The Beauty Around Us

I have a crazy weird and very hectic life currently. A few days ago I posted about how we lifted a refrigerator through a window on our bus as part of the construction project to build the entire interior. That’s been enough to keep us busy for a long time, but add to that travel, and concerts, and sleeping arrangements, and an impending Uganda Missions Trip and you have a busy life. Looking forward to Uganda though; this trip will be upon us in a matter of weeks. Right now I’m finding a bit of calm amid the storm in appreciating the specific beauty of nature God has gifted the vast diversity of the US. Appreciating the green and the life and the vibrancy of colors and creatures that we have the privilege to gaze upon and live amongst.

Nature was meant to be observed, studied, and appreciated because it points us to the Creator and exhibits His majesty and great power! Creation cries out, “There is a God!”. It’s inescapable. To walk on this earth, among God’s marvelous handiwork is grace and it is divine revelation of His nature and essence. It point us to the one we should serve and love for His goodness to the most despicable of His creatures. We all need a savior. That’s why we’re going to Africa to preach about Him and teach others how to follow Him.

They can see Him in creation, they know He exists, they just don’t know how to believe, they don’t know Him as anything but the Creator. We go to tell them that He is the Lord and Savior of every man. God is in creation. He is all around us and in us and through us, but until we allow Him to become Lord of us we can’t truly know Him as He is. We see Him in the bees, in the clover, in the grass, in the leaves, in the sky, and in the trees. Learn about them, look at them with fresh eyes of wonder for the handiwork of the Creator.

As always, thanks for reading.

–the anonymous novelist

Urgent Prayer Request!

Rachel Sutton, one of the missionaries that my family ministry has sent to Uganda, Africa is ill with a very serious case of Malaria.

Recently, after having lived in Uganda for three months now, Rachel and Andrew Sutton both fell sick with Malaria. It was what is known as type 1 Malaria and can be eradicated, unlike type 2, which is a virus that attaches itself to your blood. Thank God that it was the lesser of the two evils. But, after Rachel had assumedly gotten rid of the Malaria, it suddenly flared up again a few days ago and she was taken to the hospital. They ran some tests and discovered that she not only had Malaria, but also Typhoid. She has been miserable for the last week, and to make matters worse, it is Summer in Uganda currently and the heat is intense. It is not at all a pleasant situation, and the hospital care in a developing country is nowhere near that of our hospitals in the US.

On behalf of The Allen Family and Hope Missions International, I ask you to be in prayer for Rachel and the entire Sutton family. Being sick and having a wife who is sick has caused Andrew to have to halt progress on Hope Children’s Village and Rachel cannot teach currently. This isn’t exactly the life a missionary dreams of, and we are definitely seeing a difficult side of Uganda and mission work. However, in anything we do for the Lord we will face opposition, and the greater the work, the greater the opposition will be. This is simply an inconvenience to the Suttons and an impedance to the work in Uganda that serves as confirmation of our callings rather than discouragement.

And, I don’t mean to downplay the seriousness of the situation. Malaria and Typhoid are dangerous and prevalent this time of year in Africa, they can cause lasting problems if not cared for and treated properly and quickly. Rachel’s case has been largely undetected for a while and is very strong. We pray against any lasting effects of this illness from befalling her and that God would use this as a tool to bring others to Him. We pray that His power would be magnified in Rachel’s life and that He would remove this from her. We also pray that God would protect the Sutton girls and the Hope children from falling sick.

None of this scares me in the least about taking the trip to Uganda this July. If anything, it encourages me. What great things God must be doing if the devil is trying this hard to prevent them! I can’t wait to be a part of His work there. I know that He’ll protect me if I’m in His will. I will follow, I will follow; where He leads me I will follow. I will fear no death, or darkling shadows; only trusting, I will follow.

As always, thanks for reading.

–the anonymous novelist