Putting Your Feet in the Jordan

We arrived home in Barrie early this evening, having driven from Drummondville this morning. The high point of the day? Having my first Starbucks coffee in over a week in Belleville! The low point? Leaving the francophone area. I really enjoyed being so immersed in French again. I listened to French radio from Montreal as long as I could before we finally drove out of range. Interestingly, you can almost physically feel the change in culture when you cross the provincial boundary into Ontario.

When we were first asked to come and do some presentations in New Brunswick, we weren’t sure we could fit a trip like that into our schedule or budget, especially so close to starting preparations for our return to Burkina. However, it became increasingly clear that this was something God wanted us to do, so we went. And we’re glad we did. Not only did we have opportunities to share about the work of language development, Bible translation, and our ministry with the Kusassi with God’s people out there, but through His people, God also provided what we needed to carry all this out (or will by the time our credit card bill is due! :)

We’ve discovered that sometimes God wants you to stick your foot in the Jordan before He’ll divide the waters for you to move forward. Many Christians prefer to have God divide the waters first! Even many of those in "full-time" ministry like to wait until God has provided all the necessary means before even starting to do anything. Unfortunately, He doesn’t always work that way. In our experience, if the way forward is clear but the means are not yet there, He expects us to move forward and invariably provides the means as we go along. It sounds somewhat stressful, doesn’t it? Sometimes it is :) But it’s always exciting to see God at work!

Our next adventure in living by faith will be our upcoming departure for Burkina. Up until a few days ago, we believed that we were at virtually 100% of our required budget. However, a recent update indicates that we are actually at only 80%. Since the way ahead looks clear to us, we’re putting our feet in the Jordan and making preparations to leave in early September nevertheless. The next month and a half is going to be exciting indeed! Stay tuned!