Man it's COLD outside!

I am sitting here in a Caribou coffee shop wondering why I have even ventured out in this frigid weather.  We woke up this morning in Minnesota to -10 degrees with a windchill of -35!  Now for those of you that live in New Orleans that lived last week with a chilly 40 degrees...you ain't seen nothin' yet!

Here are just a few things that some of you Southerner's may not even know exist!  We have what is known as "HEAT" that is a gas additive you put in your gas tank so you don't get what is known as "gas line freeze".  Some of us actually have gas tank heaters on our cars where we can plug them in to keep them warm so they will actually start!  Heated seats are the most coveted thing in your vehicle and Caribou and Starbucks coffee are the most popular places to be...even moreso than normal!  Your winter survival kit consists of a full tank of gas (in case you end up sliding into the ditch on a frozen road), a wool blanket, "choppers" ( leather mittens with wool liners), a warm scarf, a half a bottle of water ( you don't want a full one because it will explode from the cold), high energy snacks and a shovel.  We have what is known as black ice on the roads.  That is frozen exhaust condensation...and it is virtually invisible so you don't even know if you have hit a patch until it's too late.  And oh yeah there's ice fishing!  Yes, you drive your car, truck, atv out on the lake, drill a hole and put a heated ice house (ice houses are for those people that can't hack the REAL cold!) on the ice and fish through that hole.  Sometimes you have to take a small scoop and scoop out the ice that has formed on the hole.  And if you are really lucky...yes it's all luck not skill...you will actually catch a few fish.  This winter ritual in Minnesota is what most northern's look forward to when it's -10 outside!

You may ask...why do you live THERE?  Well it's simple.  Our family is here, our friends are here, our church is here and well up to now this is where God could use us to the fullest.  And then there is the obvious question...Why are you leaving there?  Your family, kids, friends, and church are there why would you leave?   The answer again is simple.  Because God has asked us to.  Because He has now told us that He can use us to the fullest somewhere else.  We will be moving to just north of New Orleans, LA hopefully in June of this year.  We will leave it all behind, yes even the subzero winter temperatures to follow the call that God has on our lives.  After our move we will train and learn how to best help people after their lives fall apart following disasters and crisis all over the world.   We don't know where that will be or how long we will be there but we know that God will protect us, sustain us and guide us through it all.  If He can protect us from the cold of Minnesota....He can protect us from anything.  And for that we are forever grateful.

Praise God for His Sovereignty, His Love, His Grace and yes, even for cold winters in Minnesota!

Blessings to you all on this cold Minnesota evening!
Jackie

Tis The Season...

As I went through my day today I was reminded several times that this is the last Christmas season, at least for a while,we will be in Minnesota. The last Maple Grove E Free Women's Christmas Dessert I will decorate a table for, the last Spectrum High School Christmas Concert Brad will sing in, the last winter in the cold (well that's not such a bad thing) and the last time I will decorate this house for Christmas.  A season of lasts is what I thought about.

But then as the day went on I thought about the new beginnings we are going to experience in the next year.  The first summer on the field serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Brad's first year of college and our granddaughter, Analise's first year of school.  Walking into a new church for the first time again and all those people I have yet to meet for the first time.  And that permeated my thoughts later in the day.

There is a time and season for everything.  Ecclesiastes 3 tells us that there is "a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance".  The time to tear down will probably be the first disaster we respond to and a time to build will be that first home we are able to put back together for someone...but first we need to break down our own home here in Minnesota and then build a new home in Louisiana.  We are not literally building a home but it takes more than bricks and mortar to build a "home".  Anyone that knows me knows that "a time to weep" could be about anytime!  But I imaging the weeping this next year will be tears of sadness as I say good bye to so many friends in Minnesota when we move.  And a time to laugh..well that will be the times of remembering all the good times we have had and the joys that the Lord has brought into our lives.  And a time to mourn.  We will mourn our "home" in Minnesota.  Not the bricks and mortar home but the home that others have built through their friendships that really have been our safe haven for years.  And a time to dance. I will be doing the happy dance when I see people complaining on Facebook about the first snow and how cold it is outside!

