Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Inching towards the flash.

I always want to use medical analogies but think it would take to long to explain or be to gross or whatever. Tonight though I will take a "stab" at one.........
There is a procedure that I always think is fun to do and that is a "central line". A central line is just a really big IV (that is intravenous line not 4) that goes in a really big vein in your body. That vein can be in your neck, your groin or under your collar bone.....
Most of the time this goes pretty well. It is more straight forward for me when the person is mostly dead because those people tend not to complain when large sharp objects come their way and I do not have to worry about them feeling a lot of pain.
To actually put the line in you hold this big syringe with a big needle attached and stick it into a body part and as you are pushing the needle in you pull back on the syringe. The idea is that as you are making this negative pressure you will see a "flash" of blood in the syringe (hopefully a lot but not to much and the color is red but not bright red). Sometimes when things aren't going so well you point the needle in different directions and angles and depths to hit the vein your are looking for. All the while muttering something like "c'mon, I know you're there, C'mon almost got it" This tends to make the pt a little nervous by the way......

I guess you see why I don't let myself use medical analogies to much uh?
The point is Anna and I are looking for that "flash" right now to know we are in the right spot.
We keep thinking we are getting closer but we aren't there yet.

On the good news side we shared at Havre recently and hooked up with some old friends. I even got to do a little impromptu video show in their house.

Other good news is that it looks like things are going well with the Certificate of Authorization for us. One of the good people at Parole De Vie looked into things for us and we need one more thing for us and then a little bit more for Ian but that would not hold us up getting into Canada

The thing that will hold us up is that our issues with the 4 yo Kathleen we want to adopt. The lawyer we retained now is telling us we have to not only terminate her mom's rights in Missouri but should file for adoption there as well. This is a little disheartening to us and we want to move in the overall direction that God has planned for us but do not want to miss His will in this as well.
Our current plan B or plan d or F or whatever is to terminate the mom's rights and have Jason sign custody over to us. We are checking with an immigration lawyer to see if that will satisfy border guards.

Please continue to pray for us to have wisdom in this and surrender to God's will.

Thanks for praying.

Stephen

PS any non-medical person who actually understood the analogy gets a free greeting card from my wife.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Missionary Dangers

Thanks for everyone who is praying for us. We do really appreciate it.
The next 3 weeks we have several engagements.
This Sunday we will be in Havre (pronounced Haver) for a ten minute spot.
Next week we will be speaking at our home church in the am and then going to an outreach church in Essex MT.
The following week will be in Kalispell speaking for 10min at the early and later Sunday am service. This is a lot of driving but hopefully we will garner a lot of prayer support......

This brings me to another missionary danger that I have been reflecting on recently. In a prior post I wrote about what I will now call "pedestal talk" where people think that we are super special and become thankful that they are not so special so they will not be called. Well Gideon, Ezekiel, Matthew and others put that notion to rest but that is not what I am writing about today. The danger I speak of today is......well I can't think of a cool word for it........getting trapped into talking about me, us, etc. The changes, the doubts, the dangers, the coolness of it all. I noticed this last week at our church when I was visiting with others.
So for the rest of this blog I will talk about others.

A big thing for you to remember to pray for the following situation with the Harveys.

Dear Pray-ers,

We fought valiantly to save the life of Eliane (aka "Delores"), the young lady who suffered multiple complications related to inadequate obstetrical care before her arrival. Eliane spent 3 months in Pioneer Christian Hospital, and was doing well when she was discharged. We got word yesterday that she died soon after returning to her village.

"For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). Though we weren't able to cure Eliane of the physical complications she experienced, she left the hospital a firm believer in Jesus Christ, and we are confident her soul is in heaven now. She was found and saved! To see her walking on her own power to our Sunday chapel service, and dancing with joy to praise music when she came for a dressing change one day, are memories I cherish. These memories are a small glimpse of what heaven will be like, where all the blind will see, all the lame walk, all the lepers are cleansed, all the deaf hear, and all the dead are raised.

In the meantime, we content ourselves with a fraction of the divine healing that is possible but for our lack of faith, and the fact that "to the poor the Gospel is preached" (Luke 7:22).

In the month of September, 169 poor in spirit patients and family members accepted Christ during chapel services at Congo's Pioneer Christian Hospital!

So why am I surprised at the row that rages on in my soul now?

We have 2 employees that decided to quit working for the hospital 8 months ago. They didn't resign, but didn't do much work either. It took us a long time to come to grips with the fact that their productivity was not going to return to acceptable levels. We decided last week to let them go. Now, according to the government work inspector's calculations, we are required to pay each of these 2 workers, a severance package equivalent to 8 months' salary, and the equivalent of 4 months' salary to the government labor office!

I am struggling to find the balance between standing up for what is right and "rendering unto Ceaser that which is Ceaser's." Let me be frank with you. This week I have come as close as I ever have to a nervous breakdown. I have been losing sleep and weight over this injustice. I know everything we have has been entrusted to us by God. I find it hard to justify using money that has been given for the Lord's work in this way. The same amount could literally treat one hundred patients who can not otherwise afford their care. How does this glorify God? Is it really His will for us to give in, or should we fight the system?

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. The powers that we've come up against now are threatening my sanity and the long-term financial viability of Pioneer Christian Hospital. That makes me angry, perplexed, depressed, desperate, torn, wounded.

Feel free to write me with advice, but what we need most right now is your prayers. Get into this battle with us, please. On our side. We are literally fighting for the lives and souls of an entire population.

For Health & Hope,
Dr. Joseph & Rebecca Harvey
Olivia, Claire, Isabelle, & Noah

Other things..... A 1st cousin of mine has a grandchild with a congenital heart defect. Doing OK etc but a big deal.

