On being distracted

Sarah Beth and her team wore war paint for their game this week...I thought you'd enjoy some pictures. They played at the Anglo-American School of Moscow--oh, my word, you've never seen a school quite like this one. Your tax dollars at work!

...the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Mathew 11:5

John Donne is one of my favorite poets, and he wrote a series of sermons that were treatises on something, hence the title of the blogs that start with "on"--my little homage to a long-dead poet/preacher who has greatly impacted my adult life. I'm such an English teacher sort of gal that it didn't occur to me that no one else out there was getting my little homage to Donne. (You should feel free to read "English teacher" as "geeky nerd girl." Whichever you prefer is fine.)

There is a lot going on in our organization right now, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't distracting. Marc and I are in a weird position here in Russia--we are technically support staff, but we don't feel like support staff. What does "support staff" even mean? Like everyone else on the administration team here, we are involved in ministry every day, ministry that goes beyond what our job descriptions declare we are to be doing. And, of course, every email we get encourages us not to be distracted, while acknowledging how hard it is not to be distracted. I appreciate a company that realizes that this kind of stuff is an easy way for us to be taken off task, off the "main thing," as the company calls it. And all of this makes us think about the years ahead. What will we be doing in our next term? How does that impact our time stateside, when we will be thinking about education that we still need, etc.? So many, many questions!

But you know what? The main thing is still the main thing. Leading people to Jesus, every single day, is our goal. And whether that's as part of the support staff or as church planters, it's still the main thing. Maybe this reorganization is a good time for us to really examine what it is we're doing here, what it is God has specifically called us to do. And then, just like when we came to Russia in the first place, to simply follow Him in whatever direction He leads. But I won't pretend it's easy to stay focused. It isn't. No matter where you live and what you do, not knowing about what is coming in the future is hard, isn't it?

Well, it's time to get ready for our guests this afternoon. I was away at a staff retreat from Thursday to Saturday, and the family was wonderful and cleaned the house, so I don't actually have much to do. Marc talked to the folks at the dryer-repair place, and we may have a dryer later in the week...please, please pray that we have a dryer later in the week. What will I do with the hours of free time and all the clean clothes? I might do something fun! Or I might just find some other onerous task to occupy my newly-found free time. Yeah, that sounds more like me. Why didn't I inherit some relaxation genes? None. I got none of them. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that no matter what's going on, you are focusing on the main thing, whatever that may be for you, and that you know how to relax better than I do! Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye