Getting Started...

This blog title is derived from a quote in Bloodlines by John Piper in which he says, “All our advances are with a limp.”  He explains that although we are to actively fight to remove flaws, shortcomings, and especially sins from our lives, we cannot wait until they are completely fixed to advance.  I take encouragement from this as I prepare to move to Lutsk, Ukraine next month.  Even though my life contains many “limps,” God has called me to advance to missionary life in Ukraine.  Not because on my own I am someone special, but because I am a child of a great God who uses His limping children to advance His kingdom throughout the world. 

Beyond the application of this quote to my own life, I like to think of how it applies in the work that I will join in Ukraine, where I will be using physical therapy to serve people with disabilities.  These are people with visible, physical limps and I will get to work with them in the rehabilitation center, teaching them to advance their bodies toward independence.  I will also have opportunities to teach Ukrainians how to provide physical therapy to help in lessening these physical limps.  And while Ukrainians with disabilities do need the practical assistance we can give them through physical therapy, they most desperately need the Gospel, which is the only hope to remedy their spiritual limps.  I’m so thankful that the ongoing work there has the proclamation of the Gospel as its primary aim.

So on August 11^th, by the grace of God, I will advance with all of my limps to Ukraine to serve people with disabilities and all of their limps. I hope that you will join me in praying for God’s hand in all that is done there and for His life-changing, hope-giving Gospel to be proclaimed.