There is a teenager who attends our church who is undergoing more chemo for Acute Leukemia after receiving a bone marrow transplant......recurrence after that is bad, but her family is doing well with that.

On the reservation here, people continue to die from alcohol, motor vehicle collisions, diabetes and at the root of it all a spiritual darkness that produces hopelessness, fatalism. There are people who are fighting against this but not all of them are truly infused with the power to change.

Ok I am depressed enough....But thanks be to God for HIS indescribable gift.....I am convinced that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.....

Happy Thanksgiving

To come.......
a word about Parole de Vie

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Timing

Yes this is our family. A very good action shot except for the "tat" on my oldest's forehead. What can I say? He takes after my brother Jon. For some time now I have been putzing around the book of Hebrews and oddly enough the past couple of weeks I have been reading chapter 11. The substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen takes on a new power in these verses. Its how we know God created the universe (3), an essential element in pleasing God (6) and an essential quality in a believer's life. I am especially encouraged by Sarah and Gideon being on the list since their accounts in the OT reveal a much more tenuous grasp on this faith than Heb 11 would paint. This makes me think that even the "bigwigs" of faith had to nurture it has a fledging seed given by God and watered with His Grace. In our life we need some serious watering because of some events that came up recently. One big thing that came up this past week is that a roadblock popped up in our plans to adopt Kathleen (she is the one who does not look like Anna and I in the pict). Our steps to adopt were #1 to terminate the mom's rights (she has not seen Kathleen in about 4 years) and then (#2) apply for adoption. It turns out that the lawyer thinks it would be a more ironclad adoption if we do step 1 in Missouri. This is a problem since we are going from here to KY/TN in Dec and then to Canada in Jan. This also is a problem since to get Kathleen across the Canadian border in Jan we will need her passport (which she does not have and we cannot get until we get her mom's rights terminated). On top of that one big thing we have some what smaller things of not having a place to live in Canada yet. We have not sealed that up since we need the Certificate of Authorization to get a lease on an apt. in Canada. Also we did not exactly receive an outpouring of opportunities to drum up support and that although not unexpected was discouraging. SO back to Gideon. I kinda feel like Gideon after he finally gets over his initial reluctance to fight the Midianites & God tells him he has to many resources. Then He tells him the same thing again! I read a lot of doubt in Judges that I do not read in Hebrews. I pray that's the same for us.

SO to sum up......here are some more prayer requests.....
Adoption proceedings as outlined above
Travel plans
More opportunities to share

Praises
Thanksgiving w our friends coming up
Speaking opps at Havre (11/25), our home church (12/2) and possibly Kalispell on (12/9).
God's goodness
God's Timing

Sunday, November 11, 2007

IFAP and Jehoshaphat

Today I thought I would write a little more about IFAP and C&MA. Most C&MA missionaries are funded from what is known as the Great Commission Fund. The denomination's churches give to a general fund and from that various missionaries are funded. The C&MA recognized several things with this: #1. There will be a finite amount of dollars raised each year and therefore their ministries overseas will be limited, #2. There is more work to be done for Christ than what is funded via this fund and #3. there are countries where a traditional missionary approach is not feasible secondary to political policies or needs of the people in the country.

Because of this C&MA organized a branch known as the International Fellowship of Alliance Professionals. If you go to their website www.cmalliance.org you will see it described as "marketplace" ministry. This takes the idea that any believers who are following Christ will in the framework of their vocation seek to make disciples, and sets this concept in a crosscultural setting. IFAP members are not funded by the Great Commission Fund but are either funded by personal fundraising or by employment in their chosen field in the country where they are going.
An example of the latter is someone who goes to China to teach English as a second language and is payed by the university where they are teaching. We are an example of the former.

As we seek to get to the R.O.C. we will be living off our savings for most of language training. As we get closer and closer to the R.O.C. though we will need more and more financial support. So why did we choose this particular path? One answer is because of prior associations and another is Jehoshaphat.

Answer #1
Essentially as we approached the C&MA we and they came to realize that God's calling our life was not going to be covered under the limited funds of the Great Commission Fund and so we chose IFAP as an alternative means of being associated with the C&MA. We wanted to be associated with them because of our experience with them the past 8 or so years we attended various C&MA churches.

Answer #2
Now what does this have to do with Jehoshaphat? Well in 2Chronicles 20:12 as Jehoshaphat was wondering how he was going to escape utter destruction he fasts and prays to God and ends with "we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you" Like Jehoshaphat knew he did not want complete destruction of Judah, we knew God wanted us overseas serving him. Like Jehoshaphat we did not know the mechanism. As we searched God's will He made it clear that the organization was not as important as our willingness, but through various opportunities He seemed to be pointing toward IFAP. By the way it is very interesting how God answered Jehoshaphat's prayer and I urge you to read 2Chron 20:20-24 and ponder the application of how each of us should approach conflicts in our lives.

Please continue to pray for:
Authorization to enter Quebec
Adoption proceedings
Sanity and Wisdom in our moving process
Opportunities to share what God is doing in our lives
Effective communication

Praise God for
his goodness
opportunities to speak
our children's excitement about the move

Monday, November 5, 2007

Truth in Waiting

Ok first things first. The Dr. Seuss book I mentioned was actually "Oh the places you'll go" and not "Did I tell you how lucky you are?" Both are good books though and are worth reading. I spoke recently at our home church and at an outreach church in Essex. I am finding that people are very gracious and despite our admonitions that we are really ordinary, there is the overwhelming idea of "wow I could never do that". This is dangerous in two ways: #1. Anna & I might start believing that and #2 I wonder if this becomes an excuse for others not to go.......Anyway.....The real purpose I am writing tonight is that I wanted to post a recent slide show from yesterday. I inserted some "explanation" slides to help explain some things. Note the prayer list at the end. Thanks for praying.