Jesus as the Good Shepherd and the Gate

Hi everyone. This is Keri. Again, we'll update you more tomorrow about housing and some other things from the last few days, but I just wanted to write about how God worked through the church service this morning to teach us. If you haven't been reading this, we, but especially I, have been struggling to trust in God's provision when housing wasn't available to us. Lots of tears have been shed and I've been frustrated that God seemed to have forgotten about a basic need of ours. He used the service this morning at All Nations CRC in Halifax to tell us that's simply not true. First of all, one of the first points in the order of worship was a corporate prayer of confession. This is what we prayed(I italicized the most pertinent points):

O God, our great shepherd, you tenderly gather us as lambs, carrying us with all your all-embracing love. Yet, like sheep, we wander from you: following our own ways, ignoring your voice, not trusting in your provisions. Forgive our stubborn rebellion, our hardened hearts, our lack of trust. Refresh us once again by your quiet waters of mercy and restore our souls by your redeeming love. Guide our paths, that we might follow you more closely. Through Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd, we pray. Amen.

Yeah. That was pretty convicting. Especially the parts about not trusting his provisions. I haven't been. Right there, I already had tears in my eyes. God is the GOOD shepherd and we are just sheep. He's looking out for us! Then, one of the next parts of the service was supposed to be a song by the choir, but too many members were sick, so the congregation sang an unplanned song:

Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.

God was definitely speaking to my heart and having me go back to the basics. Jesus LOVES me. This weak little one belongs to him, and the only proof I need of that is that the Bible says so. Simple as that. Even when we're in a foreign country (okay, it's just Canada, but still far from home!) in an bug-infested hotel room (we might go into that story later) with no idea where we're going to spend the next night, He loves me and cares.

Then the sermon came. The passage was John 10:1-11, and the title was "Jesus the Gate." Now I don't know how many sermons on Jesus as the gate you've heard in your life, but I hadn't ever heard one...until 2 weeks ago, the last time we were at church at my parent's church in Grand Haven, Michigan. Same passage. Same theme. In churches that are miles apart. Ridiculous! And hardly a coincidence. Immediately, C.J. and I realized that God's got something to tell us! The basic themes were the same. Jesus is the good shepherd who knows his sheep by name, AND he is the gate-keeper to salvation AND he sits at the gate to the pasture, so NOTHING can get by him and get to his sheep without his permission. Pretty powerful imagery when we're in a different country and feeling pretty lonely and vulnerable. So I just thought I'd share what God's doing in our hearts and encourage you all to TRUST even when things aren't going as you planned them. Praise God for his faithfulness.

Update

Sorry it's been so long again. We've had a really tough week, but God continues to bless us. We spent the first two nights in a hotel in Halifax and continued to look for housing. We'd made TONS of phone calls and email inquiries but continued to fail to find any place to live--those were definitely some really hard nights (especially at $150 per night)!

We finally decided to contact the CRC (Christian Reformed Church--the denomination we grew up in) in Halifax to see if anyone there could help us out. That night we were contacted by a family and have been living with them since Thursday night. You can't imagine how wonderful it was to have a home cooked meal after two nights in a row of Little Ceaser's Hot and Ready Pizza and two breakfasts of bread, because we were out of everything else and only focused on finding a place to live. How pathetic, huh? It has been a lot of fun living with this family. They have two young children, and it's been great having them take our minds off of our other trials by doing things like watching "Air Bud" with the 7 year old and having her proceed to tell us everything that was going to happen within the first ten minutes of the movie.

We did find out yesterday that we may have a permanent place to live right by Dalhousie (the University where Keri's fieldwork is), but we'll find out for sure on Monday. Please pray that this comes through for us as it seems like the perfect option for us. We'll update more on Monday about some higher points of the last week once we find out for sure about housing.

Still in Maine

We made the short trip up the coast to Bar Harbor this morning. We checked into our hotel and headed over to Acadia National Park. After driving up to the highest point in Acadia, we hiked up to the top of another peak on a ridiculously steep trail. The trail had iron hand rails and steps at some points because it was so steep. It was pretty difficult, but it was worth it for the amazing views. Acadia is definitely a place we'd like to return to sometime when we have more time.

We did end up going out for lobster after we got cleaned up, but we decided to get it the "cheater" way--pulled out of the shell and sauteed in butter and garlic. It wasn't too bad.

The hotel we're in was definitely one of the cheaper one's in the area, but the views from the deck from where this post is now being written are absolutely beautiful. If you're ever in Bar Harbor, check out the Sea Breeze Hotel.

