November 2018

 THANKFUL...VS...GRATEFUL

Here is our most recent newsletter.  I am still working with Mailchimp and I find something new to learn every time.  Normally I have to make two different newsletters, one for Word, that I can share on the Blog and one with Mailchimp to send out in email.  This is a very time consuming process, but with our changing world and the ways we communicate I am trying to keep up with it all.

Hopefully this will work!  Let keep our fingers crossed....

November News 2018 

Simply click on the link and it will take you to our recent Newsletter.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read.

Summer 2018

Enjoy a glimpse of our summer!

Private Lucas Andrew Templeton

Class of 2018

We are proud to announce the Graduation of our youngest son, 

Luke Templeton 

from Waukesha High School

Future Plans:

Luke will be heading down to Fort Sill, Oklahoma at the end of June to continue with the Army National Guard.

If you would like to send notes or letters of encouragement to him, please mail to:

Luke Templeton

937 Perkins Ave

Waukesha, WI 53186

May Newsletter

   May 2018 by a_templeton01 on Scribd

Mercy

To LOVE Mercy

I am reading a book called "A Woman and Her God".  I only pick it up every once and while when I am working in the school library.  I am determined to spend the first 20  minutes or so in a devotional when I come to work.  So far, I am able to do so.  Yeah!!

Well, in the first chapter of the book starts with this simple vs.

for some reason, the LONG pause I had here sent me into a word search of these 3 words, justly, mercy and humbly...

I found lots of info, to much to all share here, but the end result of the search, sent me back up to the beginning sentence.

WHAT DOES THE LORD REQUIRE OF YOU?

Just let that sink in for a bit....

Justly....Impartial, Accurate, Lawful and Righteous

all these require ACTION

Mercy...

 Mercy will cost us comfort and time...it will cost us money and status....

AND

it will give us heartache!

Humbly...

I am created by God, therefore to God I owe my life.  If I place myself under God's authority I will find it easier to live Justly and give Mercy to others even if I don't feel they deserve it. In doing so, I understand that loving mercy and living mercifully reveals God to those around me.

Waiting for the ARRIVAL

"So you, too, must keep watch! For you don't know what day your Lord is coming."

Matthew 24:42

I just love watching my Granddaughter Alice.  She is so alive with life and lives each moment as if it was the last, to the fullest, without worry for the next day.  As I watch her, I am constantly aware that she reminds me so much of how my life should be lived for the Lord.

This latest photo I took of her has me thinking about how I should live my life as if  "watching and waiting for the Lord's return"

You wouldn't know it, but just moments before this photo was taken she was running out, bouncing up and down and playing as if she didn't have a care in the world, and then for some reason she all the sudden says..."Mama be back soon" and runs to the window looking and watching for her to return.

How often we are like that in our lives.  We live life, as if there isn't a care in the world, and then all the sudden we stop and realize that "Jesus be back soon"...and our attention is drawn upward in anticipation of the day we will see Him face to face.

He flew till his fuel ran out.....

Mission Emphasis and Tribal Cup

This next weekend, we will have a campus bustling with studies, students and sports!  We have 110 students coming from our other campus in Michigan, and also 20 students coming from Kansas State University!  These students have in interest in missions and will be spending the weekend at our campus during their spring break.  What an awesome time to have an outreach.

We will be busting at the seams for sure.

Every year our school and the school in Michigan have a weekend to play sports against each other to keep our "mission family" united and strong even though we are states apart.  This time together is called "Tribal Cup".  

We enjoy an Emphasis on Missions as well, and spend time learning & worshiping together over the weekend.  

This year we are blessed to have Paul Dye coming to speak.  Paul Dye is the son of Cecil Dye, one of the five martyrs in Bolivia who attempted to reach the Ayore Tribe in 1943.  

This story is told in "God Planted Five Seeds"  

The story of Paul Dye can be told in the following links:

U.S. MISSIONARY PILOT FLEES COLOMBIAN CAPTORS: 3 STILL HELD

This is the headline from the "The New York Times" that ran an article about the situation in Colombia when the Guerrillas took missionaries captive and demanded a ransom.  Follow the Link to read more about how God used Paul in this situation.  

"God at the Controls"

Paul will be speaking in our chapel times together on Friday, the 23rd in the morning.  If you are in the area, feel free to stop by.  Please let me know if you plan on coming.  

Who do you identify with?

Today during our chapel time at Bible School, we had the privilege of having a member from the "Traveling Team" come and share the Mission of the Bible Story.

http://www.thetravelingteam.org/articles/the-bible-as-a-missions-story 

I snuck out of the library to listen, and was standing in the back of the room to listen, just as he as said this...

"I want to be identified as a Christian,

 BUT...

am I hiding from the responsibility that comes with it?"

Over and over again throughout the God's Word, we are commanded to share God's love with ALL peoples.  

