On Humility and Trust - the path to Grace

I have been recently exchanging mental blows with a number of very deep and challenged ideas. Two books have functioned as the right and left hooks of the Holy Spirit: "True Faced" by Bill Thrall et al (always wanted to say that) and "Humility" by Andrew Murray. My ego is deeply wounded, but my heart is healing nicely (and all this is good, come to find out).

Tracer thoughts:

- "It is not sin that humbles us most, but grace."
- "His humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility"
- "Humility is the only soil in which grace takes root; the lack of humility is sufficient explanation of every defect and failure."
- "Nothing is more natural and blessed than to be nothing"


To start, here is a fantastically trembling concept from Andrew Murray. He describes two motives which urge us to humility: one is as a sinner and the other as a believer. I was intimately familiar with the first - it appeals to the fallen state, calls for reprentance and admitting we are broken. It is painful - but the pulpit instructs us this is right and good. For this reason I have walked through that process of admitting sin many times. This has lead me to adopt the erroneous ideas that "perhaps we must keep sinning to remain humble" and that "the strength of self-condemnation is the strength of humility." This is so wrong because of the second motive - which leads to grace. It is sadly almost entirely ignored by the pulpit. The distinction is clearly stated thus: "...if humility is to be our joy - we must see that is viewed not just as the mark of shame because of sin. It must also be understood apart from all sin as a covering with the very beauty and blessedness of heaven and Jesus." Humility is not shame! What a delight!

True Faced describes the Christian life in terms of two "rooms." Every Christian is faced with the choice either to please God (room #1) or trust God (room #2). At face value both options seemed good to me, as the Bible makes it clear we are to do both. I was shaken to realize that the first is an effort-based approach to God and was the room I was living in as a Christian!

The whole matter is further complicated because of the lack of importance our pulpits lend to humility as a lifestyle. I cannot recall hearing a sermon ever, which culminated in a call to living a life of steady humility (beyond repentance). Humility is a good thing, they say - but never have I heard a clarion call to take upon myself a lifestyle of humility. This is all the more terrifying as the implications and necessity of such a life for walking with God thunder into realization in my heart. Murray explains, "Humility is the only soil in which grace takes root; the lack of humility is sufficient explanation of every defect and failure." As I think back to the fall of Lucifer and the fall of man I am sobered at the prominent role of pride. I think I must second St. Augustine's assessment that pride is the root of all sin.

The door to the second room (in the tasteful "room" metaphor I borrow from Bill Thrall) is opened with the doorknob marked "humility." (only the humble can trust) It is a frightening room in which all masks are markedly absent for they are not needed! Rather than striving through personal effort (sin-management theology) to be all God wants me to be, in this room I am bidden (and wonderfully freed) to humbly trust God and live out of who He says I am (though it is not yet fully realized). I have always viewed my sin as a piranha-filled moat which "separated me from my God." He stood on the far side and genuinely loved me, but before I could get close to Him I had to clean up my sin. By contrast, the room of grace features my sin as a huge pile of crap in front of me with God standing by my side looking at it and working on it with me. I have always been afraid that if I believed in sin without shame I would give myself license to sin. I feared I would adopt the lifestyle of sinning more that grace may abound. This has been so far from the reality thus far. My heart has collapsed in such grateful relief that I am loved in my sin. I have been required to trust Him in a deeper way than ever before. He is with me. I can admit my sin. He knows my sin. I trust Him. I begin to glimpse for the first time ever that I am redeemed as a believer and yet still being redeemed. The humility and trust we are called to make this impossibility possible.

I hope to realize this statement one day and live it out: "Man's chief care, his highest virtue, and his only happiness, now and throughout eternity, is to present himself as an empty vessel in which God can dwell and manifest his power and goodness." On that day, I will truly rest.


If you want to think, read either of these books. If you want to be challenged, read them together.

Living in the Tension

Our pastor this morning in church spoke about the tension of wanting God more and being thankful for what He has done in our lives until this moment.

