Sad news. Family, again.

Just on the heels of Candace & Luke’s announcement of pregnancy, comes the announcement from Andy Nemcik that his brother, Mike, has passed away.

He was 81 years old and, according to Andy, passed into the Lord’s presence early on Friday morning. Andy walked through Scripture with him to verify his relationship with Jesus Christ as His Savior and is convinced that Uncle Mike (Utco Mike as we fondly call him) affirmed his commitment to Jesus as His Lord.

He will be missed. He was a gentle, loving, kind and generous man, uncle, brother and friend. Please pray for the Nemcik family, our family and friends as we all process the loss of our beloved Utco Mike.

Blessed news! Family growth!

I just sent out our latest P.a.P.U. (Praise and Prayer Update) with an announcement that our family continues to expand through the addition of Samantha Fuller.

Well, last night we received a call from Luke & Candace that THEIR family is expanding, too. That means that I will be a Grandpa in about 9 months! That also means that I’ll be married to a Grandma! She’s too young to be a Grandma! But she looks great!

We thank the Lord for the joy of seeing our family expand in so many different ways!

Money woes again

We were informed - again - today that our paycheck this Friday will be about 50% of what we've been receiving for quite some time (and that's been about 50% of what our paycheck should be).

So, it looks like we're going to have to tap into our one and only investment and maybe an IRA (ugh!).

I read that the IRA cashing-out option is up a whopping 44% this year! Looks like we aren't the only ones in that boat.

Well, we're thankful that we have those options to fall back on during these incredibly hard times. It's all the Lord's money anyways and if that's how He wants it used, well, who am I to argue with the Creator of the universe (& that includes finances!)

Tennis!

I had the joy of playing competitive tennis tonight! Linda went with me to a city tennis center to watch me train against the backboard. I ended up playing 3 sets of doubles with 3 different partners throughout the evening.

Wow! I went through a CASE of WD-40 trying to loosen up my rusty strokes, serve, volleys, overheads and more.

What a thrill to experience the adrenaline rush of competition, the challenge of maintaining focus in the midst of losing and the rush of hitting an unbelievable winner in the heat of battle.

Ahhhhhhh. It feels good to do something that you feel created to do.

I haven't played serious competitive tennis in over 30 years and it feels like I've only been out a few months.

I'm going back again later this week. I'll be more rested, in better shape, better stretched out and wiser.

Welcome to The "Fog Club!!!"

THE “FOG CLUB”

Over the past few months, friends, family members, supporters and pastors and missions team leaders of supporting churches have asked the same question that you may even have somewhere in the back of your mind, “So, where are you these days?”

The literal answer to that question is, “Phoenix, Arizona.” But that’s not the question that you all are really asking us. You, along with others, want to know what is up with regards to our future, our ministry, our lives and plans.

Our immediate response is, “That’s a VERY good question.” And the usual follow-up is something like, “We are walking with Jesus in a fog. We know that we are doing what He wants us to do right now. We just do not know what He wants for the future.”

I, Kelly, have been most obsessed with this “fog” in which we have been living for the past few months. I have found some comfort in knowing (and communicating with) others who are experiencing the very same “fog.” The “fog club” (as I affectionately call it) includes pastors waiting for their next ministry assignment, missionaries, CEOs, COOs and several others. When the waiting becomes too frustrating for one of us, we “vent” to some of the others and find the Lord appropriately admonishing, encouraging, reproving and/or rebuking us as needed.

The “fog of waiting” (as with real fog) plays with your senses, though the spiritual and emotional senses as opposed to the senses of sight, hearing and touch in physical fog. There are times when it seems to me that the Lord is “putting something together” and the fog appears to begin to lift. The emotions rise as well, but are quickly dashed as, upon entering denser fog, I realize that it was simply a pocket of lighter fog which I had misread as the end of the fog bank.

Traveling through a fog bank has it’s directional challenges. Up and down, east and west and north and south all LOOK the same. They all FEEL the same and, to a large degree, they all SOUND the same. But they are not the same. And that’s the biggest threat and challenge. It is during these times that I most need - and desire - the hand of the Lord on my shoulder leading, guiding and protecting.

The “fog of waiting” is not all bad. It’s cool, dark, quiet and protective from the prying eyes and “advice” of others. It allows me to move about in relative obscurity. It blocks out the panorama of the rest of the world around me, thus giving me a false sense of “all is well” with the world. It’s coolness relieves the stifling heat of work that often causes trickles of sweat on my brow. And, for a while, that makes me not want to enter the heat of the sun.

I know that I need to move forward, but after having been in the fog for so long, it’s easy to fear the penetrating sunlight, the heat, the expanse of life outside of my little fog-created world.

As much as I do look forward to “the exit,” I don’t want to dash ahead out of the waiting zone before the Lord has accomplished in my life - and in the lives of others - what He wants to do in this time. It is so against my nature not to have a definite plan, a concrete ministry or job waiting for me when our Home Ministry Assignment ends. But God is the One Who freely moves in and out of time accomplishing His desires & plans and I must, I will, wait upon Him and for Him. (I say this as I grit my teeth, not knowing how much longer the waiting will last.)

I love this promise from our Lord: “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” AMEN!

I will wait for the Lord.