Welcome to our new family blog!  This will be a place where we will fill you in on what our family is up to and what God is doing in our lives.  Ready for a big shocker??? 

For the last year and a half God has been speaking to both Jody and I about the idea of being “luke warm” in our Christian walk. When Jesus calls us to himself we know that he calls us to lay down every area of our lives to him and commit to follow Him wherever he leads us, no matter the cost. As Jody and I have been examining our lives we wonder, “have we really committed to following God in this way?” When we look at our lives we see that we are more dependent on a pay cheque than on Christ, and that we often find temporary satisfaction from the things of the world instead of the things of God. We brought this before the Lord and asked him to show us how we can break out of the rut of our complacent Christian walk. The next day as we were talking we realized that God had brought the same idea to both of our minds- Youth With A Mission (YWAM)! YWAM offers Discipleship Training Schools for youth and adults with the intention of discipling Christians in the way of Jesus and showing them how they can fulfill the great commission by spreading the Good News throughout the world. The DTS we have chosen is called Trailblazers and is a 6 month program that focuses on intimacy with God and reaching unreached people groups with the gospel. The first three months will take place in the YWAM base in Kona Hawaii. This base is one of the few bases that is well set up for children and families. Here's what YWAM says about DTS:

"DTS is a unique time with God where you can grow in intimacy, learn how to listen to his voice, and make his ways known to others. You’ll be encouraged to engage with his dreams and daily seek his face. It’s a time like no other — a time to be deeply transformed and radically ruined for the ordinary."

For the second phase, which is outreach, we will be traveling as a family to either Thailand and Laos or Uganda and South Sudan to connect with the local people, learn about their culture and lifestyle, and share the gospel with unreached people-groups. What an amazing honour to be able to share the good news with people who have never had the opportunity to hear it before!!!

When we initially began thinking and praying about following God in this way we imagined that we would take our time to plan and prepare, but the more we began seeking God and talking to others who had done this before we kept hearing the same thing- “Do it now, don’t wait!” and “Just say yes to God!” After talking to a friend who is already at the YWAM base in Kona, she let us know that the next school starts October 1st and that she has specifically been praying for more Canadians to come to the school to join in bringing the gospel to the ends of the earth. So with much fear and trembling we have decided to step out in faith and say yes to God. Since saying yes, we have felt an overwhelming sense of peace that the Lord is going to come through and miraculously supply our needs to make this journey happen. We are currently working towards raising half of the funds required through selling vehicles and other possessions, savings, and through Jody working lots of overtime. We are having a garage sale this Saturday as part of our fundraising and to get rid of as much of our stuff as possible. If you have anything to donate that we can sell we would really appreciate it!  Message me or give me a call and we can work out the details :)
 

We will leave you with this verse that has been a great encouragement to us as God has placed us on this journey of radical faith.

“It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.” Heb 11:6 msg