March 2021

“And He was saying to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’”  Luke 10:2

As a family we have invested a lot of our energy into reestablishing our home life here in Uganda.  We know that we can’t win “away” when we are losing at home.  It has been exactly a year since we were first displaced from our home in the Corona confusion.  Although we spent time in our house since then, this past month was the first we truly felt the peace of a home base.  As part of that we have officially started our children’s schooling and it’s crazy to us that we even have children that are old enough for school.  Please pray for Noelle as she starts her new life as a teacher. 

This past month I had the weighty privilege of teaching the majority of 1 Corinthians to the students in our pastoral school of discipleship.  When Paul learned of the problems in the church at Corinth he wrote them an appeal to godliness.  After identifying and defining each area of their weakness; e.g. division, sexual immorality, confusion in their worship services etc.  Paul responded with a piece of the story of our Savior, and showed them how the Gospel changes us and gives us a new way of life.  When you and I take our eyes off of the deceitful pleasures of the world, and take an honest look at our broken evil state, the need for Christ’s redemptive work grows more and more obvious.  The more we recognize sin as sin, the more we see our great personal need for a Savior.  It is then that we can appreciate just how great the Gospel really is.  For only the advent, life, death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord can transform a heart and take a soul from darkness and death to light and life.  Please pray for our churches to be preaching this gospel of hope.

The fields are large.  The work ahead for every one of God’s Gospel laborers is huge.  At times it can be overwhelming to realize just how big the task really is.  But God keeps reminding me of the parable of the Seed in Mark 4.  Just as the farmer doesn’t really understand or control the growth of his crops; neither can we understand or control how God moves in the hearts of men and women.  When God’s hand moves, only He can take the credit.  May God work mightily on the earth today.

“So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.”  1 Corinthians 3:7

May God Bless You,

Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline, Noah & Charlotte