We had a great week of vacation after Christmas parties wrapped up here in Swaziland with our friends the Pierces – there’s not uch better than a string of days together with sand and sun and salt water and no agenda but getting too much sun and putting on aloe! Here’s a couple highlights!
What a great day celebrating “Jabulani Inkhosinati” – Celebrate because God has come to us! Jesus did come as a baby to reveal God to us and make the way for our forgiveness. And today we celebrated God’s goodness to us – thanks for praying for us and making it happen!
so i really like this picture from last week. the beauty of God’s creative ability to have such diverse unity in His people is just plain right. and while they are all beautiful, you all know which one i am especially keen about!
Jeff and Angi and the girls made it! We just fought traffic and had pizza and are getting them in bed for a solid night’s rest – off the SZ tomorrow! Thanks or praying for them!
December already?! No way! This year has simply flown by -we just can’t believe it’s almost over! How does this happen?
2008 has been a year of significant transitions for us as a family, and we genuinely thank you all for your friendship and prayer as we have been working here in Africa with Childrens’ Cup.
Last week was graduation week in our Cup pre-schools. Crystal and I are ‘missionaries’ over 3 Cup CarePoints – Madonsa, Mbekleweni, and Makholweni. We were able to celebrate with the graduating classes and their caregivers as the children completed their first 2 years of schooling. The children are graduating into primary school – 1st-3rd grad depending on how they score on their entrance exams. Schools are not free here, so please pray with us for school fees and scholarships to be available for all of our graduates!
The more significant ‘graduation’ of the year for us, however, was our Mom’s. Crystal’s mom, Florence Best, went home to be with the Lord on September 1, 2008. In many real ways we are still coming to grips with mom’s death every day. We know that Mom is celebrating her best Thanksgiving ever in Paradise with Christ, but ours without her here was not without tears… Thanks for praying for us as we learn to live without her.
We are truly thankful and excited about the work here, and our role in helping to raise Cup’s level of biblical and leadership discipleship with over 3600 Cup children in Swaziland. Next week, in the first week of December, we will have 3 Christmas parties for well over 5000 kids!
Our first and biggest is party is for 4000 kids in Manzini, and our friends Jeff and Angi Pierce and their girls will be arriving just in time to help us! We can’t wait for them to arrive, to live and serve in life with us for a month here in Swaziland!
We pray that if this season holds transitions and graduations for you, as it has for us, that you will seek comfort in the peace of our Savior, Jesus.
my favorite new prayer
…heal my heart and make it
clean, open up my eays to the things
unseen. show me how to love like you have
loved me break my heart for what breaks Yours,
everything I am for Your Kingdom’s cause.
as i walk from earth into eternity…
hosanna in the highest!
– hillsong -
Lord, bring this to life in me – make me this kind of man in Your family,
this kind of servant in Your kingdom, this kind of fighter in Your scraps…
so in Dueteronomy 1.2 moses gets a bit technical, like an old school AAA travel agent, and says that ‘normally it only takes 11 days to get to Kadesh Barnea from Mt Sinai, via the Mt. Seir road.’ then, the punch line. vs. 2: 40 years into their journey, they arrived.
40 years, walking down a dirt road, that was supposed to only amount to 11 days of dust.
why?!
if you know the story, you know that while the details are numerous … the basic reason for the 39.99 year extension on the trip was because the crew made smart plans of their own, feeling that God’s plans were too unknown and too unplanned and too risky…and the obstacles were too huge [giant, to be exact].
so Lord, i know you’ve got fights you’ve called us to fight, and lands you’ll tell us to take … give me the courage to see your perspective of the journey – to be on your gps, and not mine. and help us to walk into fights with giants with Your courage and confidence, and get to where you’ve called us to go in 11 days, as opposed to 14,559 days, where whole generations of opportunity have to die in me and crystal, in our boys, and in your Kingdom.
please Father, lad
Crystal has been back for a few weeks now, and we are starting to get back to life as it is supposed to be. We’ve had some amazing conversations together, and cried together as we’ve gone over the memories of mom and the last week of her life … so thanks for praying for us in the process.
So i’ve nothing of significance to say or write, but i love this picture from a Cup meeting we had at the beach in August. And the truth is, Crusoe is far more fly than this picture could ever convey!
fyi … we’ve been lured by the sirens of face, and have booked in there. Crystal and i have both enjoyed catching up with old friends … you can catch us there as ‘lad chapman’ and ‘crystal chapman’ – deceptively obvious names.
Godspeed your day, lad
Last night Mom, Florence Best of Berwick, Nova Scotia, at age 90 [1 week from 91st bday], went home to be with her Savior. After a wonderful life of blessing and serving others, Mom is at rest. She had a major stroke last Wednesday, and just passed from dying to New Life last night.
Crystal and Parker have been with her for a week, and Mom was able to hold hands with Crystal, reaching out for her a couple times a few days ago. The only thing she said all week, was “Parker,” as he laid on her chest one day. Precious times between mom and daughter.
Thanks for praying with us. We thank God for the safe and [relatively] affordable flights for Crystal to make it home and be with Mom … and for those precious moments saying goodbye. Pray for Crystal as the grief really starts to sink in of saying farewell her momma.
