Press On

October 01, 2021

I recently listened to a podcast. The realization of the woman who had been following hard after Christ for many years was vastly true of the place I feel we've been for a while now. She said, "I know I can do it, but I don't know if I want to."

Who would know if we just put life on "cruise control" or "drift" for a while? Who would care? What if we kept up with work and going through the motions of ministry, but didn't "run with endurance" as hard as we usually do?

JESUS! Jesus would know! Hebrews 2:1 warns us to pay attention to what we've heard, lest we "drift" away from it. That coupled with the many verses about "pressing on toward the goal" (Phil 3:14), "needing endurance that when we've done the will of God we may receive what's promised" (Heb 10:36) and "since we're surrounded by that great cloud of witnesses, laying aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and running with endurance the race set before us" (Heb 12:1). We can't pause! We can't press "cruise control!" We can't let ourselves "drift!"

But WE CAN cast our cares on him (1 Pet 5:7). We can depend upon him (1 Thes 5:24). We can CHOOSE to do what's right (James 4:17).

This month we've had a number of opportunities to share the gospel, with many coming to faith! We've been able to disciple and train up followers. Adam preached at our church earlier this month; challenging us from 1 John 2, to live for Christ, obey and be aware! I was able to keep teaching the children in Sunday School. Adam came back to the States for 4 days to meet our new units coming out to Sub-Sahara Africa. It was a quick trip, but so worth it for him to be in person with our new colleagues. And praise God he made it there and back according to schedule! We had a small gathering of our people in mid-September and were so encouraged as we shared about the work the Father is doing in each of our areas and prayed over each other. We also laughed and played. I can now say we've played "Ultimate Octopus!" (That's ultimate frisbee with a real octopus as the frisbee!). AND we played that game in the rain! What a memory.

So even when temptation comes to settle to just "get by" or "take our foot off the gas for a while," may we continue to press on toward the goal and ultimately BE FOUND FAITHFUL.

Praises:

*We are seeing progress in the advancement of the gospel and in the missionary-task.

*Adam made it to Affinity Days in Virginia and then back to us in Kenya!

*The kids are doing well in school and life. Baylee's been enjoying basketball and River plays soccer once a week after school.

*We had a group of our people sign up to substitute as volunteers at Rosslyn Academy and Suzie was able to sub this month.

*We had some encouraging times of fellowship with our colleagues.

Prayer Requests:

*A team from SWBTS will be here Oct 2-9. Pray for the team and the areas where they will be serving (Babadogo, Londry, Ngumba and the University segment)

*Pray for health and wellness.

*Pray for the new group of colleagues beginning training Oct. 25. We have 13 adults coming to SSA after they finish this 7 week training.

*Pray for continued unity and camaraderie among our Nairobi City Team. (We've enjoyed monthly gatherings for Ladies' Time and Men's Time- a new regularly occurring activity.)

*Pray for our Inbound Team Retreat later this month. Pray as we all meet together for the first time since everyone has taken their roles that we would have fun getting to know each other and be united in moving forward.

*Pray for other meetings and gathering taking place. PRAY FOR WISDOM AND GOD'S WILL!