In all seriousness, we all have seasons in our lives that are good and seasons that are bad.  Jesus Christ was sent to this earth to bridge the gap between us and God the Father during all the times of our lives.  We all make mistakes and go through difficulties.  How awesome is it that we can all receive the gift of Jesus' saving grace from our Father this Christmas season or in any season of your life?  Have you received and accepted that gift?  Is it your season to mourn or is it your season to dance?  Experience the joy that is Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior this Christmas!  Come dance with me!

Blessings,

Jackie

Sharing our Blessings

We just finished up with Thanksgiving and most of us probably went around the table 

and said what we were thankful for. Well, all those things are blessings and they are 

given to us by God. When we really think about it there are a lot more that we didn’t say 

at the table. I know for me I could go on for hours. When we look at the rest of the 

world we are a very blessed nation. As I read the Bible it tells me we have been 

blessed so we can be a blessing. In Gen. 12:1-3, God asked Abraham to go and I will 

bless you and through you I will bless all nations. We are part of that blessing and we are to use it to bless all peoples but we must go to do that. Then I read on in Matt. 28:19 where Jesus gives us a mandate that all of us should follow. “There for go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit, and teaching 

them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Here we see go again, so right now all of us should be in one of two stages, either we are being discipled or we are discipling. Where do you fit in there and how long does it take to make a disciple? Jesus took three years, so we need to be on the move. Go. 

Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice  and because of that we can have a relationship with 

God. Since then we no longer have to take our sacrifices to the high priest to be 

forgiven. That in itself is a huge blessing. As a matter of fact sacrifice for us is only mentioned 

in the New Testament twice. Once in Romans 12.1 “Therefore, I urge you brothers, in 

view of Gods mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-

this is your spiritual act of worship.” Again in Philippians 4:18 as Paul was traveling 

around doing ministry work the people were supporting him and Paul says their gifts are 

“a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.” Though we do not need to 

sacrifice for our relationship with God we do need to sacrifice ourselves and our 

resources to carry the gospel message to others. Our Blessings. 

This doesn’t means to give what we can afford or to serve if we have time, this means we look at what is a true sacrifice and give out of our blessings not just our abundance.

Ephesians 5:8 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Live as children of light.” 

Jackie and I are so blessed that God has brought us from darkness and made us light. 

We have chosen to sacrifice our lives to him by serving with TouchGlobal so we  can 

bring the gospel to those in need in the wake of disaster. In our experience, we 

found God when there was no where else to turn and someone was there  to share Jesus with us. We need to Go. We need to pass the Blessing.  God just keeps pouring his Blessings on us since we have decided to Go.  I challenge you to Go spread your blessings that God has given you so they can see what Jesus did for you and that you are blessing them because Jesus blessed you. 

Ask and you shall receive!

The Passer house has been alive with activity this month!  If you are following our newsletter you probably read that we are getting our house ready to put on the market at the end of January.  We had an amazing young lady come in and donate her house staging services by giving us ideas for paint colors, light fixture changes, furniture rearrangement and a mini bathroom makeover.  The Lord provided the finances for the changes in the form of a nice tax rebate and we were all set to go!  

With Jackie directing traffic in the background (most unsuccessfully I might add), Rob began the task of changing out light fixtures and tearing down wallpaper.  I'll let you ask him which of these he enjoyed more!  A request was put out in our last newsletter for help for Rob in painting the rooms that needed to be done and low and behold the painters arrived!  The front entry hall, upstairs hall, master bedroom, and both bathrooms upstairs were prepped and ready to paint and the crew got to work!  In a matter of a few days all of the areas that were prepared were painted with two coats and rooms were reassembled so quickly it looked like a version of Extreme Makeover-weekend Edition!  Hat's off to Jen, Will, Shari and Katie for the time they took out of their lives and their painting skills to accomplish the task at hand.  Our friends are absolutely amazing and we don't know what we would do without them!

Below are a few action shots of some of the crew working!  We praise God for such humble servants!

We'd also like to give a BIG shout out to all of those that visited the hospital, our home, fed us and prayed for us over the last month.  Jackie is going back to work on tomorrow, 11/1 and is healing up quite nicely!  Your prayers and support are so much appreciated.

We also want to welcome everyone that has joined our Ministry Partnership Team and thank them for their support!  We are currently at 23% of our monthly support committed and 48% of our start up costs already given!  

