Sunday, September 4, 2011

What do you do?

We get asked this question alot: What do you do? We explain to folks that we are military missionaries. We provide a home away from home to military personnel and their families, lead Bible studies in our home, meet one-on-one with people, basically, we just do life with folks, and pray that our lives glorify God in the process. After we answer, people look at us very strangely.


The next question, as they wrestle with trying to understand what we do, comes quickly. What does a typical day look like for you? Boy, that's quite a different question. It's different because it's not easy to answer. Lou was home in Colorado this summer for a family celebration and he was asked this question a lot. So, we have been pondering a good response.



The bottom line....we don't have a typical day. We study for four ministry nights. We study for our discipleship and mentoring relationships. We maintain a home that averages 100 people a week through its doors. We cook meals for our ministry nights. We have commitments for the military chapel that are part of our weekly tasks. To facilitate getting to know people better, we lead off-base excursions. It's amazing what you can learn about someone on a 2 hour car ride to see a church in a cute German town.



We then move into the non-recurring type of activities. Things that just crop up. Sometimes, they are major things -- like our basement flooding or rushing to the hospital to be with someone after their child has attempted suicide.


Two weeks ago was a perfect example. We got home from our vacation to learn that there was a going-away ice cream party for one of our guys who was deploying - THAT NIGHT! We spent some time eating ice cream and hanging out with Chris.



We woke up the next morning to have an email waiting for us from an old co-worker. Her son-in-law had been injured in Afghanistan and was at Landstuhl. We were able to visit him and meet with him a few times that week before he was sent back to the States.



We capped the week spending some time with some friends who were having some struggles.

We experience many joys, lots of laughter and some sorrows in our job. But, it is different every week, every day. We are so grateful for the opportunity do serve our U.S. military and the Lord. It is an honor and a priviledge. All we know is our lives are fun and fulfilled and NEVER DULL!


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