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After 4,000 miles what could possibly be next?

July 18, 2018 by Joel Potter

The great western road trip was AWESOME! Between the privilege of seeing, from the ground, the incredible country we’re privileged to live in and all of the people we were able to connect with we were really encouraged. After the trip west, in which we drove from central Florida to central California and back, we settled into a really busy month of July. Family visiting, an increasing number of medical appointments and new ministry opportunities have us running at full-speed this summer. I sure am glad we could, all six of us, squeeze into our van and rest for three weeks on the road like we did ????.

Our family at Yosemite National Park in June

Jack: It’s not that at the moment, he’s doing so poorly, but after returning home from camp, he’ll face a full plate of tests and a radical diet change as we continue to search for ways to help him have a better quality of life. We SO value your prayer support for wisdom as we seek out how to best help him. He has not-so-mild IBS and a primary immune deficiency. Just try to imagine what your 8th-grade year was like but add a constantly present physical malady on top of it plus an immune system that is literally missing a piece of itself!

Jack is a baby whisperer!
Bethany continues to work with doctors to gain understanding in relation to Jacks health. Jack recently underwent 3 different tests and each one revealed a clue to help us understand what is happening in Jack’s body to cause a host of very debilitating issues. He will soon undergo another series of tests to hopefully confirm or deny possible other answers. The next several months will be difficult for Jack and with school starting in Just 4 weeks, we are seeking wisdom from God and our school leaders to figure out if Jack should start school with his classmates or if we should try to begin with him in a “homebound” status until he is more stable. The third option is that we withdraw Jack from the school he has been at since 4th grade and enroll him in Florida Virtual School to finish his middle school years.
Pray: that we can be patient through this process as it is not possible to get answers quickly. Pray too that all the doctors will have the ability to look at all the pieces, which may appear to be separate, and figure out how they are connected. We believe it is possible for Jack to lead a healthy/more normal, active life but we MUST get to the bottom of his health issues.

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Ethnos360, Family, health, Kids, travel

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Here is what’s next… »

The Potters…

are missionaries helping every people group around the world have the chance to understand the gospel and have access to a thriving church. We are serving with the International Ministries Office as it assists Ethnos360 and its Global Partners.

joeldpotter

Late last week, we shared a "Can we be candid..." Late last week, we shared a "Can we be candid..." update, this time about a BIG ministry change. Many of you read that and wrote your sweet prayers back to us. For some of you, email is not your thing and so we don't want you to miss out. So, there's a link to the full post on our blog in my profile link or you can read the brief overview of update if you just want the basics.

Shortly after we returned from our trip to Missouri in June we had some realizations that led us to conclude, with the counsel of others, that our time serving with the Equip Asia team was coming to an end. The Lord had already been putting desires on my (Joel’s) heart to pursue a role that would allow me to serve our wider global missions community in the area of media and communications and we knew that with Kate starting to hybrid homeschool, she was going to need much more support as a homeschooled student. We also realized that Bethany needed to pursue some side-jobs and employment to supplement our very tight financial state.

So, for now, I’ve had my new ministry role approved and am making strides at getting an audio and video studio setup here in Sanford as well as beginning to make many plans for upcoming projects both here and abroad. I’ll be able to use both the experience I gained working with the Communications team for 8 years as well as the newfound skills in videography and media production to serve many different teams in what we call the “Global Partners” family (all related to Ethnos360).

Bethany is also off to the races, so to speak, helping to homeschool Owen and Kate, working several small jobs on the side, all while keeping our incredibly busy household sane and well organized. It’s a different scene for sure after the last three years, but there are some blessings that come from it.

Again, there’s more detail at the post you can get to in my profile link. 
______
#thepottermission @ethnos360
After learning of this book, I had to read it. Not After learning of this book, I had to read it. Not reading a lot of books, I used every renewal cycle that the local library allowed (it is due tomorrow) to finish this one and boy am I glad I finished it. 

@andrewpetersonmusic wrote a book about trees (and SO much more) and moved me at a time when I needed moving and reminding of how the God who created me and knows me intimately, is carefully tending the garden of my own being. 

There were moments when I gasped as I read his words and his realizations which I found paralleled some of my own. 

Having been transplanted from Pennsylvania and it’s temperate woods to Central Florida and it’s weird mix of prairies and swamps at 11 years old, I identified with his interpretation of his childhood. 

Two huge realizations will remain with me. The first is that the God who admonishes me to “be slow to speak…” is entitled to the same right to be “slow to speak.” The second is these imagined words from Jesus to me: “I love you. Let me love you.”

I’ve always loved trees and only love them more now. In fact a week ago I took the chance to go visit some of trees that AP mentioned in the book; the somber remains of our truly ancient Bald Cypress, “the Senator”, that tree’s younger (but still 2,000 years old) sibling, “Lady Liberty”, and the youngest of the family, a clone of the original, the relative sapling, “Phoenix”. (Big Tree Park, near the Spring Hammock Preserve)

I commend this book highly and again, pass my thanks to Andrew Peterson for it. 
______
#andrewpeterson #thegodofthegarden
#plantmoretrees 
@bhpub 
______
The tree in this photo is the pride and joy of our backyard, a Chinese or lacebark Elm (Ulmus parvifolia)and was planted by us not long after we moved to this house and provides lush shade to the eastern side of our backyard and filters the early morning sunrise light beautifully!
After running for a long time, like since 2002, I After running for a long time, like since 2002, I finally found a partner to train with, someone who although they live states away, knows the value of partnership and how to push another person to do better. I’m pretty excited about what’s to come as he and I work towards a goal that will be a lifetime highlight when we achieve it. Until then, here’s some highlight runs of the last month. 
______
#runwithstrava #floridarunner @strava @altrarunning
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