If you have been thinking about joining our team but would like to hear more about our call and what we are doing, shoot us an email at rob.passer@efca.org and we can set up a time sit down and share our hearts with you.  Maybe God is tugging on your heart to just join the team!  You can just hit the TouchGlobal logo under the "Donate online" button on the right and you can give online or go to 

http://www.efca.org/give-serve/ways-give for other giving options.  Be sure to include 1670-Passer on any donations made.

Please keep all of those affected by Hurricane Sandy in your prayers.  There is so much clean up and rebuilding to do and TouchGlobal will be among those helping.  Pray that the light of Christ can show through every worker that God calls to this field and that the people can see that their only hope is in Jesus.

Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’”

Exodus 16:32

When I look in the bible I see so many verses on food.  Whether they are regarding sustaining a population, breaking bread with others, or celebrations with food.  God fed the Israelites while they were in the dessert,  Jesus fed the multitudes with a few fishes and loaves of bread.  The apostles broke bread with Jesus the night before he was arrest.  God performed many miracle with food.  He has taught us many a lesson through these miracles and today He has taught me a lesson about food and the meaning of eating versus using food as an idol or even crutch.

In the last few years I have gained quite a bit of weight.  It started out because I discovered I loved to bake pastry, breads, cookies and cupcakes.  Ahhh the cupcake.  Cupcake wars had become the go to show on Sunday nights and finding a cupcake shop that had been on Cupcake Wars was put on my "bucket list."   And yes, that has been checked off the list!  

But as I sit here in the hospital for my 6th night after having abdominal surgery to remove a large colon polyp I really began to think and pray and ask God what I was doing wrong.  Why was I not able to eat yet?  The only thing holding me back from going home was food!   One of the things that I truly love the most in the world.  Anyone who knows me knows this.  And here I sit blogging from my hospital bed because of food.  I have to be able to "tolerate" eating 2 meals in a row to be able to go home.  It became quite clear to me today after a walk around the hospital floor what was going on.  God was giving me another clear message and it has taken me a few days to figure it out.  I needed to take food off of that list that some days was above God in my daily life.   Food had become an idol and it clearly needed to be put back in it's place.  It's place is for sustenance. Food is one of the things that our body takes to live on this earth.  BUT not an overload of it or overindulgence of it.

Tonight as my carefully chosen dinner was put in front of me I prayed.  I prayed to God for my body to be able to tolerated what I was going to feed it.  I prayed in thanksgiving for again teaching me what was coming between my relationship with Him.  And I prayed to be able to go home tomorrow to the family that I love and want to see so badly.

Thank you Jesus for being my Savior and ALL that I need on a daily  basis. Thank you for the rememberance of the manna put in a jar for generations to remind us that God can and WILL give us all we need.

Blessings,

Jackie

Crisis or Christ?

"He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have supremacy." Colossians 1:17-18

Our church is doing a sermon series on Colossians right now.  The above verses are so fitting for what is happening with our church and how the church is allowing Christ to take over and not the crises that keep cropping up on us.

A little over a year ago it was announced that by mid-2013 or Sr. Pastor of 20+ years would be leaving our church to follow God's call into a Marriage and Family Care Ministry.  A search committee would be formed to look for a new Sr. Pastor and in the mean time Pr. Russ would still be around until a new Sr. Pastor was found.  Those of us that have been around a while were not shocked at God's call on Pr. Russ' life but were sad to even think about another Pastor leading our church.  And we still had Pr. Dan, Pr. Paul, and Pr. Phil plus the rest of the staff that would be consistent and staying on.  So we took it all in, prayed about God's direction and trusted God to get us through this.

Last December I sat with my good friend who was also my direct ministry report in missions, Pr. Dan as he explained that what they had thought was Parksinson's Disease was actually ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease.  He indicated that he would be around for over a year and hoped to transition out of ministry by the end of 2012.  But that is not the way it happened. Pr. Dan's disease has progressed much faster than he and his wife, Heidi had thought and he retired in March, 2012.  We have kept up with his Caringbridge site and have seen Dan and Heidi's total dependence on Jesus during this time of crisis and I personally have been so humbled by their walk with the Lord through all of this. This has been so difficult for all of us at MGEFC but we follow Dan and Heidi's lead and are completely dependent on the Lord to get us through this too.