Two statements caught my attention:
"Joy is the capacity to simply realize that God is here, present in the situation"
"Thankfulness and gratitude are what keep our hearts tethered to the Kingdom"

Wow. This sermon tied so closely to another topic, one that my husband and I have been talking about quite a bit lately (hopefully he will have time soon to get on this thing and post about it...his thoughts often run deep and true). It is the topic of grace v. good intentions. In fact, we stayed up WAY past our bedtime last night (11pm!!!) pondering this very thing. And then in church this morning to hear that we have to learn to "live in the tension"...it all tied together so beautifully.

I hope you enjoy pondering the statements as much as I am.

Bing Crosby and good thoughts...

So last night my husband and I had the chance to watch a classic - "White Christmas" with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. Really, what would Christmas be without it?

As I sit here in the 70 degree weather that Tulsa has graced us with this morning (it's wonderful - I feel like I am back home again), I have been singing Bing Crosby's song all morning --- no, not the famous one that titles the movie -- the more obscure "Count Your Blessings"...

It goes something like this:

when you're worried
and you can't sleep
just count your blessings
instead of sheep
and you'll fall asleep...counting your blessings...

Isn't that a delightful thought? And so, I thought I would take a moment to do just that:

1. My heritage: Joel and I spent some time yesterday Skyping my family and I got to laugh with them and talk to them...really, how blessed am I? I understand God's love, grace, joy and forgiveness because of the awesome parents and siblings God has given me.

2. My husband: Marriage is like following Jesus - it's the best decision you can ever make...and your flesh will die daily because of it :) I would never call marriage "easy" but it is SO good and right. I married a wonderful man. He loves the Lord and me.


3. Financial Blessing: Even though where I work isn't famous for it's incredibly large salary, and we are paying for Joel to go to medical school - we are incredibly blessed. Two cars that don't have payments, a cosy apartment, a puppy, food for the table, clothes for our back, an emergency fund for those unexpected moments, money for date night, money to give---it's such a joy to know that we are MORE than provided for. Thanks to some awesome financial teaching and good choices we are safe and secure in His provision.

4. Our health: Joel works all day with people that are very sick. We are grateful in new ways continually with how well our bodies work!

5. Time to rest: Rest is one of those core values that Joel and I both deeply believe in. Joel is in the middle of the four toughest months he will have during rotations and yet somehow he has been blessed with 4 whole days off! That is nothing short of a miracle. In addition, he just found out that his next rotation doesn't start until January 5th...which means another 4 days off next week! Sipping green tea, a warm fire, freshly laundered blankets, time to take walks, a candle-light service. We really are blessed with time to truly rest.

There are a MILLION other things I could take time to write about - what about you? Where has God shown Himself faithful this year?

Here are a few recent pictures for you! Enjoy...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Joel and I at a recent "ugly sweater" party

My mom and I at my Aunt Leah's "Thanks-mas" day...so great to see her!


A few recent pictures of Kueta T - my grandparents camp. This is the swing where my husband proposed - three years ago yesterday!

Well...that's all from here for now...

The Short List

Because all of our avid readers need updates :)

Our puppy -- really cute....when he's not chewing on EVERYTHING. But we sure do like him, he's a little gift from the Lord.

Melissa turned 27. Wow. This is at her lunch with people from work...showing off her "Benny Hinn" staff sticker. Nice.

Joel planned a tubing trip down the river with great friends for Melissa's birthday

There was a large rock that needed to be conquered

...and conquered it was.

Our dear friend Billy came to visit. Here he is by his picture on our map of prayer.

We got to go to the Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. It was incredible. Such a time of refreshing & dreaming.

Because God is who He is, we got to meet up with some of our very best friends there. David & Krichele Jeffcoach are such an encouragement and joy to us both. Like hearts, like humor. And also daring to try and be on the good-looking long-term missionary list :)

The four of us ate at this adorable (Mel's description) and delicious restaurant that seats about 15. Then the guy with the accordion walked in...are you kidding me? It was awesome.

