Resume the countdown!

On the NASA website, you can read this about Atlantis’ launch for STS-135: “There was a slight delay at T-31 seconds while retraction of the Gaseous Oxygen Vent Arm, or “Beanie Cap,” was verified.” After several email messages, in which cost-of-living discussions and proposals were passed back and forth across the ocean, the delay in our own countdown was lifted. Today I read, “… you are cleared to depart as planned.” Hallelujah!

When you pray to the LORD our God, please pray for us to stay focused on our departure from Missouri next week and to remain active in our preparations for that trip and the one on August 8. And pray that we won’t leave anything important behind. We can’t do this without you!

P.S. We can, however, go to Germany without removing our beanie caps.

An “unplanned hold” in the countdown

This morning, I pulled the boys early out of their swim practice so that we could watch the last launch of the Space Shuttle from the lobby of the YMCA. With 0:31 to go, Mission Control detected a potential problem and put a hold on the countdown. Our jaws dropped — we all wanted a picture-perfect launch. Thankfully, they resumed the countdown after checking video cameras and sensors. And the three of us enjoyed a beautiful launch on a special day — C’s 8th birthday.

When we got home, I gravitated to our email. In it, I saw a new message from our personnel administrator which posed a question about one of the fields I had completed in the ministry budget form. When I opened the form to check it out, I realized that I had made a mistake. And what an error it was — the correction pushes the budget amount nearly up to the previous level. I can’t say at all that this launch is scrubbed, as NASA would say, but we need to put a hold in the countdown while we and Wycliffe figure out what’s going to happen next. All other preparations stay underway, but there’s a pause in the final approval.

What can you do? Pray to the Lord our God for a favorable resolution. That could take different forms. Certainly the clearest way it could be resolved is for additional financial partners to join us in the “eleventh hour” and make it a moot point. There’s about a $550 gap. Surely the people of our God can prove that he is indeed Jehovah-jireh, “the LORD will provide”!

To become one of those partners, please click this link to get started. Thank you for your demonstration of faith, hope, and love!

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