The ferry ride tomorrow morning is about 3 hours, so that should be a lot of fun. We've heard there are movies and even a casino on board. After we get to Nova Scotia, it's all up in the air. We're hoping to meet with people as soon as we can and possibly make a connection who can help us with housing. Again, your continued prayer is much appreciated. We hope you enjoy the pictures of our day below!

At the highest point in Acadia (highest mountain on the east coast)

Keri climbing up the trail

C.J. using the iron hand rails

The top of the Bee Hive Trail (are your palms getting sweaty, Jon?)

At our hotel before dinner--pretty nice view

The Maine Event

We said we'd be in Boston tonight, but we were making good time and decided to keep going to Portland, Maine. But let's rewind a bit. We left Grand Haven yesterday (are you kidding, that was yesterday), and after a quick stop off at Grandma's in Grand Rapids, we hit the road. It was not an easy thing to leave our comfortable lives at Keri's parents' for the unknown. We also had to leave behind a few things (like C.J.'s percussion stuff and the TV) because there wasn't room in the car. So, let's just say we weren't too excited about our trip at that point. After a few hours on the road and acceptance of living without some things, we were doing a lot better.

We soon left Michigan for our quick trip across Ontario to Niagara Falls. Canada, however, wasn't too excited about having us. We were questioned about where we were eventually going, and got sent inside to immigration. We explained our situation and that we weren't going to be paid for our time at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, but we didn't have any written proof or a letter from Dr. Kirby (who we're working with) saying what we're doing. It's all in e-mail, which we couldn't reach on our computer from a secure immigration office. To shorten a 45 minute experience (which included a call to Dr. Kirby's cell phone on a Saturday from the immigration officer--how embarrassing!), they decided we needed a work permit to complete our time in Canada. Apparently, "ideas" and "knowledge" count as payment (wonder if we have to pay taxes on that?!)...whatever... $150 dollars later for a work permit, we were on our way.

We stayed the first night in New York right by Niagara Falls. It was C.J.'s first time there, so before we got to our camp ground, we stopped off for some sightseeing at the falls. All we can say is "AMAZING!" Camping was great. We slept really well and hit the road again in the morning.

Us at Niagara Falls

Now you can see them...

As we said, we were going to stay in Boston, but we made really good time and decided we'd drive a bit longer. We're now in Portland, ME for the night and only have about 3 hours to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor where we're going to stay tomorrow. We're really looking forward to a day of hiking in Acadia and maybe a lobster dinner in Bar Harbor. We'll try to update more tomorrow. Thanks for your continued prayer. We're really thankful for safety and a renewed sense of excitement about our trip!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

This blog is from Keri. Before I go into what's on my heart, we forgot to announce the arrival of our new nephew, Dexter Troy Ballast, who was born last Wed. Mom and baby are both doing well and we are proud to be an aunt/uncle again!

Please read the blog below....we're leaving for Nova Scotia tomorrow! So far, we don't have housing there. I am finding myself again faced with something I have struggled with all of my life: releasing control and putting my trust and faith in God to take care of the details. My faith has been tested like this other times, with things coming down to the wire before God answers a prayer. There have definitely been times that God didn't answer until I gave up my feeble attempts to hold on to the situation. It's really scary to be heading there without a place to live. It's not for lack of effort that nothing has turned up so far. I'm praying that we don't spend all of our time there trying to settle down and miss an incredible time together. I'm praying that our life savings isn't drained by having to stay in a hotel for 6 weeks. I'm also praying that the stress of this all doesn't come between CJ and me and take over our travels on the way out there. And I struggle to trust that God is going to come through. I don't know why that is...he has come through every other time. I can honestly say that God has always been faithful to provide what I've needed. And in my experience, when he leads somewhere, he not only goes with us, but goes ahead of us to prepare a place. He certainly did in St. Louis. We prayed and laid before God the decision to go to Nova Scotia for 6 weeks and felt his leading that it was right. I have to believe, then, that he has prepared a place for us. I just am not quite sure why he's sheilding our view from that right now. I have no choice but to trust. God cares about the littlest details, he surely cares about something as big to us right now as housing. Because of that, I will try with all of my heart to lay aside the anxiety that creeps in and honor my Lord and his character of faithfulness. Please pray us through this process!

We're leaving!