It's fall here. And gorgeous. A season of change for us both as we look to the future with hope. More to come soon, but thought you might enjoy this little picture journey!

-- Joel and Melissa

Check it out

Very Thought Provoking

http://vimeo.com/1304280

The Excitement of Rotations

It has been such a blast to begin rotations and get my first taste of "real" medicine. I learned a lot in my first two years, but almost all that knowledge was passed to me by a book. Books are essentially people writing about their ____ (experience, knowledge, dreams, etc) so that people can share the ____ without actually having their own ____. Thus, I am very excited to set the books aside (to a large degree) and brave the world of helping real people.

It really is a test of bravery because the next two years mark the transition from brain to hands - quite a leap. It is not unlike the instant when a baby bird is no longer watching others fly, but is pushed from the nest. I claim the following adjectives... unnerving, intimidating, fun, practical, changing, and novel. I am so glad to be where I am. I am glad that God has carried Melissa and I through the first two years of medical school. I am glad to have such a beautiful, supportive wife as I negotiate my education. I do not believe passing my first two years would have been possible without her continual help.

Here is a list of my rotations thus far and a few highlights from each:

1. July 2008 - Dr. David Asher - OMT specialist at his clinic in Tulsa

• Dr. Asher is a Christian physician who takes care of chronic pain patients. He has designed his practice specifically to cater to his strengths in loving people. He takes over an hour with each patient, using that time to fully explain the confusing medical stuff and to perform thorough OMT on them. He showed me a great example of applying ones strengths in order to love people well.
  

1. Aug 2008 - Dr. Steve Nussbaum and Dr. Barbara Rygiel - two ER docs at their ERgentcare clinic in South Tulsa

• Both docs are also physician Christians! I am so blessed to have had two rotations under Christian preceptors. What a great way to start my clinical education. Melissa and I very aware of the need for more than cold, clinical information. I need watch Christ's love flow through the hands of His servants, so that I can model it.
  
• On this rotation I performed my first stitches!! Very cool! I actually saw several of my patients come back to have their stitches removed, and they healed up very nicely.
• I did two volunteer days at an ER with Dr. Nussbaum. Great chance to get early exposure to emergency medicine, since I am earnestly praying about it as a specialty.
  

1. Sept 2008 - Dr.Pickard - my required Family Medicine rotation at a clinic and hospital

• I took a mini-class on medical jurisprudence. Sounded quite intimidating, but what it amounts to is "how to not get your tail sued off." Said more nicely, "here is the law, follow ye in it." It was actually quite fascinating... now I know what tort means. Yay.
  
• Which brings us to today. I helped definitively save the life of my first person!!! WOAH! I helped on an emergency code and did chest compressions (CPR). I was crazy nervous! (even though all I did was push up and down... not very complicated) The amazing part is that the person who "coded" was successfully rescucitated. Apparently this is actually not very common.
  

I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had to learn. Melissa and I are earnestly praying for direction in the looming life decisions ahead of us. What specialty to choose? What organization shall we partner with? Who will go with us? What nation will we serve in? These questions and many more we are laying before God: He alone knows our path.

If you would like to keep us in prayer, here are a few areas in which we could truly use your prayer:

• Global Health Medical Conference. This is a huge gathering of people with hearts and passions similar to us. Sending organizations, individual missionaries, medical students, fantastic teachers, practical knowledge workshops... the list goes on. We are praying for favor with my November preceptor to get time off for this.
• The next step. We desire to start preparing now for the future God has planned for us. My medical education and Melissa's M.Ed. are like one-size fits-all T-shirts. We want to start focusing our activities and energies to tailor our the "shirt" to our specific calling. While we would love to know many details about the future, we most earnestly desire the next step.

The Month of Almost-Change!

Hello friends and family!!

[Here is the link to all of the pictures that go along with this update if you prefer facebook for your picture browsing leisure!!]