In the last few weeks we have received email after email from the prayer chain about people from our church going through major health problems.  The father in law of an elder with a serious illness, a long time member of the church going through bypass surgery and subsequently acquired a rare and serious infection that will keep him hospitalized for maybe a total of a month, the daughter of our youth Pastor with a serious throat infection that has caused her to be hospitalized twice and who is looking at surgery on Tuesday, and finally our Sr. Pastor again, who fell off of a ladder doing home repairs and has shattered his ankle and heal and is also having surgery on Tuesday.  And the list goes on...  All of this going on in so short a period of time could have crippled our church.  But again we were completely dependent on Christ and did not give into the crisis.

One might think...boy that church is under attack!  Those people better watch out!  I wonder what's next?  But...just think of this...if the evil one is trying so hard to attack us, what is he so afraid of?  We must be doing something right for him to be working so hard at trying to discourage us.  What are we doing right?  Well we believe this...

1.  Jesus is God  Col. 1:15
2.  Jesus is the creator of all things and holds it all together Col. 1:17
3.  Jesus began the church! Col. 1:18
(these 3 things taken from my sermon notes from this morning)

So if Jesus is God, is the creator of all things (that includes us!), He holds everything He created together AND He began the church, why would it surprise anyone that Jesus is protecting us from the evil one right now.  We could be down and out.  The leadership could feel as if they can't take another crisis or illness.  But what is happening?  Services go off seemingly without a hitch.  God has begun the healing process in the elder's father in law and the elder's wife's face showed true joy today as she told me about answered prayer.   The long time member's family is hanging in there and is trusting on God to bring him through all of this. The youth Pastor's daughter will finally get some relief from the pain she has been in from this infection and Pr. Russ will be up and around in no time.  Who says God doesn't perform miracles anymore?  Not me because I know JESUS IS GOD and He IS holding it all together because He began this church!

Watching and waiting...

I remember 7 years ago tonight.  I say in front of the TV watching and waiting and praying.  Praying that Hurricane Katrina would slow down, change course or just plain fizzle out.  Instead it hit the Gulf Coast with a fury and shortly after that the storm surge hit New Orleans and 80% of the city was flooded.  Rob was in Colorado hunting and I sat with the boys just staring at the pictures on TV.  The rescues, the water, the Super Dome and the Civic Center. I watched as the National Guard and Coast Guard rescued people in baskets from helicopters from their roofs.  I watched and I cried.

Hurricane Katrina, 2005

 Tonight I sit in front of the TV watching and waiting and praying.  But my prayer tonight is one more of praise to my Heavenly Father for the storm not going higher than a category 1.  Praise for an amazing team of TouchGlobal friends that are sheltering in place in New Orleans and the surrounding area so that they can be first responders to a wind blown and rain soaked city in a few days.  Praise that Our God heard our prayers and for the most part spared our friends in Haiti from this storm.  And praise that I know for sure that God can and will use every event for His glory,  even hurricanes and earthquakes.

Will I cry over the next few days as I watch the damage reports or possible hear about lost lives?  Absolutely!  But compassion and mercy are part of who God made me to be.  That's OK.  I look forward to the time when we are in the field and I can be a part of that first responder team going in to see if everyone is OK.  When I can go in and pray with someone and tell that about the life giving blood of Jesus Christ.  Our Lord and Savior can and will help us through any storm.

My friend and teammate Katie had this verse on her blog and I wanted to share it with you.

"Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done wonderful things,
things planned long ago.
2 You have made the city a heap of rubble,
the fortified town a ruin,
the foreigners' stronghold a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore strong peoples will honor you;
cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
4 You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat."
Isaiah 25:1-4 

This is a different storm than Katrina was 7 years ago.  That storm caught me at a time in my life where I was looking for a place to serve.  Looking for what I was going to do when I "grew up" so to speak.  Today I know what God has for me.  I have grown into a daughter of the King.  A daughter that just wants to love and serve her King and expand His Kingdom.  Hurricane Isaac has opened my eyes a little more to what God has in store for us.  And I have to tell you all....I am so joyful that He has chosen us for this work and so joyful that He is a shelter from the storm.

Jackie