Monday Randoms {and an update}

Gary and I will be traveling to Haiti next month.  Our goals while there are to begin looking at housing and possibly schooling options, as well as traveling to Lespinasse to visit Pastor Felix.  We will review the building plans with him for the new church and community center.  Maybe we'll also get approval to start building.  You know how it's all complicated and stuff in the U.S. to build?  Purchasing land, zoning issues, permits, code compliance, contractors and the like?  Well, I've been told that all we must do before building begins is get approval from the town's mayor or head person, then a verbal okay and handshake are sufficient.

Architect Jack DeBartelo and Pastor Felix (far right), dreaming up the new church home

I'm also trying to begin to start coordinating my family's attire for family pictures.  In a normal family picture, I attempt to style us with what already exists in our closets, only to get frustrated and go into a frantic last ditch effort hours before we are set to go, then resort to wearing something that instantly I am disappointed in.  This is really vain and super lame, I know.  I am determined to have a picture that I LOVE.  But here's my conundrum:  our picture will not only serve as our Christmas card pic, but also as the family picture that gets plastered everywhere as the "support this missionary family" pic.

So, requirements for the 2011 Krull Family Picture are:

1.  make me not cringe out of embarrassment for not losing those 15+ pounds that I promised myself I would lose

2.  Capture all three kids adorable-ness (that one's a piece of cake)

3.  Receive Gary's approval

4.  It can't be too polished or flashy ("support this super high maintenance family, they're going to be 'missionaries'"... not the impression we're trying to give)

5.  It can't be too tattered and pathetic ("support this poor martyr missionary family"... also not the impression we're seeking)

6.  I want it to be colorful, and unique

This is kind of a lot of requirements of one simple family picture, don't you think?  I'm also mildly ashamed that I'm putting so much thought and energy into this.  Not ashamed enough to keep it to myself and not post on the Internet, but still.

Proof

Proof that the true identity of my baby's father is the Incredible Hulk, 

or that babies do, indeed, grow overnight.

Why *Not* You?

Several people have asked what has inspired, motivated us to make the decision to move to Haiti.  Other than uh... the Bible and God Himself placing this desire in our hearts, the following books and reading have given us a lot of insight:

Don't Complicate the Missionary Call

by David Sitton

I was never called to be a missionary, nor was I drafted. I volunteered. No special call was needed. I chose to go; I wanted to go; I was compelled to go. And where I go is always determined by an open Bible and a stretched-out map of the regions where Christ is still unknown and un-praised!

I chuckle when I hear missionaries and pastors talk about “surrendering to the call” of ministry. I always want to ask, “After you surrendered, were you water-boarded, or just hauled off in handcuffs and leg irons.” Was it really necessary for you to be abducted by a heavenly vision before you would go into the work of the gospel?

The missionary call is not like a prison dog that tracks us down, sniffs us out, and hog-ties us for the nations. That is silly-talk and really bad theology. Nowhere in Scripture is a mysterious (supernatural) call a prerequisite before we can respond to the Great Commission. The opposite is actually true.

Don’t Wait for a Call

No aspect of mission is more bogged down with extra-biblical baggage than the “missionary call.”  The clear command of Christ “to go” should be, by itself, sufficient to set you on your way “into all the world. . . proclaiming the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). You can’t go wrong by trying to go. Trust the Lord to direct your moving feet. If you are convinced of your “call” to “stay”, this will only serve as added confirmation that you are right. Don’t fear the risk of ending up some place the Lord doesn’t want you. Too many already took that “risk” when they assumed a stateside ministry or vocation with no confirmation other than their own desires.

Dramatic calls to ministry are the exception. If you have it in your heart to go, then go. Then, lean on the sovereignty of God to get you where he wants you in the harvest. Don’t worry about “running ahead of God.” You aren’t that quick!

Try to Go

Paul tried to go into Asia, but the Lord wouldn’t let him. He then tried to go to Bithynia, but was “kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.” Still, he kept trying to go. I count at least six cities in Acts 16 where Paul tried to take the gospel. It was only then that the Lord gave him a vision of the Macedonian. He woke up the next morning and immediately headed for the regions north, having “concluded that God had called them to preach the gospel in Macedonia.

The heavenly vision wasn’t a “call” to mission, it was specific guidance for missionaries that were already going.

The point?  Don’t complicate the missionary call. Get radical with the going and God will get radical in the specific guiding.

David Sitton is the founder and president of To Every Tribe Ministries. David is a career church planting missionary who lived and worked in Papua New Guinea for 16 years, making first gospel contact with several headhunting, cannibalistic tribes.


Other books we recommend:

 When Helping Hurts

by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert

 Radical

by David Platt

God Can't Sleep

by Palmer Chinchen

Also, True Religion by Palmer Chinchen

Secret Society

I'm talking about the secret society of the Parent Pick-Up Line at Buddy's school.  Crazy.  It's like the Lord of the Flies.  There is this unwritten hierarchy, unspoken rules and expectations.  I was a teacher for ten years, and honestly, I didn't know this even existed until this week.  Buddy started first grade in public school.  It is a medium sized school of about 500 kids.  No joke, parents start lining up in their cars one hour before school lets out.  One Hour.  That's five hours a week of just sitting in their cars waiting for their precious to walk out the door.  I have some opinions about this.

To adequately describe this phenomenon, I would need a diagram.  There is this labyrinth of parking lots, one way streets, circular drives, and drop off curbs.  Some are designated for teachers, visitors, buses, some for daycare vans, and others for parents picking up or dropping off (Curb A, Curb B).  None of which are labeled with any sort of signage.  And despite my best efforts, I could not get a reasonable explanation from any of the five teachers or administrators that I asked on how the system worked prior to the first day.  I am now intent on drafting up a pamphlet on the workings of the drop off/pick up for future first timers.  It was that complicated... and I do consider myself educated and with slightly more smarts than my first grader.

What's more embarrassing:  my diagram, or the fact that I actually made a diagram?  The answer is a little fuzzy.  It's okay if you still don't understand how the whole system works, I'll be offering a one hour seminar to explain the whole process.

After being yelled at by the Childtime Daycare Van Driver (I'm exaggerating, he was fairly nice), for waiting at the wrong end of the curb in pickup area "B", I figured out the system by following another car, hoping she knew what she was doing, and she did.