{"id":1642,"date":"2023-01-23T16:28:20","date_gmt":"2023-01-23T21:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/?p=1642"},"modified":"2023-01-23T17:06:49","modified_gmt":"2023-01-23T22:06:49","slug":"you-are-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/2023\/01\/23\/you-are-here\/","title":{"rendered":"You Are Here"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In between two years…<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t matter how intuitive you think your sense of direction may be, at some point in time, you\u2019re going to find your way to a helpful map standing in the middle of the space you\u2019re in and look for the \u2b07\ufe0f or the\ud83d\udccdon the map with the words \u201cYou are here\u201d by it. We all need some orientation to help us know where we are. For us as Christ-followers and sons and daughters of the eternal God, we have the Word and the testimony of other believers, to help us know exactly where we are and how to be in that place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And at times, it is helpful to take stock of how we got to the point we\u2019re at and lay out a plan for where we want to go next. So, that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

January saw us launch into more video shoots for the Equip Asia program and subsequently ALL get a round of COVID. Fortunately, we made it through that without any severe symptoms and recovered well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

February saw us continue to produce course videos and content for the students in Equip Asia as we began preparing for our first group of students to graduate from the two-year program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

March brought a month of hard work and sore muscles. We took two weeks and replaced almost all of the downstairs flooring in our house. April and May saw us welcome family and close friends for nearly two straight weeks. Joel also had minor surgery to remove a stage-0 skin cancer spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May was a tough month for us, health-wise. We all got another nasty virus that led to ER visits for both Owen and Kate who had the exact same, wait for it, salivary gland infection that was extremely painful and a by-product of the nasty cold. And hey let\u2019s add to the craziness and have our AC die right as central Florida moves into the summer hot season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord gently and faithfully carried us through things as He always does, and provided for our needs with the AC and other things and we had the sweet chance to reconnect with one of our sending churches, the church where Joel grew up, near the beginning of June. This month also saw one of the highlights of the year, when our first group of about 17 students participated in an online commencement ceremony and we excitedly presented diplomas for their hard work over the previous two years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t overstate how amazing that was! These students suffered through the ravages of covid in countries far less prepared to deal with it than us, through political violence and instability, through the real effects of war on another nation and the uncertainty that comes with that, not to mention the fact that in almost all of these countries, their Christian faith is often times actively persecuted. This moment also marked the \u201ccompletion\u201d of production; meaning we had in just two years’ time created and produced over 20 fully conceived online courses, oftentimes, just days ahead of the students starting them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there we had the chance to see our kids off to week-long camps where real heart change took place in their own lives and then while a combination of a friend and Joel\u2019s parents stayed with Lynn, we had the chance to spend a very restful week with some of our best friends up in the NC mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

August saw the kids start school and the realness of Jack\u2019s high school graduation set in. We also noticeably sensed Lynn\u2019s decline speeding up. We began to alter her daily schedule while continuing to work with a friend and genuine caregiver to spend meaningful time with her every week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

September and October saw us preparing to head to Thailand. It took SO much work to plan for the time we were away as again, a combo of people would come and be with Lynn and the kids for the 17 days we were going to be away. And there was much to do to prepare for the work to be done there in Thailand. Oh, and you know what else? We had to replace our second vehicle. And while at the outset of that realization, we were discouraged, God blew our anxiety out of the water with gracious provision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

November saw us travel to the other side of the world and travel and work a combined total of 200 hours in about 14 days. And we even got to be tourists a little. We are still amazed at how well the trip went both for us there and for the \u201cHome Team\u201d here in FL. They even weathered Hurricane Nicole while we were gone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After two weeks of time to rest (and get covid again \u2639\ufe0f), Joel and Jack traveled up to Waukesha Wisconsin to visit the campus of Ethnos360 Bible Institute, which was Jack\u2019s second college tour of his Sr. year, and then we fully embraced the Christmas Season with a major immune-system\/rash\/response to ant-bites on Bethany\u2019s part. It took her almost three weeks of rest (and steroids) to recover from that, but recover she did. We closed out the year with a quiet Christmas holiday but then we fell into the four-day hospital stay for Lynn. The results of that were chronicled in our previous dispatch but if you didn\u2019t see that, check it out here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lynn was discharged on December 31st helping us realize just how much emotion, activity, and ups, and downs could be squeezed into a year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While it wasn\u2019t the \u201csentence of death\u201d (like Paul talks about in 2 Cor. 1), it was an incredibly full year with, honestly, a number of hard, discouraging, unresolved things. I can\u2019t really describe all we\u2019re feeling especially as we contemplate our continued role in caregiving for Lynn. The changes in her condition and everyday lifestyle are really impactful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some ways, things like the hospice-ordered caregivers coming to the house each week are helpful and offer sweet moments of rest for us and genuine heartfelt care for her, but that we\u2019re at that stage also brings impact that is not always obvious but builds up below the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, we take refuge in the sweet words of Paul in 2nd Corinthians 1. This God through Jesus whom we serve, we proclaim, we point students in Asia towards\u2026He is the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction! And if you keep reading, you\u2019ll see that He also has the people around us who aren\u2019t yet in need of that comfort, in view. So, we endure in His strength which MIGHTILY works in us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In my morning time with the Lord over the last few weeks, I\u2019ve been impressed with the idea that I\u2019m to welcome change, lack of dependable routine, and the chance to redeem everyday moments with what\u2019s most important at that moment. This is anti-Joel if you know me. I\u2019m usually the first one to embrace a schedule and a to-do list, and the one to spend a whole day decorating my office before I can even think of working in it. That\u2019s probably not what this year is going to look like. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a much lighter perspective on what we can \u201cplan for\u201d we\u2019re looking at a good bit of work with Equip Asia this Spring. While we \u201cfinished\u201d building the program, it\u2019s time to re-film a number of courses, it\u2019s time to add additional mentors and student advisors, and it\u2019s time to add to our leadership team. We\u2019re looking to the Lord in those areas and we also hope to see a physical recording studio built at the Ethnos360 Home Office sometime this coming year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traveling will be even more complicated than it has before, so we\u2019re only looking at a few trips. One is with the whole family to Missouri for a combo of recording video for another team in Ethnos360 that needs the help and seeing dear friends in the Springfield area. We\u2019ve not ALL been there since 2015, so it\u2019s also an overdue trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re also hoping to travel to Tennessee in October for a special team-wide retreat with our Equip Asia co-workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides that, we anticipate that Lynn\u2019s condition will further deteriorate. As such, we\u2019re welcoming the additional help that our local Hospice team is willing to offer. While it\u2019s almost overwhelming at the moment to be meeting so many new people, we\u2019re grateful for the help they\u2019re willing to provide and know that once we\u2019re used to it, we\u2019ll be grateful for the help. Raising kids takes a community. And sort of the opposite of raising kids, caring for a declining parent, also takes a community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I won\u2019t make this epic any longer, I\u2019ll just thank you for praying for us, for taking time to intentionally mention the Potters to the Lord, the great provider, and Father! We have much to be grateful for as we live our lives in the beam of His light and grace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In between two years… It doesn\u2019t matter how intuitive you think your sense of direction may be, at some point in time, you\u2019re going to find your way to a helpful map standing in the middle of the space you\u2019re in and look for the \u2b07\ufe0f or the\ud83d\udccdon the map with the words \u201cYou are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":782,"featured_media":1643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[83590,436,639,5,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-1642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-family","8":"tag-family","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-kids","11":"tag-missions","12":"tag-travel","13":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/782"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}