’m hopeful that he will become skillful enough to harass some local alley cats with it (in Christian love, of course).
God has been so kind to us in each ministry. We have seen two men saved since our last letter, one in Dearborn while out knocking doors and another during a medical visit in a nearby city. This man was named M___. He was old and wheelchair-bound. Statistics say the older they are, the less receptive to the Gospel they will be. Thank God we can throw out statistics. M___ claimed to be a Baptist who had never heard the Gospel (sadly, this is possible, as you well know). He was warmly receptive and eagerly trusted Christ. D___ G___ has been following up with the man in Dearborn. Please pray for both of these men.
Some of you may remember my mentioning K___ in Eastern Morocco, near the Algerian border. He was reached through our radio ministry, and a few weeks ago, M___ was able to connect him with two believers, who met with him for several hours and delivered him his very own Bible, which he gratefully received. These men live in the same city as K___ and will be able to disciple him if he remains willing. We praise God for the system God has established! This past weekend in Afghanistan, a pastor reached out to one of our workers (M___, a Persian friend). This man pastors an underground church in Afghanistan with 20 members and was THRILLED to learn of us and our resources! Please pray that we can partner with him as our network grows. God is gracious to grow His work and let us play a part. Please pray for us; we need wisdom, continued resources, and manpower as we go forward. Many of you have given financially toward this work, while at the same time supporting the our family. We praise God for every bit of help!
In closing, I am meeting with a cardiologist on February 8 to begin planning a response to an irregular heartbeat (paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia), which was discovered while wearing a Holter monitor last week. If you would, please pray that God would guide us through this and for healing.
Missionary #6505
