60 Days 'til Switzerland!!!

We still have a large financial need. We are only at about 50% funded and only have 2 months left to raise the remainder of the monthly funds needed for working in ministry. Will you please prayerfully consider joining out team and share in the rewards of impacting the world with the love of Christ?

Donations can be made through

https://www.ywamdenver.org/donations

Click specific staff missionary and put Adam Sherrer

YWAM Denver handles all of our support stateside.

The Rhythm of Emotion

My body shuttered from the first note.  The emotions lay there so close to the surface that I found myself powerless against the rush of tears that welled up in the pit of my gut and flowed furiously from my eyes.

This move, this blind leap really, this leaving family, comfort and stability, to live a life of perpetual wandering, trust, faith . . .

We have kids now you know.  And they have their own feelings.  It was easy when it was just the two of us.

It cost us nothing, then.

Now, the stakes are high.  We have these little people counting on us for everything, yet we can guarantee them nothing in this life.

Trust. Trust that the Lord loves them just as much as I do and will provide for their safety when He calls us to some very unlovely places.

Faith.  Faith that their little tummies will always be full of warm and yummy things, that their little feet will never go bare. 

It's hard, and all of this came pouring out.  The music, as always, was my undoing . . .

"If I give it all to you will you make it all new?

  If I open up my hands will you fill them again?"

"I know that I can trust you

I lean not on my own understanding,

my life is in the hands of the maker of Heaven.

 I know that I can trust you
So give me a heart to love you God.

There's nothing I hold on to

I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open

There's nothing I hold on to

I am so in love with you 

there is no one else for me."

. . . but before the tears have a chance to dry, He whispers so sweetly, like He always does,

"You can trust me, I love you my darling."

and His peace floods my heart once again.

Baal-Perazim Indeed

So my beautiful wife informs me at 6:35 this morning that she fudged up on some calculations.  Her anxiety and angst in her face along with deep sorrow set the tone.  She had agreed to a meeting with our directors in Davos at 7:00am Eastern Standard Time, which astounded me since she usually doesn't rise on weekends till about half past ten. Regardless of the lack of sleep, we had joy and expectations about this meeting.

Back up about 3 to 4 weeks ago Christina and I found ourselves completely strung out and in need of rest. When one is raising funds for ministry its a mountain/valley experience. We were in the bottom of that valley asking God whats going on? Christina and I have a clear directive and we don't waiver on our calling but we sure do struggle with this process called partner development. Our accountability coach encouraged us to seek God, refocus our efforts and just be still. So that's what we did.

 I take walks with God. I grew up in the woods and find renewal and peace there, so I hiked the Indian Face. Its a westward facing rock at the top of the Delaware Water Gap, a divine area where you stand atop of the Appalachian trail and look down on the Delaware river which runs through from Pennsy to Jersey.  In this setting my prayer was "God I wanna hear from you, talk!"  My father in-law, with great wisdom, expressed the divine presence of God to me once and explained that should a sinful human enter God's presence their head would just explode.  I'm not quite sure if the theology is perfect but the thought ran through my mind as God bellowed in my ear on the entire hike.  Everything had so much meaning from the terrain of the trail to the exposed cliffs and highway below and even the red and white trail markers. It was so intense and so simple its cliche to say but the message was this, to stay on the trail.

Now back to present day, we've seen steady growth in our partner development and maturity in our faith, yet I find myself at another set back.  See Switzerland's visa process is very complicated and to make maters more difficult, our school is small and doesn't have a large voice (yet). Our directors explained the complications and avenues that we can proceed in, and with great honesty and fidelity they expressed the bleak outlook with the current state of our Visa's. We expected some opposition with this transition but we were naive to the constant struggle that it would be.

Even though we had a serious talk it finished by being positive and quite hopeful. I thank God for Reto and Judy and the kids, I look forward to gleaning as much info on family, missions and life from them as I can.

I think we over analyze and change our minds a lot when faced with challenges. I mean why do we expect it to be easy? They killed Jesus right, I mean if we follow him this is our probable future, right? As followers of Christ we should recognize this early on, but in my faith this is constantly being reinforced.

Ok back to my story, so when we're down where do we go?  God.  After the skype meeting I sat on the deck pleading my anxieties with God.  Gently he lead me to 2 Samuel 5:20 by stirring the pages of my Bible with the wind. This passage is a story of King David right after the elders agree with Judah and crown him King of Israel. The plot thickens and the Philistine's try and take advantage of the Israelites while the kingdom is in transition.  They camp in the valley of Rephaim, the valley of the giants. The Philistines were perceived by the Hebrews as giants and we know of the infamous Philistine giant "Goliath". Now King David heads to the stronghold and seeks the council of the Lord.

Pause, Davos is a valley in the Swiss Alps and I definitely see giants there. Giants of visa's, finances and a unfamiliar culture. Meanwhile I'm dealing with the anxiety of this reality and taking refuge in my stronghold (prayer) and seeking God's council (his word). 

So David asks if he should go up and face the Philistines, God says go I am with you, and they are victorious. Profound and Simple right? But David proclaims the area as Baal-Perazim saying "The LORD hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters."

Here is when God talked.

When I read, I usually read until something sticks to me, or I feel like I need to research something. Either a word or a place or the history of the that particular story. So with this prod from the Holy Ghost I looked into this phrase Baal-Perazim. Simply put it means:  "Owner of Breakings Through", other translations of the scripture say  “The LORD has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood.” or "Jehovah hath broken mine enemies before me, like the breach of waters."

