Ohio and Indiana

I don’t know how large the church in Antioch was, although I suspect it outgrew any home in which it may have met. I do know, though, that the church in North America is quite large and rather spread out—which makes more difficult our part in imitating the Acts 13 model! We are very thankful for the encouraging time spent with the Lord’s people in Ohio and Indiana during the past week or two. We were genuinely blessed and strengthened by our time with them. I trust that, as we attempt to serve among local churches, God will make clear to them His calling and leading in our lives—in a way that echoes His words in Antioch: “Set them apart for the work to which I have called them!”

My grandmother is now with Jesus. She no longer needs her wheelchair, and my dad crushed her pills to powder. In a mere breath we won’t need ours. Nor will we be able to return to seize the precious opportunities that now abound around us. A small plaque that used to hang in Grandpa’s and Grandma’s bedroom quotes David Livingstone and Paul:

“Only one life—
’Twill soon be past,
Only what’s done
For Christ will last.
‘To me to live is Christ.’”

And having been there ten days (“bright shining as the sun”!), Grandma would certainly add, with Paul, that “to die is gain.”