TESTIMONY OF GOD'S DIRECTION

God continues to reveal Himself in amazing ways!!!

This blog is now public and Jennifer and I realize that we are not going to have the opportunity to sit face to face with each person that reads this blog and share the testimony of God's direction in our lives.  It is our desire that God receives the praise and glory for this journey!  Therefore, we have written out our testimony and posted it below.

After reading this you may want to follow the journey from the beginning.  To do so, go to the bottom of this blog and choose OLDER POSTS.  You may have to do this more than once to get to the very bottom.  Now read your way up and you will see where God has taken us on this journey.

OUR TESTIMONY
Our family has been called by God to serve as missionaries in Alaska with Missionary Aviation Repair Center (MARC) - an aviation organization that works in close cooperation with Samaritan's Purse to bring the Hope of Jesus Christ to lost people in villages all over Alaska that are not able to be reached by road.

Jennifer was saved as a teenager when a friend invited her to church and she met Jesus for the first time.  I was saved 8 years ago when God got my attention by performing a miracle in our family.  Our first born son was two years old and suffering from untreatable epilepsy.  During a moment in time - after much prayer from Jennifer

James Jr and Jacob in dad's lap

the weekend God healed James Jr

and others - God reached down from heaven and did what the doctors said was “impossible” - He healed our son.  During this time, God put a desire in our hearts to serve Him and spread the Gospel.  We wanted to be obedient and began to pray for God to show us where He might use us to spread the Good News that there is Hope in Christ Jesus.  We have continued to grow, draw closer to the Lord, serve in various ministries and become bolder in sharing our faith.  For 8 years we have been praying and asking God for guidance for our family.  We pray at night, in the morning, at the kitchen table, in our bedroom and at the altar.  Along this journey God has blessed Jennifer and I with 8 beautiful children so we now have 8 little ones that we are training up in the ways of the Lord and they share this journey with us.  This past May (2010) God revealed very clearly to me that we are going to serve Him in Alaska.  I rebelled - of all of the possible ways we had considered serving God - Alaska was not one of them.  In my mind Alaska was a cold barren wasteland and I did not want to go there.  For the next few days I prayed about this and eventually my heart humbled and I told God that we would go anywhere if He led us.  I told Him that I would not search out Alaska but if He brings it we will be obedient.  I also did not share this with Jennifer at this time.  I decided that because she was pregnant and had a lot on her mind, that I would pray and wait for God’s direction.

I have a skill set that I never considered would be useful to God - I am an Air Force pilot.  When I was 10 years old God put a desire in my heart to fly airplanes.  For the next 8 years of my life He fanned the flames of this desire in many ways.  When I graduated from High School I enlisted in the Air National Guard as a sheet metal mechanic and at the same time I began to work on my Mechanical Engineering degree at NC State.  My plan was to apply for pilot training once I completed my degree.  In 1993 I did complete my degree and was given a slot to attend U.S. Air Force undergraduate pilot training.  During pilot training God brought Jennifer into my life.  After we married I returned to my civilian employment and continued to fly C-130s part-time in the Air Guard.  I have flown C130s for the last 15 years and I am continually humbled that God granted me the desires of my boyhood heart - to fly airplanes.  I did not realize, however, that God was preparing me for a role in which I would be able to reach those He loves in the most unreachable places of Alaska - the bush country. 

There is an amazing sequence of God's events that brought us to MARC in September 2010.  It started with God's call in May.  Then in September, at the last minute, I was asked to fly a mission to Alaska for the Air Guard because the pilots originally scheduled on the flight had to come off of the trip.  I was overwhelmed at my civilian job and really did not have time to do this but I could not resist the opportunity to see what it was that God wanted us to see.  Flying to Alaska in the C130 with a crew of 6 people and 8 passengers we had an engine problem over Canada and had to shutdown our #3 engine.  As a crew we made the decision to continue on to Anchorage and we were assured that the mechanics at the Air National Guard base in Anchorage would be able to fix the engine the following day so that we could fly our mission over the weekend.  We continued to Anchorage, landed uneventfully, coordinated the maintenance of our engine for the following day and went to our rooms at Elmendorf Air Force Base.  The next day there was an unforecast wind storm with gusts up to 45 mph and the mechanics could not climb on the big engine stands required to fix the airplane.  This meant that our airplane would not be fixed until Monday and we would be “stuck” in Anchorage for the weekend.  Because we were in Alaska and now had nothing to do for the weekend, the crew decided we needed to go fishing.  They planned the trip and I said I would go.  Now I had some unusual free time on my hands and I decided to do some research about ministry in Alaska - this is when I discovered MARC.  Initially, I did not realize this is where God wanted us to be, but He continued to put MARC in front me.  On Sunday morning I was watching our churches’ worship service on the internet and our pastor was preaching on using the skills and talents that God has created us with.  At that moment the connection was made between our desire to serve God, the piloting skills He had given me and why He had called us to Alaska.  Finally God's plan for our family was being revealed.  I decided I could not go on the fishing trip with the crew because I had to find out where MARC was, rent a car and do a little investigating so I would be prepared when I went home to tell my pregnant wife that God was calling us to frigid ice cold Alaska.  I looked on the internet to find the location of MARC and found it was 2 1/2 hours away from Anchorage.  The awesome thing is that the town MARC is located in is exactly the town where my crew planned for us to go on the fishing trip.  God had a plan and I was only starting to realize that as He opens each door we have to step through before He opens the next door.  God is amazing!

When I returned home from the trip I shared all of this with Jennifer.  With tears in her eyes she said, "I knew God would call us to something I just did not know where."  We decided to pray and wait for God to direct our steps.  About a week and half later we were both impressed by the Holy Spirit to call MARC – to call THAT DAY, October 1^st, 2010.  I did not feel prepared but since we both knew God was directing us separately to do the same thing we obeyed and called.  I contacted the Director of MARC and after a phone interview he asked us to submit our testimonies,  applications and referrals.  In addition, he encouraged Jennifer and I to plan a visit to MARC as soon as possible, so that we could get a good feel for the environment and the ministry.  In November, Jennifer and I visited MARC in Soldotna.  We had the opportunity to meet with the director, tour the facilities, share meals we many of the staff families and explore Soldotna.  In addition I had the opportunity to go on a mission with one of the crews to a village where Samaritan’s Purse is rebuilding a fishing camp for the village kids and “Wounded Warriors” returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.  It was a very short trip (out and back) but it was well worth it to see some of the people “in the field”.  During our time in Soldotna, Jennifer and I fell in love with the ministry, the people and the environment. 

We left Soldotna and waited for word from MARC to see if they would invite us to move from the Application Phase to what the call the Candidacy Phase.  We did not have to wait long.  They did invite us back for a three week Candidacy and this time they would like for the entire family to come.  During this phase they are going to evaluate us as a family, Jennifer and I as a couple and me as a pilot.  Their objective is to bring in missionaries that have a vibrant Christian testimony and a strong desire to reach lost people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jennifer and I and our kids love the ministry at MARC.  They are reaching out to people living in the most pitiful and inhumane conditions in some of these villages.  Depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual abuse and even incest are prevalent in these environments.  All people have NO HOPE without JESUS!!!!  The people in these villages are not an exception. We get this and are very passionate to be part of reaching them.  We know that God is calling our family to Alaska.  We are planning to return to Soldotna as a family during the second half of March and remain there until the beginning of April.  We continue to pray for God’s direction and have asked everyone with whom we have had the opportunity to share our testimony to pray for us. 

Now we have shared our testimony with you here today and ask that you join us in this ministry by joining our prayer team …