Tuesday, April 21, 2015

The Peace of the City

The joy of being at this stage of preparing (and networking and fundraising) to move to Zambia for a year is that we are constantly given the opportunity to express our hearts and desires to people who ask.

The difficulty of being at this stage of preparing to move to Zambia for a year is that we are constantly wrestling with the challenge of how to adequately express our hearts and desires to the people who ask.

We have found that sometimes the things you care the most about are the things that are hardest to speak most clearly about. The emotions that run deepest are the most difficult to articulate.

During our first discussion with Bethany and Jeremy, the directors of Choshen Farm, they shared with us how Jeremiah 29:7 serves as a guide for the work that they do at Choshen:

“And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in its peace shall you have peace.”

They explained that the word “peace” in that verse is “shalom” in Hebrew, which-- if I may borrow their phrasing-- “refers to the total flourishing of every dimension of society, and is only achieved through the fulfillment of God’s perfect law in Jesus Christ.”

Friends, that’s it. The peace of the city. The emotional, physical, familial, spiritual peace of the city. That’s how nurses and teachers and preachers all work together to further the Kingdom. That’s what we’re up to; that’s what we desire.

Last Sunday, we had the beautiful privilege of sharing with our home church in Chicago the call that we believe God has placed on our heart and our plans to answer that call in the coming months. In a couple of weeks we will be speaking at a church in Effingham, IL.  We’ve spent what feel like countless hours creating letters and info packets and updating this blog, and we are constantly in conversation with someone about what God is doing in our lives or the work to be done in Fimpulu. Some folks are more interested in logistics; others want to talk missions philosophy and sustainability practices; still others are mostly curious about the dynamics of preparing to move around the world with a 1 year old.

And we are so thankful and enthusiastic about all of those things, because another aspect about the things you care most deeply about is that you really want to share it with anyone who will listen.

We want to share this with you.


So let’s get coffee and chat. Let’s be pen pals. Shoot us an email, or drop a comment at the end of this post. Take this journey with us.

1 comment:

  1. Praying for you and your small, beautiful family! I can't wait to read all about everything happening in your lives!

    ReplyDelete