Road Trips!!

Last week we started our week with a road trip...

On the first Sunday in February, we headed up to Maryville, Tennessee to worship with our friends at Smoky Mountain Presbyterian church and were blessed to share with them during Sunday School about our testimony and the work that we are being called to do in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada with the Blackfoot people there. 

Thanks for the great food and fellowship!

...and ended our week with a road trip.

Sandy went up to Covenant College on Saturday morning and had a great time praying for missions and sharing our ministry with the girls in the 4th floor of Carter Hall.

It was a blessing to pray for missions all over the world and to see the next generation of christians who are excited about going into all the world and sharing the good news! 

   Thanks for the invitation Brittany!

This week we head out on Friday the 13th for a new Road Trip. 

We will visit friends and relatives in Jacksonville and share at Ortega PCA church on Sunday, February 15th .

We will then spend the week driving leisurely over to Bradenton/Palmetto with stops in Orlando, Lakeland and Brandon. 

Sandy could see the Skyway bridge from her backyard when she was growing up.

We may "have to go" to the beach when we are there!

If you are available during the week of February 16th to 20th and would like a visit - let us know!! 

 Give us a call!!! Send us an Email!! Text us!!  

(423-435-4120 - sandyjvg@gmail.com)

On Sunday February 22nd we will be sharing at Grace PCA in Lake Suzy, Florida.

We will then head back to Tennessee on either Monday or Tuesday of the next week, hopefully with a couple of other stops as we connect with people during our travels.

We ask for prayers for safe travel and open hearts as we ask for prayer and financial support.

My encouraging scripture for you and for us today is from the book of Ezra.  

The remnant of Israel is returning from captivity to Jerusalem.  Ezra's words of Praise:

Praise be to the Lord, the God of our Fathers, 

who has put it into the king's heart

to bring honor to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem in this way

and who has extended his good favor to me before the king 

and his advisers and all the king's powerful officials. 

Because the hand of the Lord my God was on me, I took courage and 

gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me. Ezra 7:27-28

God was with Ezra during a great time of change and renewal - God will be with me during a great time of change and renewal.

I Praise the Lord, I Take Courage!

God is with us as we travel - through life and on the road.

We have returned home to Tennessee after our most recent trip to raise prayer and financial partners.  It was a great time to be in Florida - October is always beautiful.

It is also a great time to be in Chattanooga - the end of fall and looking ahead to winter.

We had good times of fellowship with friends and family while in Florida - who do you recognize

We also had our first bit of car trouble - thankful that only a nail in the tire was the problem.  Even though we had to get a new tire instead of just a patch we were reminded of God's care and provision for us.

This support raising trip was a bit of a challenge for us and as we struggle with the work of asking for partners in our mission and at the same time dealing with living life in a fallen world. I was encouraged and challenged today by a good read that I found on Facebook post by a fellow church choir member.

A pastor from a church in Jacksonville challenged the saying

                   God won’t give you more than you can handle

 Howard and I would like to amend what he wrote. We agree with this pastor when he said the passage was about temptation not troubles.

  “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humankind.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

 But we should amend the popular saying to what is really going on in our minds:

                  God won’t give me anymore than I think I can handle. 

 That changes the dynamics a bit and really makes the statement false. Then I moved on to the verse used by the pastor that really brings it home. Paul was speaking to his fellow Christians:

   For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 2 Cor 1:8,9

  The hard things that I don't think I can handle (afflictions) are the things that God is using to draw me closer to Himself (relying on God not myself).  He doesn't tempt us but He does grow us - with His goal for my life in mind, not what I have in mind. 

  So we will continue to move forward in our work of raising support, living life, and becoming more like His Son - Jesus. 

 All with the work of sharing the gospel in mind and the promise of eternal restoration with Him! 

  The Spring that will come after the long Winter.

Florida

Morning walk

  We are on the road visiting friends and family in Lakeland, Brandon, and Bradenton, Florida.  We are blessed to be able to share with so many our calling to work with the Blackfoot people in Lethbridge alongside the Amazing Grace Community Church.

