Advent Devotional

wednesday, december 1


On the Way






“...Behold I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
Luke 1:26-38






God appears at the most unexpected times, in the most surprising ways. The young, humble Mary encountered God in an astonishing way as she was "on her way" in life. Many of Jesus' miracles occurred while He was "on the way" somewhere. He called the first disciples while He was "on the way." And many of us first discovered Jesus as we were "on the way" in our lives. We weren't expecting Him, and before we met Him I doubt many of us had ever imagined that there could be such a God, and that He would intervene in our lives by becoming human, of all things.


The incarnation really is a strange and curious thing. What is even stranger to me is that Jesus told us we must be born again to see salvation. Nicodemus didn't understand this, and at times I struggle with this concept as well. What I do understand, though, is that not only is this born-again-ness critical to your and my personal salvation, but it is precisely in this process that God continues sending His salvation message into the world. He does so through us.


I wonder how many people I encounter each day as I am "on the way," who have never met Jesus? How many people I pass by in haste who desperately need me to reach out to them in His name, and invite them to come, adore, and worship Him? Jesus was born to be a light to the nations. It is a sobering thought that so many people remain in spiritual darkness in part because of my failure to completely surrender my life to Him.


There is a new life at work in me, the life of Christ. And He is clamoring to invite others to see God born into the world to save them. When I meditate on the miracle of the incarnation, I am always astonished that God has chosen to continue living on earth through us. What a privilege and a responsibility. This Advent season, let’s celebrate the incarnation by echoing Mary’s response to the angel Gabriel: “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; Let it be with me according to your word.” As we allow Jesus to be continually reborn in our hearts, I wonder what miracles will await us as we go “on our way.”


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by Kristi Vrooman. Kristi is a PSC Mid-Term Missionary and classical musician who is currently serving in Germany. {email Kristi}

Where are we at?

We still need around 550 a month in pledges to purchase plan tickets and buy visas.
We have several of verbal commitments for monthly pledges, and they are behind of processing our donations. So we haven't had a lot of clarity on donations lately thus the gap in information. We have all the money we need to buy tickets and starter money but we still need to fill the gap in monthly pledges.

with love
from us

Creative giving

So as the time approaches we are looking for items to be donated if you have any of these items sitting around.

battery alarm clock
cement screws
batteries
clothes pins
camera or camcorder
travel size umbrellas

please email us if you have any of these things laying around
gracebyfaith711@aim.com

Update on where we are with Fundraising

Update on where we are at with pledges: As of current we need approximately $700 more pledged a month for us to book plane tickets and set a date. We would need this by the end of the week to make our goal of leaving by the end of November. Sometimes that number sounds small other days it’s a large wall with no entry. We thank you so much for all the prayers and words of encouragement we receive so much of.
Next week we will put out another financial report of our donations.
If you would like to give go to www.wycliffeassociates.org/links/donatenow. Put any part of the name (Janowiak or Mark and Leah) into the search box to pull up our name and click search. Enter your gift amount and click on the Add to Gift Cart button. Next click on the Continue to Check Out button on upper right. You will have the ability to set up the amount, date, frequency, and method of giving.

Pain and Pride

It’s safe to say in the last 2 weeks I have discovered Mark and I are getting older. My back pain has been slowing me down. It can feel crippling; pain of sin of pride is just like that. Pride outside of God is dependent on self performance, or others view of us; most of the time the latter. My back has been reminding me of pride. I think it's easy to struggle with because it's so very sneaky. You don’t know that there is a problem sometimes until it causes you pain. The whole process of going to Africa has caused me often to feel vulnerable and exposed. I too often wonder what others think of our trip and what we say. I am often hurt by other insensitive comments or judgments. Then the opposite problem occurs compliments and positive feedback never seems to cure the hungry of my pride. Only when I hand myself to Jesus, allow Him to tell me who I am does my pride seem to lessen control on my feelings. I think the pain is a reminder of when we need to adjust our thinking or behaviors to align it with Him.

Info on Cameroon

Here is some basic info that Wycliffe gave us on Cameroon:
SERVING IN CAMEROON
The Land and Its People
Cameroon is located in Western Africa along the Atlantic coast just above the equator. It covers an area slightly larger than California. The climate varies with terrain, from tropical along the coast to semiarid and hot in the north. Cameroon is often called "Africa in miniature" because of its geological and cultural diversity. Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas. The highest point is on Mt. Cameroon, a 13,435-foot, active volcano.More than half of Cameroon’s population of almost 19 million lives in urban areas. About 40 percent of the people are Christian. The rest follow other religions or indigenous beliefs.
Official languages are English and French, but there are 24 major African language groupsin Cameroon.Cameroon enjoys relatively high political and social stability. It also has a more prosperous economy than most of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, exporting raw materials such as oil and timber, as well as abundant agricultural products including coffee, cotton and cocoa.

Bible Translation Needs
The stability in Cameroon makes it an ideal location to support and prepare translators and translation teams for work among the many language groups of West Africa. One example of that support is the Cameroon Rain Forest International School (RFIS), which was founded in 1991 to help meet the educational needs of missionary families. In the beginning, the school served 19 students. Now there are about 125 children attending, and the school building, which was to be a temporary facility, is bursting at the seams and needs some serious improvements.
Wycliffe Associates volunteers are constructing a new facility for the children of our translators. This new facility is desperately needed to ensure that the children receive a quality education in a safe environment while allowing parents to focus on their translation projects, which can take 10 to 20 years to complete. Are you interested in volunteer work overseas? If so, you can help make this happen!

THINGS TO CONSIDER
Considerations When Traveling to Cameroon
Things to Remember When Choosing Items to Bring
Cameroon has rainy and dry seasons, and both can be extreme. The weather may be unpredictable in some parts of the country. You should bring boots and an umbrella and/or rain gear, especially if visiting during the wet season. A rugged flashlight is also important. Bring good sunscreen and a cool hat with a brim for protection from the tropical sun. If you bring a digital camera, bring sufficient storage for your photos, and consider a method to back up your data in case something happens to the camera. Electrical current in Cameroon is 220-240 volt and 50Hz.

Some reading for the day

"But in fact, our images of God are rather different from reality. We are finite being, and God is infinitely greater than any thoughts we can contain about divine reality in our wondrous but tiny minds. We are sinful beings, and God is different from what we conceive in our selfishness and pride. Finite and self-centered as we are, we often forget God's warning through the prophet Isaiah; "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thought than your thoughts" (55:9) When we forget that, we unwittingly reduce God's ways to our ways and thoughts to our thoughts. Our hearts become factories of idols in which we fashion and refashion God to fit our needs and desires." -Free of Charge by Miroslav Volf pg 22.