I pronounce the month of April, "The Month of Almost-Change." So many things are perched on the precipice of changing - but not actually changing yet... It is akin to the pause at the top of a rollercoaster after you have clicked all the way up the slow-waiting part. You know some speed and possibly screams are in order. Where are they? When is this ride going to start? Is this thing bro... AHAAHAHAHAAAA!


It is really only fair to you that we present this month in bullet points (which would be cooler if they actually looked like bullets):

• MOVING We have been quietly searching around Tulsa and have just found the perfect spot! It's a great little community called Brittany Square. It's about 3 miles from where we are currently; it's a little tucked away place. We are moving May 24th into a one bedroom, one bath 500 sq. feet apartment, which is about 1/3 of our current size...it will be an adjustment, but we are excited to simplify! We are excited about the change, but this is also a smart financial move for us. God has impressed on us a few ways that we need to change the purposes of the money he provides us. This is both exciting and an act of obedience (both good!). God is definitely good :) (we will try to get some pictures up soon)
  
• SCOOTER We love it! We have been riding it quite a bit, but our grand scheme has not yet come to fruition. We want to put one of our cars on bed rest for the summer and drive just the scooter and one car. Gas is projected to go over $4/gal this summer! So we are hoping to get all repairs, etc completed so we can unfurl our master plan.
  
• PUPPY This is really the biggest news, our BIGGEST news!!!! We are getting a puppy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After over a year of dreaming and hoping and researching, we have finally found a puppy that we will soon call our very own. In keeping with the theme of this month - we don't have him yet... but soon. We were praying that God would bring the right one at the right time, and in the middle of April He all but dropped a litter waiting for adoption into our laps. We got to see the little scruffers and swooned. We have gone to see them multiple times and finally decided on a little black & white guy for our very own...we are naming him "Lego". He is about 2 months old right now and TINY. He shouldn't get to be more than 15 pounds tops all grown up. The people who are fostering him will be keeping him until after Melissa returns from a trip to Paraguay. He is just adorable (and manly...in his own tiny way)...we are sending you pictures and will be uploading a video onto facebook soon. Again, this is all such a blessing - puppies can be SO expensive and the deal we are getting is really a steal.

• DONE WITH MEDICAL SCHOOL EXAMS So, I finished my medical exams on Wednesday... sort of. After a long semester of classes and tests - the final battery was lined up against me this past week. Everyone has been asking me since I finished the last one, "So, are you SO excited to be done?" I am, but... The truth is I still have board exams on June 7th and 14th to complete. So even though I am done with classes, and I am done with medical schoole exams... I still have some steep uphill work to do to pass boards. Once again - ALMOST done... but not quite yet. I would deeply appreciate prayers as I study and then take those exams. They are beastly (8hrs each!). I am confident that God will walk me through this Jordan river, because I know he has called me to the other side. Prayers are appreciated and treasured so much in the process.
  

That is the end of the almost changes. Here are the real changes:

- Melissa had her very first medical wives meeting! It was a tea at a doctor's wife's house...there were about 5 of doctor wives there, it was a good start. Melissa is hoping to do another one in June or July and she has started thinking about maybe starting a small group at the church for medical wives.

- We've been married 2 years! Hard to believe it but April 22nd was our 2 year anniversary.Every year we invent our theme for the anniversary (instead of following the "paper anniversary" "china anniversary" themes of tradition. We are calling this one our "in sickness and in health" anniversary. Melissa was pretty sick with a head cold and Joel had tons of studying to do, sooo....it was a very ordinary night! But we liked it that way~probably the cheapest anniversary meal we will ever had, $5 at our favorite mexican place for some salsa and queso :) HA! We actually had a chance to celebrate in early April as we had gotten FREE tickets to the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra and had a REALLY REALLY nice meal and then went and watched the orchestra...we hope to celebrate a "little late" sometime in june too.

- Joel ran in a 5K race. He came in 2nd in his age group :) He also, because he is Joel, decided to run in his famous "boody shorts" --- that's right, they are a fake "boody". It caused lots of laughter!


