a little blessing

As I (Kristin) in our office working today, I can see the snow coming down outside (thankfully only 2-3 inches!) but as I watch the sky, I can't help but notice the buds on the tree branches, just waiting to burst out their little leaves as soon as the weather warms.  What a great promise of new life on the tale end of a long winter!

Just wanted to share...when you're feeling spring fever, look up. :)

A Praying Life

I (Kristin) was recently challenged by a friend to join her in setting aside an hour a day for prayer for 40 days.  I took the challenge, excited to grow in my consistency and depth in prayer.  As I entered into that hour each day, it quickly became apparent that I have a lot of hang ups in my prayer life.  Wondering if things would just happen whether or not I prayed.  Wondering how my small prayers could really turn around the dark spiritual climate of some middle-eastern country.  Wondering if I was being selfish...or too petty...or not experiencing enough connection or emotion regarding the Lord.  Maybe you've experienced some of these things too?

As the days went by, I often found myself starting out asking the Lord to show me how to pray, how to focus on Him alone and not the other tasks of the day.  After a few weeks, I stumbled upon a book review of a book called A Praying Life, by Paul Miller.  The subtitle was "Connecting with God in a Distracting World". Seemed about right.  Now, I'm not going to say that this book has removed all my doubts and fully resolved all my hang ups, but it has addressed all of the issues I listed above and has given me refreshing perspective on connecting with God in our modernized world.

Here's a teaser from the first section, "Praying Like a Child":

'The difficulty of coming just as we are is that we are messy. And prayer makes it worse. When we slow down to pray, we are immediately confronted with how unspiritual we are, with how difficult it is to concentrate on God. We don't know how bad we are until we try to be good. Nothing exposes our selfishness and spiritual powerlessness like prayer.' (pg. 28)

I haven't quite finished the book yet, but I know the last section is called 'Praying in the Real World'. I'm excited to see what other insights Miller has to offer as I continue on the journey of trusting and knowing the Lord more through prayer.  If you want a challenging and refreshing read on prayer, I'd highly recommend this book.

On a personal level, Matt and I have decided to trust the Lord through prayer to complete our team of ministry partners by April 25. This would enable us to attend our region's annual staff conference as well as receive a summer assignment and start on campus in the fall.  We're trusting God with this date and would be grateful if you would join us in prayer, as well.  Blessings to you!

Why we're not on campus, yet

If we wrote up an FAQ about our ministry, I think this would be one of the most commonly asked questions...so I thought I'd just write up a blog to respond to this question we often hear from people. So here's the question: 'Why can't you report to campus now?' or 'Why can't you report to campus and keep working on support at the same time?'

Well, several reasons. One is that it is Campus Crusade for Christ's policy as a ministry that all staff must reach 100% in raising their initial support (after joining staff) before starting on campus full time. Not all missions organizations have this policy, which can add to the confusion. Others set various levels that their staff must reach before reporting. The reasoning behind Campus Crusade's policy leads into the other factors.

Stewardship of our lives. Missionaries can burn out for many reasons - hard team relationships, lack of training/care, spiritual warfare, and high on the list is poor financial support. Financial worries in addition to the rigors of full time ministry lead to burn out. Campus Crusade's hope is that staff with healthy financial support will be able to stay in the field longer, once reported, without a constant worry of receiving short paychecks. A healthy level of financial support might increase a missionary's duration in service.

Attrition. Its common (and I don't know specific statistics) especially in the first 6-8 years in full time ministry to have partners leave our ministry team for various reasons: economy, job changes, feeling led to give elsewhere, etc.  We expect that and only challenge our partners to support us for as long as they feel the Lord is leading them. To be prepared when someone has to leave us, it's healthiest not to teeter on the brink of not having enough support, but to maintain 100% of the goals Campus Crusade has set for us. If we reported to campus before reaching 100%, attrition could put us in a dangerous place financially. This leads to the last reason for this policy.

Being on campus is more than a 40 hour/week job. Raising support involves a lot of traveling and flexibility. I've personally tried to do both for a semester and found it hard to focus on either.  When I was on campus, I was worried about financial support. When I was traveling to meet with people, I found it hard to tell students I couldn't meet with them consistently.  Of course, our financial support is an ongoing process even after we reach 100% and we have to work to maintain it as part of our job.  With the level of financial support we still need to raise, however, we wouldn't be able to make the proper connections while also working on campus full-time.

These are the main reasons for Campus Crusade's policy. I hope this helps clarify why they've set these standards in place.  Please comment or email Matt or me (matt.odland@uscm.org or kristin.odland@uscm.org) with any questions about what I shared.  

I love taking pictures....

And I (Kristin) just got some snowshoes for Christmas! Here are a few pics I took while we were in Alexandria over New Years. Isn't winter beautiful? Enjoy and blessings as this new year of 2011 begins!

TCX live stream

We're leaving in about two hours to head to Minneapolis for our annual christmas conference - the Twin Cities Xperience. There's always great anticipation as the staff gather the first night prior to the students arrival the next afternoon. 1500+ students have registered this year and they will soon flood the lobbies and elevators of the downtown Hilton hotel. Please join us in praying for safe travel and that the Spirit would be filling the hotel and actively working in all the events of the four day conference.

If you would like to 'join' us from home, the conference will be streamed live here: TCX: Awaken

I'm sure we'll have more stories to tell after the conference wraps up. Enjoy and Happy New Year!

the Romans challenge

I'd heard rumors of something called 'the Romans challenge'. I don't know anyone who's actually done it...but, exactly a month ago, November 14, I found myself diving in. You might be wondering what it is (unless you've heard the same rumors of it I had) Basically, its a challenge to read the entire book of Romans everyday for a month. I checked my Bible...Romans is only about 11 pages...not bad, right? I'll admit that Romans has always intimidated me a bit - its length, the depth and complexity of its theology... So I dove in. I have to say that I didn't quite read the whole book everyday...but I came close and what a blessing it has been! Everyday, it seemed, something new would jump out to me and the Spirit would help me understand a specific truth on a bit deeper level than ever before. As the days went by, certain sections I'd never really understood began to bother me, so I started checking commentaries and listening to sermons on those specific topics. Its been a great journey. I'd recommend it to anyone who can carve out an hour (or less if you read faster than me!) each day.

Here's one of the truths the Spirit revealed to me that I've been turning over in my mind and heart for the past 3 weeks. I'm still loving it. Romans 4:13-25. Its rich. I'll post parts of it here:

"For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith......In hope [Abraham] believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told....He did not weaken in his faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised."

Wow. What an example Abraham was! Regardless of his age and his wife's condition, he believed God's promise...he trusted that God could work a miracle to fulfill what He had promised. "No distrust made him waver". This has been such a great challenge for me in my moments of wanting to question God and his ways of doing things - as if I know better! Abraham was fully convinced because we have a God who is faithful and true to His promises - to His people.

Romans 8:28

"And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

No matter what our situation, we can trust without wavering that God is working all things out for our good because He loves us. Praying that you and I can lean into the goodness of our faithful Lord this holiday season.

our 1st Christmas tree!

After two Christmases of having a 2 foot tree in our one bedroom apartment, we finally had room for a 'normal' sized tree in our new home in Mankato! Here's a pic :)

Also, you may have heard about the great Minnesota blizzard

this weekend...5th largest in recorded history, they're saying. Not sure, but I think we got around 14 inches. If you don't live in Minnesota and are missing snow, here are some pics of us digging out...and yes, that is Matt behind the pile of snow...