{"id":338,"date":"2018-07-20T00:35:45","date_gmt":"2018-07-20T05:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/?p=338"},"modified":"2018-07-20T00:35:45","modified_gmt":"2018-07-20T05:35:45","slug":"338","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/2018\/07\/20\/338\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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July 18, 2018<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Hanging lights, singing carols, going to neighbors’ houses\u00a0with armfuls of food, feeling that early morning chill…<\/h1>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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What? \u00a0It’s July? \u00a0Maybe I better explain. \u00a0Last week our power was out for almost a week. \u00a0The early morning chill was the cold showers I had from the water heater booster not working, and the armfuls of food was my food that I was bringing over to someone’s house with a working fridge. \u00a0After a couple of days, some of the houses on campus got power back, but not ours. \u00a0So, the solution? \u00a0String a power cord from their house, to our neighbors’ house, to our house, to power one power strip. \u00a0(Yes, really!) \u00a0We were then able to plug in our fridge, and I strung some Christmas lights so that we could see at night, as by that time we were getting low on candles and batteries. \u00a0Ty and Wyck were very excited to see Christmas lights, and I of course had to start singing carols :).<\/p>\n

While we’re on the subject of Christmas, do you know what my favorite part about Christmas is? \u00a0The anticipation of it. \u00a0I love the baking cookies, decorating, buying gifts, and preparing for something wonderful to happen.<\/p>\n

I’ve never been very good at living in the moment. \u00a0That’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. \u00a0It is so easy for me to be discontent with where I am at, and either think about how much better the past was, or about how much better the future will be when circumstances change. \u00a0But when I try to just enjoy the present, I’m not very good at that either. \u00a0“Am I enjoying this enough? \u00a0Should I capture this moment with a picture or just be? \u00a0Why am I not enjoying this? \u00a0How do I enjoy this? \u00a0Is every moment really worth being fully in? \u00a0Should I be doing this with this moment or something else?” \u00a0I do <\/em>want to grow in treasuring what’s right in front of me, but I don’t think that’s fully the answer either. \u00a0So if I shouldn’t live in the past, the present, or the future, then where should I live? \u00a0I want to live with the eternal future in focus, not my immediate future, but eternity. \u00a0When the regrets of the past, the drudgery of the present, or the fears about the future come pressing down on top of me, I want to focus on eternity. \u00a0This shifts my focus from, “Am I enjoying my kids enough before they grow up?” to “Am I teaching my kids about Jesus?” \u00a0From, “Am I happy in this moment?” to “Am I using this moment to serve the Lord and help someone have a better eternity?” \u00a0What makes the preparation for Christmas joyful is the assurance that Christmas day will <\/em>come. \u00a0What makes my today joyful is the assurance that Jesus Christ will <\/em>come. \u00a0So I better focus on being ready.<\/p>\n

What do our todays look like lately? \u00a0Matt is still working doing construction\/maintenance at the nearby NTM campus, and coordinating the airport runs for our campus. \u00a0Next month he will start teaching junior high boys’ Bible at the NTM school. \u00a0Karissa started kindergarten with Ty last week, which has been keeping her very busy. \u00a0Yes, I know it’s July– we are doing a year-round schedule to give us more flexibility when we need to travel. \u00a0At the end of this month, new missionary families will be arriving for their training, so we will go to visit them this fall to see if any of them could be potential partners for us.<\/p>\n

We are so thankful that God is in control of our pasts, presents, and futures.<\/p>\n

Till all know,
\nMatt, Karissa, Ty, and Wyck<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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The view from our neighbor’s house of the power lines that were strung up.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n\n\n\n\n
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Our Christmas-y home.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Please Pray:<\/p>\n

– A PNG citizen that Matt works with has recently gone through something extremely tough. \u00a0Pray that Matt can be an encouragement and blessing to him.<\/p>\n

– That Matt can find time to prepare for his Bible class amidst everything else he’s doing<\/p>\n

– For Karissa and Ty as doing a longer homeschool schedule has been a tough change<\/p>\n

– That God will provide another family for us to partner with, possibly from this incoming group<\/p>\n

– There were 3 people with Moody Aviation who died in an airplane accident. \u00a0Some good friends of ours are related to one of them. \u00a0Pray for comfort for the families, and that all of their overseas families will be able to come back to the U.S. to be with family.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Praise God:<\/p>\n

– We finished our team strategy statement (for now)<\/p>\n

– That we have power back<\/p>\n

– He is teaching us a lot lately<\/p>\n

– We have a new nephew! \u00a0Matt’s sister had a baby this week.<\/p>\n

– Lots of national believers who live right near us are teaching God’s Word to others. \u00a0It is so cool to see disciples making disciples right around us.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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July 18, 2018 Hanging lights, singing carols, going to neighbors’ houses\u00a0with armfuls of food, feeling that early morning chill… What? \u00a0It’s July? \u00a0Maybe I better explain. \u00a0Last week our power was out for almost a week. \u00a0The early morning chill was the cold showers I had from the water heater booster not working, and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1074,"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":[1],"tags":[448],"class_list":{"0":"post-338","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-ethnos360","8":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}