- We started working in the Children's Ministry at Believers! We are serving once a months in the 3's. We did it for the first time a few Sundays ago and it was fun! There were about 10 kids there - and man, 10 3 year-olds are ALOT of work...we are excited to have a small place we can serve. And being around kids makes us both really happy - we are looking forward to making our classroom really work well and figure out how to share the love of God with these kids.


Well, I think that's all from us for now! We love you guys.

---Joel and Melissa

Honduras MedMissions

Melissa and I just returned from our Spring Break trip to Honduras with MedMissions. The trip was really amazing and altogether different from what we expected. Before we go any further, though - we must introduce you to Dr. Brent Hambrick. He is the founder of MedMissions and has worked in Honduras for the past 8 years. God has been using him to facilitate the evangelistic visions of both the Honduran medical students and the dental students. His heart is to enable the Hondurans to fulfill the vision God has placed in their hearts in such a way that his work will perpetuate itself long after God takes him elsewhere. In addition to all of this, he and his wife have been such an amazing breath of Godly encouragement in our lives as we negotiate the waters of medical school preparing for our calling overseas. It is amazing, on top of all this, to note that Dr. Hambrick has 10 children. Yes, ten.

We were a part of an enormous team on this trip, close to 100 people! This includes 25 doctors and medical students from UC-Davis, 30 nursing students from KU in Kansas, many Honduran medical students, Honduran dentistry students, a handful of Honduran doctors and 2 Oklahoman-Africans. We were split into two school buses each day as we headed out to two medical clinic sites. On this trip, there are two vast areas of blessing for Melissa and I (one planned for and the other totally unexpected):

1 - Sit and listen
The first blessing from this trip was the opportunity to sit at the feet of a number of great physicians who love God and ask them about medicine. We spoke to the various doctors on the trip about the differences in their specialties and escpecially what it was like to operate in those specialties in a foreign country. We plied Dr. Hambrick with questions almost non-stop for the entire ten days and are excited about what we have gleaned. Medicine is not simple to learn (I already knew this), but neither is it easy to coordinate overseas. Dr. Hambrick has a wealth of experience and wisdom from his eight years overseas and he openly shared with us.
For the first time, I feel like Melissa and I have a solid groundwork of information from which to begin prayerfully seeking direction in our calling. We have asked for God to build dreams in our hearts for our future. Dreams are uncomfortable and frightening things to have, sometimes - but without them we can hope to accomplish nothing. Though I still don't know exactly what direction God is leading us - I am encouraged and confident in this: God is in control of our calling and we will he prepared and caught up in His adventure for us. Everyone always asks us what specialty I am going to enter, so I should make sure everyone is up to date on the latest concerning that question. The top three choices (only three really) are:

1. Family Practice - very versatile,
   
1. A short 3 year residency
   
2. Emergency Medicine - ability to handle life-threatening trauma
1. A short 3 year residency
2. Amazingly easy to re-enter the American medical scene at any point in the future
   
3. Surgery - "hard" skills (cannot be learned from text book),
   
1. A strenuous 5-6 year residency,
   
2. Excellent for family life (not away from home often)
   

2 - It's weird to have a twin
The unexpected blessing came in the form of another medical, "future-missionary" couple. David and Krichele Jeffcoach are a young couple who were married this summer, just before David began his first year of medical school. They are living in CA and counting the days until they can answer the calling on their lives and go overseas. They are not sure exactly where the Lord is sending them, but are willing to go anywhere. David is currently considering specializing in family practice, emergency medicine, or surgery. Sound familiar? It is rather uncanny the number of similarities exist between us and the Jeffcoaches. They also have a blog on blogger to keep all their friends and family up to date, but Krichele isn't ready to unveil it to the world so we won't link to it, yet.
The most remarkable thing, however is how refreshing and encouraging it was to my heart and Melissa's, to spend time with like-hearts. Medical school is an arduous process that taxes all resources - time, energy, marriage, friendship, rest, etc. In the midst of it all, though, God loves us so much that he bestowed on us an unlooked-for gift in this quirky friendship. So many times God has proven himself faithful to not only provide for us, but to surprise us with sudden breathes of fresh air. As we obey and submit to the call God has on our lives, he delights to reward us with lavish tokens of His love.