This is not just an option to consider, but rather...

A command to OBEY.

It was a very good reminder for me to once again, 

Remember God's Mission

Check my Attitude

and

Make a Decision

Its easy to just stay on the sidelines and watch others do the job, but what will you and I do when God calls us to ACT?

 

 

 

Raw Faith

RAW FAITH

Ever since bible school, starting back in 1990 I have been headed to the mission field.  Not knowing how that would look, but I was determined to live out my faith in someway, somewhere.  

Andy and I got married in 92 and moved down to Tennessee where he went to college, we had three boys and he taught a few years in the states and we were ready to finally embark on the long awaited mission that God was sending us on.

Since that first day, our life together has had many uphill battles and many downhill slopes, with beautiful valleys in between.  We have lived with much and have lived with little.  We have seen many with much and oh so many more with little.  But through it all, we have seen the faithfulness of God in every situation.  We haven't always seen it right away though!

This season in our lives has brought us into the waiting season once again.  Waiting to see what God is going to do, how HE is going to answer our long and silent pleas in the night.  How HE is going to show Himself in some mighty way...or in anyway at all!  Just WAITING.  That waiting doesn't always come with some mighty faith attached, or any faith at all, "if I'm gonna be raw here".  This waiting comes out of frustration and many more questions than silent deliberations.

  

Its hard to sit and watch suffering, even more so when it is your health, mental struggles, and your own flesh and blood.  Wondering if God loves them more than you!  Because how could a God who loves your kids more than you do watch them struggle, watch them wander farther and farther away from the faith you were so careful to instill in their tiny precious hearts when they were little!

Oh, the doubts and questions...and what are "missionaries" supposed to do with all that?  WE know all the right answers, all the correct head knowledge for sure....but sometimes the path between head and heart is farther away than heaven itself!  To be the ones that are supposed to have it all together is much too great a burden to bare.

  

This song by  "Mercy Me- Even if"  has touched my heart on more than one occasion, and the Lord has finally given me the words to share about it. One of the things I enjoyed about the link to this song (included at the end of the post) is that it also includes his testimony about why he wrote the song.  While listening to it, I found myself in his shoes at many statements he made, so, I have learned over the years one thing....

if the Lord says "say it", "do it", or "write it"...

I BETTER GET TO IT!

[Verse 1]
They say sometimes you win some
Sometimes you lose some
And right now, right now I'm losing bad
I've stood on this stage night after night
Reminding the broken it'll be alright
But right now, oh right now I just can't

[Pre-Chorus]
It's easy to sing
When there's nothing to bring me down
But what will I say
When I'm held to the flame
Like I am right now

[Chorus]
I know You're able and I know You can
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone

[Verse 2]
They say it only takes a little faith
To move a mountain
Well, good thing
A little faith is all I have right now
But God, when You choose
To leave mountains unmovable
Give me the strength to be able to sing
It is well with my soul

[Chorus]
I know You're able and I know You can
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone
I know the sorrow, and I know the hurt
Would all go away if You'd just say the word
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone

[Bridge]
You've been faithful, You've been good
All of my days
Jesus, I will cling to You
Come what may
‘Cause I know You're able
I know You can

[Chorus]
I know You're able and I know You can
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone
I know the sorrow, and I know the hurt
Would all go away if You'd just say the word
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone

[Outro]
It is well with my soul
It is well, it is well with my soul

To Choose Joy in the Midst of Trails

To Choose Joy

 

   March 2018 by a_templeton01 on Scribd

Real Confessions....

This past Sunday was one of those days were I had to force myself to get out the door for church.  It seems that Sundays are the hardest day to get moving!  With Andy not feeling good, each day is unknown when he wakes as to what his brain will allow him to do that day.  Sunday was one of those "off" days and I was headed to church alone.  Family and Friends await me there, but it just isn't the same without my second half next to me.  We have traveled the world together, gone to places and done things that I would never have done if it wasn't for Andy.  He pushes me beyond my comfort zone and I love him for it, because I realize that I am fully able to achieve many things in the Lord.

So back to Sunday....I arrived at church, and send a message to Andy at home saying....

"Well....Here I go...Put on a happy face"

 Of course in Church, I was greeted by friends and always feel such love.  Pastor Ron was preaching on a marriage and I got convicted!  Yep....God does that, makes you feel like the pastor is looking right through your walls and speaking directly to you!

He shared this simple insight that he actually came up with that morning!

GET MAD

M...Remember your MISSION

A...Check your ATTITUDE

D...Make your DECISION

These simple steps really hit home.  As Andy and I have been working on sending out a recent newsletter, we have been thinking through the past months...and the whole year.  There has been so much that we have gone through and are still going through, but one thing remains...GOD IS GOOD!

We just need to stay on task and remember our PURPOSE. 

What's your PURPOSE...