David sees the mighty hand of God move and the power he compares it to is a flood of water over his giants. This word comes to me as I ponder the future and the difficulties involved with joining a ministry overseas.  The loud n' clear, simple word I heard on my hike up the Indians Face and the word from second Samuel five encourages me to stay on the path 'cause my God is the God of breakthroughs!

All of this is to say that our God who comforts us, says nothing is bigger than him, nothing is to strong for him, or anything to uncertain for him. He tells me to go up to Davos and face the giants in the valley, because He is surely with me. My faith grows and the anxiety disappears. So the words Baal-Perazim are true. He is the God of Breakthrough and he will "Burst through my enemies like a raging flood! 

A Painful Blessing

Recently, I was reading a post by Chuck Missler and one of his sub-headings read, "a painful blessing."

I though to myself, yes, this is life.

This is been welling up in me for months.  With each monumental answer to pray coming to pass a pain has been forming.  I haven't had words for it until now...

Remy was having a late night chat with Aunt Diana and came to the conclusion that nature is change.  She is wise beyond her years.  Change, for me at least, seems to be at the heart of this melancholia that has often left me either in hysterics or completely numb as a way to cope. To complicate matters even more, the irony of the situation is that I wouldn't change a thing about all of these changes.        

Yesterday we dropped my mom at the airport.  She left to join my father as he serves in the Army outside of Ramstein, Germany.  This is a blessing for them and their marriage.  They will have the opportunity to explore Europe together and experience a sort of second honeymoon filled with excitement and adventure.  He's taken time off and they're spending the week in Paris.  Bon, oui!

On the way home I was excited for my mom but also for us to have some privacy in the house.  One of the painful blessings that came with our house selling was moving into my parents home.  If you've ever had to move back home you know what I mean by that!  As we drove, Adam and I reflected on all of the changes and he didn't seem to be as enthused as I was about this most recent one.

He said, "but you don't understand, I use to wake up and have a cup of coffee with your mom every morning, we would talk."   

 He went on to say that it had struck him as being sad that life as we know it will never be this way again.  The mood in the car changed.  It was true, life as we have come to know it, and be comfortable in it, since having the kids and living near family in Pennsylvania will never be the same. Who knows if my parents will keep this house when they move back at the end of my dad's assignment.  The way my mom is talking she seems to have visions of swimming pools in South Florida swirling in her head.  Or if Adam's parents will leave the area for a more hospitable climate.

When confronted with the reality of the life you're leaving, it can be enough to make even the most steadfast person pause and grieve a little.  We really do, do our best to stay positive and excited about the adventures that are awaiting us.  It's when these major blessings of life events happen, that can only come to pass by the Hand of God, that we pause and stand in awe.  The awe however brings with it a reality check that this new life we are jumping head first into is more than just fanciful dreams and comes with a cost.  

Two years ago I wept to the Lord about taking the children from their families and He answered those tears by moving my parents 5 hours from our new Swiss home.  Here I sit still in the States, awaiting our move in a mostly empty house, sleeping on air mattresses and reaping the fruit from this and many other answered prayers.

The knowledge I'm maturing into is that break though and answered prayer doesn't always come wrapped in a pretty little box of euphoria.  Break through and answered prayer are character forming and challenges the depths of your convictions.

Now that you have it, is this what you really wanted.  My answer is yes...this is life. 

What can you do when your heart is broken . . .

and there isn't much you can do about it?



God catches me off guard so often with the things he breaks my heart over.  The school ended two weeks ago so we are no longer using the big classroom on the first floor.  The building manager has since rented it out to a Jewish group.  From what I hear, this happens every year.  And by Jewish group, I mean over 2,000 Jews that come to Davos every summer.



The other morning Adam was flipping though his Bible and a piece of paper fell out.  It was a prayer request that neither he nor I had seen in five years.  It was from a Jewish women who attended our home group when we lived in Florida.  It was so simple and deep.  She was asking for the strength to believe in Jesus even though she knew that to do so was breaking a commandment; to respect the wishes of ones parents.



Adam and I talked about how odd the timing was of this prayer request surfacing, what with the group using the classroom. 



Yesterday I took some laundry down stairs and noticed that they left the door open as they were gathering.  So naturally I looked in.  Who wouldn't?  It was quite a sight to see!  I'm not sure how to describe it but there were banners all around the room with Hebrew writing and lots of men with giant hats.  I got a bit excited, these are God's chosen people after all.  I had a feeling like there was something very special about them and what they were doing.



Then it hit me, we're God's chosen too.  What we're doing is equally as special.



Then it hit me again, they're God's chosen people who don't know Jesus.  They know God's word better than any other people.  They have every word memorized.  Every word!  Yet they completely miss it because they don't have the Holy Spirit to help them understand it.  These people dedicate their lives to knowing God's word and living according to the Torah but they don't know Jesus.  The sad and ironic part is that every word, every law, every feast points to Him.



It breaks my heart; this tree that I've been grafted into.  This tree that doesn't know that it has living water to drink from.  They've missed their Messiah who rode in on a colt rather than the king on a steed they were expecting.



We've been praying for them.  It's amazing how genuine your prayers become when your heart is broken over something.  These people, who have been set apart by God, who believe they are seeking Him out wholeheartedly, don't know the love and freedom from the Law that was purchased for them by their Messiah, our Messiah Jesus Christ.   



Where ever that Jewish woman from our home group is, I hope that she is walking in the freedom and love of Jesus Christ.