"If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love..." John 15:10

The beautiful Honduran scenery ( a welcome change from Oklahoma winterland)

OMM on a Honduran lady


Melissa being medical!!

More OMM

David and I seeing patients (medicine is serious work)

Melissa and Krichele (and Robin) outside the women's health clinic

The Watsons and the Jeffcoaches - future medical missionaries

An absolutely gorgeous waterfall (we went into a cave behind it!)

We got a scooter!!

Well hello faithful and massive fan base!

Melissa and I have enormously portentious news which will not surprise you at all (after reading the title). No, we are not pregnant (that is in God's hands, and He has been known to be a little unpredictable - but this update involves no babies). Melissa and I, after debating/praying/pondering/waiting/wondering/waiting, have purchased a fantastic scooter. We are now deliciously European (or so we like to think). In order to avoid becoming too European and to preserve our deep ties to Africa, we have decided to name our scooter, "Mzungu." It is Swahili for "white person." Rather apropo I think.

First let me regale you with the numerical and logical (Joelian) support for this frivolous purchase. They are in a numbered list, of course, for all logical things can be enumerated:

1. A 2005 Genuine Stella scooter gets approx. 90 mpg
2. Insurance for a scooter runs less than $100 per year (yes, year)
3. Tulsa is the ideal city for scooters with it's paucity of highways and abundance of smaller roads.
4. We plan to garage one of our cars for the better part of the next 9 months to save gas, wear-and-tear, and possibly insurance.
   

Second, let us bask in the warm glow of the delight of a scooter (a decidedly Melissian flavor). Ponder that scarves are made to flap behind scooter-drivers... Melissa has scarves, they make her happy. I think my wife looks like she belongs on a scooter. Melissa loves sunshine... in fact I think she draws her remarkable powers from it's rays. Scooters offer unrivaled sun access. And finally, le piece de resistance - two people can fit on a scooter.

Between the logic and beauty, I hope you can see why it was imperative that Melissa and I secure a scooter. We plan to be safe, to have fun, to save money, and to wear scarves.

Our Lives

Hi!

We thought we would take a moment to give a brief update of where we are in life :

Our Christmas holiday was WONDERFUL. Really refreshing for our bodies, hearts and marriage. We spent time with great friends, saw the beach and the mountains, and just overall had a wonderful time - we won't lie, it wasn't easy coming back to Tulsa and medical school! But one of the best parts of our trip was that we were able to take a step back and dream about where God is taking us - only 2.5 more years until Joel is done school!! How crazy, and how ready we are...

On getting back, Joel jumped back into medical school craziness. He's signed up for his first round of boards this summer. Just to give a brief overview of where he is in the process, here is what the medical journey looks like:
Medical School
Year 1: In classroom, studying really hard, stressed out
Summer 1: Last summer of his life (yay Kenya)!

Year 2: In classroom, learning about the "real stuff" that doctors do, getting ready for the first round of board exams (there are 3 in total). Also signing up for year 3 rotations, which are spent in the hospital -------- Joel is here
Summer 2: About a 3 week "break" where you study for boards, take boards in June

July - June of Year 3: Every month Joel will be in a different specialty (e.g. surgery, OB/GYN, ER, family practice, etc.) At least 1 to 2 of these rotations will be out of Tulsa. Joel has 10 rotations that he must do, and then 2 months that are "electives". He can choose where he would like to go and do rotations during these months, and has the opportunity to take a month off if he desires.
June of Year 3: Round 2 of boards

