Dear Friends,
Many of you are aware that I am about to leave on two significant mission trips. I will be traveling to Egypt to teach from August 4-14, and then to Ecuador and Columbia from August 22-Sept 6th. As I write to you, I am very aware of the natural dangers to face in this travel, and I am committed to walking in utter submission to the Lord, set apart—consecrated for this journey, and walking in wisdom, as we hear Him speak. There will be frequent updates ( when possible ) that Dan will be mailing out. I am asking for a group of men and women to be on high alert in prayer during this next season of time—not just for me, but for others in your ‘oikos’—your own spiritual household. Even as the Lord is having us buy up opportunities for the sake of the Kingdom, we cannot forget to ‘defend forward’ in prayer. Would you be willing to commit to ‘guard duty’ for the next 4-6 weeks? Would you be willing to take the same time block each day ( and / or night ) and pray for Claudia Dunne and I as we minister in Egypt and for Daryl Knudeson and I as we minister in Ecuador and Columbia? But I would ask you to think this through in some additional ways. In any military, guard duty is shared whether during peace or at a time of heightened alert and warfare. This seems to be a time of heightened alert. Would you choose a time, daily, where you lift—in prayer—before the Father, the names and needs of those you are in spiritual relationship with? Would you respond to this email with some commitment of your own for a season of ‘guard duty’? I have some unprecedented opportunities for ministry on these two trips. Could you listen for the voice of the Father, and pray in response to what you hear? If you are willing, please hit reply and let us know when the Lord will have you before His throne. I love you and I am blessed to walk out this partnership with you.
Blessings, Jody
If you know me (Dan) well, you know I have a dubious relationship with the month of August. At the risk of sounding a bit whiny, I must say that it is a discouraging month. Not only is it a dry, hot, sweaty, yucky (did I mention hot?) month, it seems that nearly everything slows to a crawl until we roll into September like a deflated beach-ball. I often quip that it seems even God is out of the office until Labor Day.
We have finished a busy few weeks. Both of us were in Colombia during the first week of February, came home for a week and jetted off to Wisconsin to facilitate a Prayer Summit and, in between facilitated a prayer day for a Presbyterian church in Vancouver, WA.