Upside-Down & Rightside-Up

Upside-Down & Rightside-Up
August 17, 2003

Dear Loved Ones!

Thanks so much for your prayers & support. How so very much I needed it during my tour "down under" in New Zealand & Australia!

Indeed, there I found their seasons mixed, people walking upside down, cars on the wrong side of the road, & everyone talking in this strange accent (though they claim I was the one with the accent). Just getting into cars & crossing the street were often a confusing & even hazardous experience! (Which way do you look first?)

This letter I'm going to make uncharacteristically short (I hear sighs of relief from many of you), as I need to get to bed to start work again in the morning.
I'll stick to the items on the prayer list from the last letter.

1. Thank you for praying for the time with extended family. This was the most amazingly wonderful part of my trip, both in New Zealand & Australia. Without going into embarrassing detail, let me just say that not only was I the recipient of great love & hospitality, but I was also given the opportunity to serve & be served in the midst of a family (like all others I suppose, in their own way) that needs Christ's daily miraculous work. Continued prayer is needed & appreciated.

2. Thank you also for praying for my preaching August 10. I preached at 2 sister EFCs (Evangelical Formosan Church) in the Sydney area. The Lord clearly gave me the words to say, & even though it was a sermon I'd delivered before at different churches, He helped make the message come out with a freshness I'd not expected. (I suppose sharing the Gospel & helping the poor never are stale topics for the Christian.) I got to meet several young adults who were excited about the Gospel, & one uncle (a pastor at one of the churches) told me that the sermon was timely in that these churches are embarking on their first mission experience this December. Though I hardly consider myself a mission expert, I was blessed by the barrage of very good questions during the ~1hour sessions after each service: "What's the hardest thing you've experienced on mission?" "How do you feel when people reject you or the Gospel?" "How do you choose between trying to reach many versus trying to reach a difficult few?" "How did you know you were called to fulltime missions?" "How do you prepare for missions?" These were but a few of the questions, but they gave me a sense of great hope for these congregations. I'm sure they appreciate your prayer for continued growth in these areas.

3. Thank you for praying for my future in ministry/career. Well, it's only been 2 weeks since that request, so not much has changed as far as I can tell, although an abundance of relatives & friends seemed to think that my future ministry & career will include a wife! I'm not sure how they got that idea... Anyway, please do continue praying for this (the career, not the wife). I do have a bit of anxiety about this, as things have not cleared up too much in the last 6 months despite much footwork on my part. God is good, I know. Please pray that I'd be faithful in following Him each day. Specifically, in the next 2 weeks I will decide whether to attend a large missions conference in Urbana, Illinois this December.

4. For those of you who prayed for less long-windedness in me, Amen! You got it!

Indeed, I am so blessed to know each of you & experience God's goodness through you. Yes, our God is so good. As I begin to settle back into "normal" quieter life, I thank Him for His goodness in everything, even in such things as being able to pet a kangaroo, see beautiful landscapes, milk a cow, & bottle-feed a lamb. Even the viruses which decided to throw a farewell party in my throat have settled quite
a bit.

Praise the Lord!

Please let me know how I may pray for you, too!


By His Grace,
Sid/Steve

PS: If you're receiving this kind of letter from me for the first time, it may be kind of disorienting. If you'd like, I'd be happy to send you the 2 preceding letters from my time in Guam.