July - May of Year 4: Another 12 straight months of rotations. However, there are many more elective months in this set. The reason for this is so that Joel can visit places that he would like to apply for residency after med-school. The way that residency works is that the student has to pick the place, and the place has to pick the student. All the choices are put into a giant database and then the ones that match are options for Joel.
September - January of Year 4: He will have to decide what specialty he wants to go into, do rotations at hospitals around the US that offer this specialty and then put in his picks by January(ish) of his 4th year. He finds out early spring what his choices are...(p.s. at this point there are three specialties that interest him : family medicine, pediatrics and ER doc...we will see what God does!)
May of Year 4: GRADUATION FROM MEDICAL SCHOOL!!! He is now officially got a D.O behind his name and will be addressed as "Dr. Watson"
June of Year 4: 3rd round of boards - all three rounds of boards MUST be passed or his medical degree is useless - this is the official licensing for doctors.

Residency (3-4 years)
Starting in July(ish) after his graduation, Joel will go into several years of residency at a hospital. These years are usually pretty crazy, as the residents get the "brunt" of the workload and are not very respected. It will get better the further he goes into it. It will be at this point that we will most likely have to leave Tulsa, depending on where he gets matched for residency.

To the missionfield!!!
Finally, when we are about 33 years old (in about 6.5 years), we will FINALLY be off wherever God will lead us...this is what it's all been worth it for :)

Hopefully that helps explain where we are and how much further we have to go...Joel is studying hard for his first round of boards, and has put in his preferences for rotations, which we should find out about in the next few weeks, and we will let you know :)
Besides school, Joel is finishing up being the President of the Christian Medical Association this year, and is looking forward to having some really cool speakers hosted by CMA speak to his school.

Melissa got back from the Christmas trip really refreshed - ORU has been a little bit of a stress over the last few months, but it's been a blessing to see God moving!
ORU is only down less than 1% in enrollment for the spring, and there is already a different atmosphere on the campus as it moves away from a "fear-based" society. The Lord's hand has been gracious. As well, Melissa has been excited to see God renew her heart for her job - going into year 4 (crazy)! Some exciting opportunities have arisen for her to potentially get some new responsibilities with the freshman that would not only mean new challenges, but a potential pay raise. This is a HUGE blessing for us, as we are hoping to begin making some serious payments towards our undergraduate debt in May as a way to start working towards leaving for the mission field in years to come.
She is still loving her master's program here at ORU - Teaching English as a Second Language - and is on course to finish in the Summer of 2009. Every week she gets to be in a class with people from all over the world who are wanting to learn English - last night there were people from Burma, Northern Iraq and Mexico - what a GREAT chance to love people and share the love of Christ right here in the US! We are both looking as well at what other places she needs to continue getting an education. We don't have all of the "picture" complete for where God will bring us, but we both believe that Melissa has some more things that God wants for her to learn before we head out. We will keep you updated.

Speaking of heading out, we had a really great chance to head to a missions conference down in Waco, TX a few weekends ago with some precious friends of our (the Stices). It was a great time to have our hearts refreshed and challenged, as well as connect with some dear friends. We hope to work with them in the future...they are headed to Egypt this summer for an intensive 6 month visit where they will be in an Arabic language school as well as praying about long-term move there.
Another really cool opportunity has risen for us to head to Honduras over our Spring Break (in March) with a doctor that we connected with through Papa Joel and Mama Marie! This doctor and his wife have 10 kids and have spent much of their lives ministering overseas - and they have a stateside ministry to help doctors grow passionate for the worldwide need. Melissa has been given permission to take off a week of work, and on March 14th we leave Tulsa for a 9 day medical trip. Joel will get the chance to do "doctoring" things, and Melissa will....learn and pray (we are still waiting to see exactly how she will be able to serve). We are soooo excited to take our first trip together in this vein, and look forward to God moving in our hearts as well as seeing His plan for us as a couple become clearer.

One last thing - we love our church. It has become such a beacon of hope and life to our hearts. We have joined a FANTASTIC small group that is intentional about doing life together - and we are able to have a place to grow, learn and express our passion for the Lord and His work...we can't say enough how much we have loved it.

Long update, hope that its' been insightful for some!