Friday, May 23, 2014

Costco --> it's been real!

Andy's last day at Costco will be June 17!  As long as we've known we were headed into full time missions, we knew this day would come. There are not enough hours in the day for Andy to parent solo during the day, work in the evenings and on weekends, make follow-up phone calls, manage the logistics of fundraising, travel to churches for speaking, and visit individuals interested in our ministry. Trisha does her fair share of support raising work -- mostly correspondence and writing {like right now}. Too much stuff. Good, worthy, beneficial stuff. Stuff we want to do well. Not enough time.

While we all accept a certain level of busy-ness in our lives, there comes a time to change things up. NOW IS THAT TIME!

We know the path the Lord has us on. Andy's job at Costco isn't getting us there any faster. We are just short of matching his current earnings through monthly donors {to MMS}. With a couple hundred dollars to go for this short-term goal, we have felt the Lord saying, "Now. It's time to leave the big-C and focus on getting onto the mission field."

Um. Ok.

Perhaps it is our vivid experience of not having reliable income in the past that makes us hesitant to give up Andy's consistent-dependable-surething-reasonable-paying job at Costco. Perhaps it is our desire to be in control. To determine our own course.

Perhaps we lack the faith to trust God in new ways during uncertain times.

Yes. That's it.

So, a few hundred dollars short of meeting our short-term support raising goal, we need to trust that the Lord will provide. As we sat with this revelation {and it was nothing short of a revelation for us!} we became more certain that the time Andy spends at Costco could be much better used. 

For those of you into logistics...you'll enjoy this next part. If you aren't into the nitty-gritty skip down to the next paragraph :-)
Andy will draw approximately a 1/4-time salary from MMS to work on support-raising 15-20 hours/week. We estimate that he could easily do this amount of work given the tasks we have put off for so long since neither of us has time to do them in our current schedule. Some weeks we'll travel to a church to speak. On a daily basis, support raising is very office-y.  Phone calls, managing finances, correspondence, searching for elusive receipts, filing, planning engagements...VERY GLAMOUROUS.

You might be wondering what Andy does during the day now as he stays home with Micah. Why can't he do more of these support raising tasks while he hangs out with Micah???  

Close your eyes {keep them open, actually, so you can continue reading}. Think back to a time when you tried to accomplish something that required concentration, a non-shaking surface, and both hands while in the presence of someone under the age of five.

Are we good, then? No explanation needed, right?

If you have been considering becoming a monthly ministry partner NOW IS THE TIME! When we say that we know the Lord has been pushing us in this direction, we also know that he uses his people to accomplish his will. Your prayers sustain us, encourage us, and uplift us. Your donation get us to the field to full time service. 

 For His Glory!

*Please let us know if you are interested in donating through the Bible Fellowship Church Board of Missions.