We thought we'd put post one more quick update before we leave for Nova Scotia TOMORROW MORNING! As you can see below, we bought a new (to us) car. C.J. looked at quite a few places, but ended up finding a 2004 Honda Accord with low miles at a great price. We bought the car last Saturday and love it so far--and C.J.'s gotten to know it quite well in the past week! We found out that we would have to get it licensed and registered in Missouri before we could take it into Canada. We thought we could possibly take care of this through the mail, but were told by the state that it would take 4-6 weeks. So, C.J. drove down to St. Louis on Tuesday, took care of all the licensing stuff, and headed back to Spring Lake the next day. He did get to see a bunch of friends while he was there, so it wasn't a complete loss, but driving 14 hours to sign his name about 5 times was a bit much.

Our new car and computer--yay!

The last few days we've been packing a lot and trying to figure out what we need and don't need in Canada. It's amazing how fast this time in Michigan has gone. Please pray for us as start our drive to Nova Scotia tomorrow morning and for a place to live there. We have a few people helping us out on that end, but still haven't found a place to call "home" there. We'll try to keep you updated as much as we can on our trip. We're planning to stay at Niagara Falls, in Boston, and at Acadia National Park on our way out, so it should be a fun trip.

Fall in Michigan

We decided to take a walk the other night. It was such a beautiful evening--calm, cool, and crisp. A perfect jeans and hooded sweatshirt type night. We didn't go far--just down to the lake by Keri's parents house. Nothing crazy or exciting happened, but it was such a great first "fall" experience. Below are some pictures of the evening.

Sun through the trees on the way to the lake

C.J. with D.D. (Keri's parent's dog) looking over the lake

Farewell to Car and Computer

So...to seriously understate, it's been an eventful week! Keri's okay, but on Tuesday morning she got rear-ended on the freeway on her way to work. She slowed down for an accident ahead of her, but the guy behind her didn't, and he was apparently going really fast. When the police arrived on the scene, Keri shakily asked the officer if she should move the car off the freeway to which the officer replied, "Umm... honey... you can't... you don't have a wheel." You can look at the picture below and see that yes, our car is totaled. Farewell to our faithful Nissan Sentra. Keri's neck was hurting right away, and she hit her head on the doorpost, so she went to the ER in an ambulance for x-rays. Luckily, C.J. and Keri's mom were able to come to the hospital right away (with some slight detours because of the traffic the two accidents were causing!). The x-ray results came back okay, but Keri's been really sore. She did get some good meds though--she loves her muscle relaxants! Keri took Tuesday and Wednesday off of work to recover, but it wasn't a fun way to start a work week after a good Labor Day Weekend! Now we get to experience the fun of looking for a new car in the next 2 weeks before we leave for Nova Scotia (only 2 weeks away...so much to do!) and dealing with insurance companies, though we have already been given a generous offer for our car. We are incredibly thankful, however, that with how hard the guy hit Keri, the only injury she has is a sore neck. After working in the Spinal Cord Injury unit at Mary Free Bed, she knows only too well what a car crash can result in. Thank God for his protection.

No wheel + tweaked frame = total loss

On a positive note, another somewhat big thing looming over us was the fact that our computer has not been working correctly for a while. We had many discussions over whether or not to buy a new computer and had decided to take a while to pray for guidance. To shorten a lengthy story, we have a warranty on it and gave it to Circuit City to fix a bad motherboard fan in June while we had 2 weeks we would be on vacation. They ended up sitting on it for 2 weeks because of incompetence, and we had to have it returned to us after them having it for 3 weeks in the same condition as when we brought it in. C.J.'s been using the computer for work all summer, so he's had to deal with a very slow, very hot, and very loud computer to make us money. C.J, spent hours on the phone to Circuit City customer service about the whole situation and it FINALLY (at least 20 calls later) paid off! Circuit City is replacing our computer with a brand new Sony computer! They've overnighted everything, so we sent our old computer to them yesterday and should have our new one tomorrow morning! We're so thankful that C.J. finally got to someone who know how to take care of a customer. This is such a gift before we leave the country. We will now have a computer that will support communication with our friends and family, and we don't have to pay for it in a time where the budget is tight! Thank God for his provision! If anyone is ever in the Brentwood, MO Circuit City store, Jamarr (the Operations Manager) is the guy to deal with!

So, another crazy week (after so many, you'd think we'd just call this normal!), but we have so much to be thankful for. Please pray for us as we now enter crunch time in our preparations for Nova Scotia. We still don't have a place to live there, so that's currently our biggest concern. Also, continue to pray for Mike and Beth Werkheiser. We've heard that everything with the funeral was beautiful and moving, but they are due to arrive back in St. Louis on Sunday and have to enter their hectic lives again.