{"id":424,"date":"2020-06-10T23:00:10","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T04:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/?p=424"},"modified":"2020-06-10T23:00:12","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T04:00:12","slug":"hope-that-does-not-disappoint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/2020\/06\/10\/hope-that-does-not-disappoint\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope that Does Not Disappoint"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When I was learning Pidgin, I was trying to ask my language helper how to say the phrase “should have.”  I knew the word for “should,” so I asked her, “How could I tell someone they should cut the grass yesterday?”  She laughed and laughed at me, and said, “Why would I tell someone what they should do yesterday?  They can’t do it!”  She was right, of course.  Why do I spend so much time thinking about what I regret, and what I should have done?  I can’t change it.

However, it’s not much better spending time thinking about the future.  I can’t change it either.  I think I can, but I can’t really.  I can’t keep what I fear from coming, and I can’t guarantee what I hope for will come.  As I write this, I should’ve been in America, hanging out with my family, and eating a hot, gooey slice of Papa John’s pizza.  However, I am experiencing the disappointment of my hopes, as I know many of you are too, as COVID-19 has disrupted a lot of plans.  Or maybe some of you are experiencing even bigger disappointments- ones that you are not sure if you’ll ever get over, ones that make you feel like life will never be okay. Or maybe current events have you feeling hopeless.  Life on this earth can be heartbreaking, and as we deal with disappointments big and small, it can be easy to feel like there is no point in hoping.

Romans 5:3-5 says, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.  And this hope will not lead to disappointment.  For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.”  Life on this earth is full of disappointments, but we do have a hope that will never lead to disappointment.  For those of us who have put our trust in Christ, we have the hope of heaven, and it is sure.  One day He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and make all things new (Rev.21:4-5).  These trials that we face can actually grant us endurance, strength of character, and more confidence in our hope.

Till all know,
Matt, Karissa, Ty, and Wyck<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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These crazy kids are happy to be done with homeschool for the year!<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Praise God:
– That COVID-19 has not affected PNG very badly
– That the boys are done with their homeschool for the year
– That God continues to grow us, developing our endurance, strengthening our character, and giving us confident hope.
– He is at work in exciting ways in PNG
Please Pray:
– Our hearts are heavy for the U.S. right now
– Pray that through all that is happening in the world right now, people will be pointed to Jesus
– Pray that we can be good witnesses to others
– Pray for wisdom for those in NTM making decisions about the future<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"What are we Supporting?  This month’s tribal focus: The Kafe church was born several years ago.  They currently have three local men who are Bible teachers in the church, and they are doing outreaches to neighboring villages.  Recently they have some new believers in the church!  Pray that the Bible teachers can grow in maturity and be ready to take on the role of elders soon.  Pray for the young people in the church, that they will not be pulled away by sin and distractions.  Pray for fruitful outreaches.  (Pictured above: Ty with some of his friends outside of the Kafe church when we went for a visit earlier this year.  This is where we spent 5 weeks for our bush orientation a few years ago)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was learning Pidgin, I was trying to ask my language helper how to say the phrase “should have.”  I knew the word for “should,” so I asked her, “How could I tell someone they should cut the grass yesterday?”  She laughed and laughed at me, and said, “Why would I tell someone what […]<\/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":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424","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=424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}