I'm Not Sure About This

In northern Uganda, a conflict has been waging for 20 years. Over the last three, tens of thousands of children have been kidnapped from their homes during the night. They have been tortured, terrorized, raped and killed. They are kids like the ones in our own homes, schools and churches – doing schoolwork, listening to music, hanging out with friends. And yet they face the daily risk of being kidnapped by Joseph Kony, leader of the “The Lord's Resistance Army” or LRA. He’s a twisted, cultic leader who mixes shallow Christian ideas with folk religion and politcal rhetoric, aiming at ruling the country. Sadly, very little is being done. Calling it one of the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet, the United Nations has been calling for intervention.

After watching the ground-breaking documentary, "Invisible Children", several of our staff decided that had to act. And so they created the Gulu Prayer Project. Starting on March 16th at 8pm (Central Time), they are attempting to orchestrate a prayer initiative that will run 24 hours a day for two week straight- 336 hours of focused prayer. We have created the website www.guluprayerproject.blog.com to facilitate the movement. We are committed to see this prayer project to be the launching point for direct involvement on serving these children, both through awareness and on-location development.

That is where you come in. We need to get people involved. We need to get the word out. We need people to help make this happen. Therefore, I am asking that you take a few minutes to visit the website, considering how you might help out and let me know. You can even sign up for a slot using the comment section of "Sign Up To Pray" page.

Thank you so much for taking the time make this dream a reality. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

To all my friends and family,

I know it has been a while since I have written on this blog, so long that I am not sure if any of you are still checking to see if I am posting. Things here are not so good. I was hoping that this year would be a huge improvement from the last but it hasn't started off that way. And Jamie and I could really use your support and prayer as we push through this and into what God is calling us to.

As many of you know, I am Australian and has been serving with YWAM here for several years. In the process of renewing my visa, we recently received a call from Immigration Canada suggesting that they are considering NOT renewing the visa, as they think it is time I apply for Permanent Residency. We have an interview with them on Feb. 28th to find out.

The trouble is that they could very well make me leave the country to apply from Australia. Needless to say, this would be terrible. One of the reasons we have not applied for my status earlier is that it requires a significant amount of money to do so. It goes without saying we are dealing with a great deal of stress right now.

Our first hope is that they grant us the visa that will allow us to pursue Permanent Residency while I remains in Canada with Jamie. However, even if this is the case, we face the challenge of raising the finances (nearly $2000 in the end) and dealing with the limitations of the process that will strongly impact my ministry leadership (i.e. travel limitations, etc.).

As if that weren't enough, we came home to find that the YWAM Mission House furnace, which we just spent $500 to repair a month ago is dead again. Sure, it isn't a huge deal, but in times like this, every little challenge gets blown out of proportion.

That is why we really need your prayers during the next few days, weeks and months. God has always been faithful in His provision. Stand with us as we seek Him for the peace and wisdom to deal with each day.