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The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
— Numbers 6:24-26
"Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son’s days I will bring the disaster upon his house."
— 1 Kings 21:29
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
— Psalm 103:8
It is finally summer here in Hanover. The spring term concluded on June 10th and commencement took place (virtually) on the 14th.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Thank you, as always, for your prayers for our ministry! With the summer having begun, our staff will be spending the next two months completing intensive training, praying and planning for the coming school year, and taking some much-needed vacation time. We are looking forward to the year ahead and the many things we expect God will do in us and in the lives of students.
Greetings from Palo Alto!
My wife, Kate, and I have a habit of listening through books of the Bible, one chapter per night, as part of our evening routine. A few nights ago we came across one of the most astonishing parts in Joshua:
Dear Prayer Partners,
Our family just moved across town. To be sure, moving is a result of the fall (Adam and Eve had to move out of the Garden), and my back attests to that spiritual reality. However, there is something good about moving to a new(ish) home. Besides being bigger and cheaper, there is the clean house, the opportunities to purge (a lot of) unneeded stuff, and the new perspective that our new lodgings affords us.
“We will not neglect the house of our God.” Nehemiah 10:39
After returning from exile in Babylon, Ezra and the priests gather the Israelites together in a great corporate assembly to renew their covenant with God. In his prayer, Ezra carefully pronounces how each offering, tithe, and “first fruit” of dough, oil, wine, etc. is to be brought accordingly into the house of God. As Ezra prays summarizing the Levitical instructions the Israelites have had for years, his recasting is so clear that you can practically “see” the disorder of their sinful ways atrophying and the good, pleasing order of flourishing provision, celebration, and thankfulness materializing before their eyes.
So I was out running the other day when a teenager rode up on a bike, stopped in front of me, and blurted out, “Do you know you look like Harrison Ford?”. I was surprised, to say the least, but am also realistic enough to suspect he was thinking Harrison Ford circa “Call of the Wild”, rather than “Indiana Jones”. I found myself gratified to be recognized (sort of), but I knew it wasn’t so. I reflected later that the incident reminded me of that deep desire to be noticed and to be of consequence at some level.
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