{"id":204,"date":"2019-03-13T09:16:01","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T14:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/?p=204"},"modified":"2019-03-14T06:14:06","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T11:14:06","slug":"mathew-meanderings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/2019\/03\/13\/mathew-meanderings\/","title":{"rendered":"March 2019 Meanderings"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\r\n\r\n

Michigan is cold, and snowy.\u00a0 The Bible school ministry is busy.\u00a0 We are busy as parents.\u00a0 The kids are busy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Josh\u2019s cancer seems to be a thing of history.\u00a0 <\/em>Tamara may have MS, or lupus, but we don\u2019t know yet.<\/em> The Bible schools need to merge onto one campus.\u00a0 We read the Bible, it keeps us going.\u00a0 We\u2019re still looking for ministry partners.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Ever feel like it\u2019s just \u201ctoo much\u201d to put the full version of all your thoughts into complete sentences?\u00a0 Part of me is wrestling with that right now.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t imagine that ANYONE would be interested in reading the mental meanderings that my mind has gone through as we have learned the things we have, recently.\u201d\u00a0 But really, isn’t\u2019 that just that same old selfish story?\u00a0 Quite possibly not even a little bit new, not since the first family began \u201cministry\u201d outside the Garden of Eden?\u00a0 I rarely find it refreshing to know that my personal struggles are NOT unique to me\u2026\u00a0 Life is always much easier when I can be at the center of the important decisions, right?\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Okay, so let\u2019s move onto the actual details, shall we?\u00a0 I\u2019m beginning to think that I am getting older, every year.\u00a0 I keep forgetting that things NEVER<\/strong> actually slow down.\u00a0 Last year, we were busy updating student records and buying building supplies and redesigning dorms to fit as many students as possible.\u00a0 This year we\u2019re still updating student records, and meeting with students, and prepping for chapel sessions and bible studies, coordinating student events.\u00a0 We\u2019ve have 65 single men enrolled.\u00a0 29 of them are graduating this spring!\u00a0 That\u2019s a good thing, because it means that there are potentially that many more workers in the task that God has left before us!\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Students at Catch the Vision. Can you see Emma?<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

God continues to show His mercy and gentleness and graciousness in the battle with death that is this life!\u00a0 Thus far, all of the post-surgical scans have been negative for cancer.\u00a0 I\u00a0feel<\/em>\u00a0fine and my ability to minister and be a husband and father do not seem to be diminished.\u00a0 My \u201cfun-derstanding\u201d of the oncologic process is that I will continue to get scanned regularly, until the doctors get tired of telling me that there is nothing extra growing there, or five years passes.\u00a0 Whichever comes first?\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

One of my favorite bible school teachers, while teaching through the book of Job, said that suffering was like being offered an opportunity to take an advanced course in sanctification.\u00a0 Not all are qualified for the course, and the courses are often more involved than we\u2019re aware of at the onset.\u00a0 Tamara, it seems, \u201chas been offered an advanced course.\u201d\u00a0 In October, Tamara was finally able to get to her eye doctor. This visit revealed a branch retinal vein occlusion (read \u201ceye stroke.\u201d) \u00a0\u00a0As a follow-up, her GP ordered a CT scan that in turn revealed a benign pineal gland cyst, of some substantial dimensions.\u00a0 After the CT, the neurologist wanted an MRI of her brain, which showed evidence of the beginning stages of MS.\u00a0 So immediately, the neurologist ordered a neck and spine MRI, of which we are currently awaiting results.\u00a0 We are still in the \u201churry up and wait\u2026\u201d phase, and the doctors have to rule out a myriad of other possible issues.\u00a0 One of which, the doctor says may be systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).\u00a0\u00a0 Blah\u2026\u00a0 This journey is definitely going to be one that we learn to continually let God handle the details.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Maybe our new ministry location… ?<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In other BIG news, \u201cprobably, very likely\u201d there will be a move on the horizon for the Mathew family.\u00a0 For many years, our leadership team has been trying to consolidate training to be as efficient as possible, and to be good stewards of the resources at our disposal.\u00a0 Currently we are closely examining the feasibility of combining the bible schools in Waukesha, WI.\u00a0 This process has created many questions.\u00a0 AT THIS POINT we are still very much in the \u201cinformation gathering\u201d stage. NO DECISIONS have been made, as of yet.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Recommended Reading<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

On a day to day basis, we work as trainers, in a B.I.B.L.E school.\u00a0 We are literally surrounded by students of the Word of God, on a daily basis.\u00a0 On all of these days, the Word of God serves as my operations manual, my owners guide, the coaching documents, and industry white papers all combined into one.\u00a0 Often, we have spent so much time talking about the hard parts of the Bible that it seems like the proverbial \u201chot potato.\u201d\u00a0 Sometimes, I don\u2019t even want to pick it up and read it…\u00a0 And yet, the single most encouraging thing to me over the course of the last year, has been my time spent just reading.\u00a0 Our church family here in Jackson started reading The Books of the Bible (Zondervan put it together, no chapter or verse references in the NIV text) together last spring.\u00a0 Clearly it\u2019s not a new concept, this.\u00a0 It has however, been profoundly impactful, and what I blame for whatever sanity I have left.\u00a0 As of this morning, I was reading through the historical books and they\u2019ve included the prophets that were speaking during the time of the king\u2019s reign.\u00a0 What are you guys reading through?\u00a0 What is the Lord teaching you in His Word?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Prai ladies reading the Bible in their language.<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We are<\/strong> still looking for more ministry partners.\u00a0 With the very real likelihood that the consolidation of our schools will necessitate a move (and MANY other adjustments!) we are being strongly \u201cencouraged\u201d to finish building up our team of ministry partners. \u00a0 That means that we need to start meeting new people, and sharing with them what God is doing through Ethnos360 around the world.\u00a0 In order for us to get hooked into other like-minded, involved individuals, we need connections.\u00a0 Will you pray about people that we could get more involved?<\/strong> \u00a0 We’re always looking to share what we are doing, and how others can be involved!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Reaching the unreached is a WHOLE CHURCH command, right?!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michigan is cold, and snowy.\u00a0 The Bible school ministry is busy.\u00a0 We are busy as parents.\u00a0 The kids are busy.\u00a0\u00a0Josh\u2019s cancer seems to be a thing of history.\u00a0 Tamara may have MS, or lupus, but we don\u2019t know yet. The Bible schools need to merge onto one campus.\u00a0 We read the Bible, it keeps us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":330,"featured_media":0,"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":[3,4],"tags":[995,66900,97364,121659,2282,1570,673],"class_list":["post-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-family","category-ministry","tag-cancer","tag-consolidation","tag-ctv","tag-merger","tag-mri","tag-stroke","tag-waukesha","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/330"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}