  As we travel, I enjoy so much seeing the beauty of the state that we grew up in - just want to share some of that with you this morning.

Hibiscus

Lake Morton - with swans!

Palm fronds - cleaned up many of these while we were growing up!

Bromiliads

Can't say I have ever seen this type of cactus before - information would be appreciated!

The peacefulness of moss hanging from oak trees.
I remember as a child when my parents first moved to Florida when I was 6 years old.
Seeing the moss on the trees as we traveled I-75 heading down to Valrico, Florida "Valley of Gold".
 The moss in the trees always reminds me of our Florida home.


What memories of your childhood home come to you when and if you return for visits?
And what about your forever home?  What do you envision it to be like?



20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
(Philippians 3:20 ESV)

Timeline Tuesday!! Selling another Home (subtitle: Where is My Home?)

(Timeline Tuesday – some of the back-story leading up to our moving back into missions)

Summer 2013 - As we prepared for our next adventure of moving into missions we put up another FOR SALE sign on our home and small farm in Tennessee. Over the years we have bought and sold several homes. Here is just a quick overview for those who are new to our family.

 We purchased our first home in 1989 – Machesney Park, Illinois.  We lived there for 7 years as our children moved through elementary school and did lots of remodeling and upgrades. 

In 1996 (the year the pipes froze in some apartments we owned in Illinois) we moved back “home” to Florida and purchased a home in Lakeland.  We lived there and upgraded it also.

*disclaimer: some of these photos are scanned photos of non-digital film pictures

In 2001 we had the opportunity to live in a fly-in community (Howard's 1st through 5th careers being in aviation) – where there is an airfield adjacent to many of the homes and everyone had an aircraft hangar bigger than their house. We actually built this home ourselves - and while we were building we lived for about 5 months in a trailer - 5 people and 2 cats in a 13 x 65 single-wide that leaked when it rained. 

 It was an experience. 

We lived in the Southwind neighborhood for 3 years.  Becky graduated from High School while we were there, and as the college years began we realized the need for less mortgage and more college cash.

We sold that home in 2003 and moved to Whispering Pines – my favorite street name – and lived there for 2 years – Mike graduated from High-school and Becky got married. We remodeled of course and built a large detached garage.

We then had an opportunity to downsize and we moved back into the Southwind fly-in community where we had purchased an investment lot and built our “hangar-home”.

While living in the hangar-home everyone graduated: Becky from college, Mike from trade school, and Julie from High school.  In 2006 we went on a 25^th anniversary vacation and stayed at our good friend’s cabin in eastern Tennessee – it was beautiful – and we were ready for a change.  An opportunity came for us to purchase some land in the area and Howard and Mike took a couple of trips to look at different acreages.  We purchased our Athens, Tennessee 18 acres in 2007 and Howard built us our “barn home”. 

While in Tennessee, Howard went back to school for his Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling -  he had been discussing going back to school for over a decade – at Lee University. He graduated in 2011 and began working at a crisis stabilization hospital. Mike gets married to his beautiful wife at the barn.

  

Which brings us to the summer of 2013, getting ready to go into missions again, and putting another home up for sale. 

The home sold in a month which we had not thought about so we moved into an apartment - as we discussed this move later, we realized that in our married life we had never lived in an apartment complex.  It was an interesting 4 months.  

We only lived there for a short while. The process of getting to the mission field takes longer than we had anticipated and we realized it was more expensive to live in an apartment than to just purchase another small home. We decided to move to Chattanooga and be closer to our children for the year or so that it would take us to raise our support. That takes us to our little bungalow on Julian Drive.  We are, of course, fixing it up and Julie will live in it when we head to Lethbridge.

What will our home in Lethbridge look like?  

Stay tuned...

And while you are waiting...
Where is our home truly at?

                                 ...not on this earth!

Hebrews 13: 14 - For here we do not have an enduring city but we are looking for the city that is to come.

What comfort in knowing that no matter where I may hang my hat here on earth - I have a forever hat-rack in heaven!